CEFR Companion Volume implementation toolbox

Video scripts for “Mediation:

Introduction to mediation”
Video 1: Mediation in the Companion Volume to the
Common European Framework of Reference for
Languages
Slide 1
Mediation in the Companion Volume to the Common European Framework of Reference
for Languages
Slide 2
What is mediation? Mediation as a language activity is present in our everyday lives. We
are involved in mediation when we explain the meaning of concepts to students, give
reports of our findings, present the outcome of our project work or just tell our friends the
plot of the film we have recently seen.
In the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, mediation is perceived
as one of the 4 modes of communication, besides reception, production and interaction.
According to the CEFR, it is an activity that makes communication possible between
language users who for some reason cannot communicate directly. While performing a
task of mediation, the language user does not usually express his or her opinions but
rather acts as a moderator. Mediation activities can be oral or written. Interpreting is an
example of oral mediation while translating is an example of written mediation.
Such acting as an intermediary between two parties can happen within the same language
or across languages. An example of mediation within one language is explaining difficult
concepts in a lecture. Mediation across languages takes place while translating texts from
one language to another language or when somebody explains instructions on how to use
a vending machine to a tourist from another country who wants to buy a train ticket.
Mediation also takes place when we summarise in writing a long or complex text for the
purposes of writing, e. g. an academic article, a literary review, or a report for a specific
audience. Another example of mediation is when we describe our research findings which
are collected and shown on a presentation slide in the form of a graph.
Mediation always involves a transformation of one text into another text so that the
message is conveyed in a more comprehensible way for the audience; for example, the
review readers or the audience in the presentation.
Slide 3
How is mediation presented in the CEFR Companion Volume? The CEFR Companion
volume provides a broader view on mediation. According to this document, in the act of
mediation, the language user does not only create bridges for successful communication

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Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 License. Attribution: Original activity from
Fischer Johann (et al.) (2023), CEFR Companion Volume implementation toolbox, Council of Europe
(European Centre for Modern Languages), Graz, available at
www.ecml.at/companionvolumetoolbox.
2

between other interlocutors within a specific social context but he or she also takes part in
the co- construction of meaning. The co-construction of meaning is the formulation of
new meaning in the process of communication with other language users.
The CEFR Companion Volume focuses on describing the role of language mediation in the
following areas: creating a positive environment for communication, collaborating to
construct meaning and passing the information in an appropriate form within social,
cultural, pedagogic and professional contexts.
Slide 4
Activities and strategies.
Language communication takes place when language users engage in a communicative
language activity and employ their communicative language strategies.
Communicative language activities are any activities that encourage or require a language
user to use a language purposefully in communication. These activities could be
interactive, such as taking part in a conversation, productive, such as writing an essay,
receptive such as listening to a podcast or mediative, such as explaining a difficult concept.
There are 3 groups of mediation activities described in the CEFR Companion Volume:
1. Mediating a text, e. g. relaying specific information, translating, or
explaining data presented in a graph or a chart;
2. Mediating a concept, e. g. collaborating in a group or leading group work to
solve a problem;
3. Mediating communication, e. g. facilitating plurilingual space by
clarifying misunderstandings or misconceptions during intercultural encounters.
Strategies, on the other hand, are the language user’s means, which are employed by the
user to successfully carry out a communicative task. Strategies help activate language
users’ resources of knowledge and skills which are necessary to complete the
communicative task.
The CEFR Companion volume presents 2 strategies:
1. Strategies used to explain a new concept such as linking to previous
knowledge by asking questions or making comparisons, paraphrasing, and
explaining technical terminology;
2. And strategies used to simplify a text such as amplifying by using repetition
or redundancy, or streamlining a text by highlighting key information.
The activities and strategies are described in the Companion Volume in a tabular form
with reference to CEFR Language proficiency levels.
But isn’t mediation just an aspect of interaction?
It is clear that there is an interrelationship between reception, production, interaction and
mediation. Language users produce texts in reaction to the texts that they have heard or
read and which were produced by other language users. In discussions, participants
exchange opinions, negotiate and clarify meanings. Mediation and interaction are
intertwined. Both interaction and mediation involve the construction of meaning as a
reaction to what the interlocutor says or writes.
However, there is a crucial difference between these two
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because the role of the language user who is the central figure in mediation is to be a
social agent who facilitates communication between other parties. In other words,
whereas interaction involves participating in communication between language users,
mediation involves facilitating communication between other language users. The
mediator acts within a social and cultural context and in the process of mediation draws
on his or her experience and knowledge of different cultures, norms, beliefs, ideas,
conventions and behaviours as well as languages. This knowledge and experience help
gain mutual understanding and acquire knowledge, and leads to the further development
of language skills.
Slide 6
If you wish to learn more about language mediation consult the following sources.
Council of Europe (2001): Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97
Council of Europe (2020): Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Companion volume. Strasbourg: Council of Europe
Publishing. https://rm.coe.int/common-european-framework-of-reference-
for- languages-learning-teaching/16809ea0d4.
METLA Project. www.ecml.at/mediation.
And if you are interested in further information on mediation activities or mediation
strategies, listen to the other presentations in the introductory section of the VITbox
module on mediation.
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Video 2: Mediation Activities

