Introduction to Part 4

The CEFR’s use of can-do descriptors allows us to bring curriculum, teaching/learning and assessment into closer interaction with one another than has traditionally been the case: each descriptor can be used simultaneously to specify a learning outcome, provide a teaching/learning focus and imply an assessment task. This makes the CEFR an instrument of ‘constructive alignment’. The concept of constructive alignment was first proposed by John Biggs, who has summarized its two dimensions as follows: The ‘constructive’ aspect refers to the idea that students construct meaning through relevant learning activities. That is, meaning is not something imparted or transmitted from teacher