"I've studied English for X years but I still can't use it". Sound familiar? It's what you get when you present language as a ladder of grammar rules rather than as communicative potential. If learners want to be able to use English, they need an action-oriented approach to language: developing communicative competences rather than just knowledge of form.
With increased mobility in the European Higher Education Area, many teachers are now finding that they have students from different cultural backgrounds in their classrooms. Additionally, many English language teachers might be finding that they are now teaching students who are aiming to study a part of their degree, through the medium of English, in a different country.
The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) is an indispensable tool for the realisation for the Bologna Process in the European Higher Education Area. It offers guidance for teaching, learning and assessment of languages for communication purposes.