Slide 1
Mediation Activities
Slide 2
What are language activities?
Mediation involves the use of different language activities. So let’s start with what language
activities actually are.
• According to the CEFR, language activities are activities that “involve the exercise of one’s
communicative language competence in a specific domain in processing (receptively
and/or productively) one or more texts in order to carry out a task” (CEFR 2001: 10).
• This document promotes the view on language activities with an emphasis on the
meaningful and purposeful use of language within a specific social situation. In other
words, language activities involve the use of a language to produce or comprehend texts
or both produce and comprehend texts in order to perform tasks in specific social contexts
such as private, public, occupational, or educational domains of human activity.
Slide 3
Types of language activities
Communicative language activities are presented in the CEFR as types of actions whose goals are to:
• produce a text, e. g. addressing audiences (production),
• receive a text, e. g. listening to overheard conversations (reception),
• receive and produce a text, e. g. informal discussion (interaction),
• mediate a text, e. g. interpretation (mediation) (CEFR 2001: Ch. 4.4).
In order to effectively communicate, language users must engage in language activities and
employ communication strategies. These activities can be productive when communication is one-
way, for example when a public speech is given or when a written text is published. They can be
only receptive when, for example, the language users listen to overheard conversations. These
activities can also be interactive, such as informal discussions or correspondence, where
participants take turns as producers and receivers of information. In some cases, language users
are producing their own text to express their own meaning, while in others a language user is
acting as a mediator between two individuals who cannot communicate directly. An example of
mediation can be interpreting talks during discussions in an international business meeting.
Communication often involves a mixture of activity types, such as in a language class where
learners are required to listen, read, interact, write, and even meditate. Communication strategies
are used to effectively utilize the language user’s resources and skills to successfully complete
tasks in the most comprehensive or economical way possible depending on the language user’s
purpose.
In this presentation, however, the focus will be on ‘language activities’; information about
‘language strategies’ can be found in another VITbox presentation.
5

Now let’s focus on one particular type of language activity – the mediation activity which is the
topic of this presentation.
Mediation activities fulfil the criteria of communicative language activities because they, by
definition, resemble real-life tasks where the purpose of communication is to help another person
understand the message or gain knowledge. There is a desire or even a necessity to communicate
and the focus is on the content of the message rather than on the form. Such activities require
processing texts in specific social and cultural contexts.
Although some aspects of mediation activities have been addressed in the original CEFR
document, the descriptions were incomplete and the descriptors related to such activities were
scattered across the description of various modes, activities, and strategies. The approach to
mediation in both documents is also different.
I will focus on these differences in the following two slides.
Slide 4
Mediation activities in the CEFR
The original CEFR document defines mediating activities in the following way: “In mediating
activities, the language user is not concerned to express his/her own meanings, but simply to act
as an intermediary between interlocutors who are unable to understand each other directly –
normally (but not exclusively) speakers of different languages” (CEFR 2001: 96).
According to the original document, there are oral and written mediation activities.
Oral mediation activities include simultaneous interpretation, consecutive interpretation and
informal interpretation. Simultaneous interpretation, usually conducted in conferences or
meetings, is when an interpreter translates the message from the source language to the target
language in real time. There is little time shift between the speech and its translation and as a
result, the message is conveyed virtually at the same time. Consecutive interpretation is done by
the interpreter when the speaker finishes his or her speech. Consecutive interpretation is usually
performed, for example, during speeches of welcome or guided tours. Informal interpretation
refers to translating the meanings of signs, menus, notices, etc., e. g. while travelling.
Written mediation activities include exact translation, e. g. of contracts, legal or scientific texts;
literary translation of, for example, novels, drama, poetry or libretti; summarising gist of, for
example, newspaper or magazine articles within L2 or between L1 and L2; and paraphrasing, for
example, specialised texts for laypersons.
So to sum up, the original CEFR document has a very restricted view on mediation, emphasising
the role of interpretation and translation. It also focuses on the cross-linguistic aspect of
mediation, although such activities as summarising or paraphrasing for the purposes of, for
example, clarification or explanation in L1 were mentioned there. However, their descriptors were
developed later in the CEFR Companion Volume. The original CEFR document listed some
examples of mediation activities, whereas the Companion Volume developed a whole new
descriptive system of mediation activities and new illustrative descriptor scales. It also extended
the idea of mediation to other activities in which individuals use a language.
Now let’s have a look at this new descriptive system as presented in the CEFR Companion Volume.
6

Slide 5
Categories of mediation activities in the CEFR Companion Volume
The CEFR Companion Volume updates and supplements the descriptions of productive, receptive
and interactive activities, but the most ground-breaking contribution of this new document to the
development of the description of foreign language teaching and learning is the introduction of a
new system of illustrative descriptor scales for mediation activities.
The new scales for mediation activities published in the CEFR Companion Volume are grouped into
3 categories: Mediating a text, Mediating communication and Mediating concepts. They are
arranged into 15 new descriptor scales. I will talk about the scales in more detail in the following
three slides.
Now let’s have a closer look at the 3 categories of mediation activities.
Slide 6
Mediating a text – across languages and/or varieties, registers of the same language
The first type of mediating activity which I would like to talk about is Mediating a text. Mediating a
text means passing on information that is presented in a text to another person. As a result,
another text is produced. This process always involves transforming the original texts.
There are 7 categories of text mediation with corresponding illustrative descriptor scales in the
CEFR Companion Volume:
The first category is Relaying specific information in speech or in writing. It focuses on extracting
specific content information, e. g. time, place, price, instructions or directions, and relaying it to
another person. An example of relaying information in speech is a situation at the airport. When
we travel, it often happens that we listen to the announcements at the airport and then we relay
the most important information about the boarding time, the gate number or the changes in the
flight schedule to a person whose language proficiency level does not allow the person to extract
this information by themselves. Another example of relaying information, this time in writing,
might be a situation in which a person is reading a tourist information brochure in, for example,
Spanish and writes down the information about the most interesting places to visit for a friend
who does not know Spanish.
Another category is Explaining data in speech or in writing. This mediation activity takes place
when we analyse and describe information presented in the form of graphs, charts or diagrams.
Such graphic information can be explained in writing or in speaking. It often involves a specific
choice of register. Such explanations might be more or less formal depending on the audience
type. They are usually less formal in business meetings but more formal in academic
presentations. They also frequently require commenting and interpreting salient points.
Next, Processing text in speech or in writing means transferring information in a condensed form
from one text to another text by summarising and collating arguments from different sources. For
example, this is an activity that we do when we write a review of literature as the introduction to a
master’s thesis or when we summarise the main achievements in the field in the introduction to a
presentation of research results. Another example of processing speech is a situation in which a
report is written for the participants of the meeting during which some documents have been
discussed, various standpoints have been expressed and a decision has been taken on how to
proceed in the future taking into account the guidelines from the documents.
7

Another category of text mediation is Note taking, which involves listening and writing down
notes in lectures, seminars, meetings, or presentations. The focus here is on the precision and
accuracy of notes, the choice of information, and the target audience.
Then, Translating a written text in speech or in writing refers to informal spoken or written
translation in which a language user is conveying information or arguments. An example of such
informal spoken translation might be a situation at a restaurant in which a language user is
translating the menu for another person who does not understand the language. An example of an
informal written translation is translating instructions while travelling or procedures that should be
followed at work abroad. The focus here is on the comprehensibility of written translation, the
degree of influence of the original text, and capturing nuances.
Next, Expressing personal response to creative texts and literature. This category refers to
situations in which a language user states and explains opinions about an article, a book, or a
movie. The person may describe the characters, interpret the meaning of the text, or relate
aspects of the text to their own experience.
The last category of text mediation is the Analysis and criticism of creative texts. The focus here is
on an intellectual reaction to the text. The language user may compare the text to other texts or
works of art and explore similarities and contrasts in themes. The person can evaluate the
structure of the work and the use of rhetorical devices, give a reasoned opinion and evaluate the
effectiveness of techniques employed by the author. An example of such a mediation activity is a
discussion of a novel or a poem studied in a class. Another example of such a mediation activity is
an informal discussion between friends who have just seen a theatre play and who express their
thoughts and critical opinions, and discuss the structure and meaning of it.
Slide 7
Mediating concepts
The second type of mediating activities which is presented in the CEFR Companion Volume is
Mediating concepts. Mediating concepts means facilitating access to knowledge, through oral
interactive and collaborative language activities, such as discussions, teamwork, and plenary
activities.
Descriptor scales for mediating concepts are classified as Collaborating in a group and Leading
group work. They present the descriptions of activities that language users are likely to engage in
when looking for solutions to problems or devising innovative theories, schemes, or concepts in
their personal, educational, and professional contexts.
The section Collaborating in a group consists of two scales: Facilitating collaborative interaction
with peers and Collaborating to construct meaning. Facilitating collaborative interaction with
peers focuses on the conscious managing of speakers’ own contributions to the group
communication and active orientation of teamwork towards the goal of the communication.
Collaborating to construct meaning, on the other hand, concentrates on stimulating the
development of ideas and finding solutions as a member of the group. This is usually done by
deciding on the aims and steps in the discussion, asking for explanations or summarising the points
that have been reached, and then deciding on the next steps.
The second section – Leading group work is divided into Managing interaction and Encouraging
conceptual talk. Managing interaction refers to leading a plenary activity, monitoring
communication between group participants, intervening in communication to set a group back on
task, and supporting
8

group communication. Encouraging conceptual talk, on the other hand, deals with asking
questions to stimulate logical reasoning, e. g. by hypothesising or analysing and asking other group
members to explain, elaborate or justify opinions in order to build on their ideas.
Slide 8
Mediating Communication
The third type of mediating activity is Mediating Communication. This type of mediation deals with
creating a positive environment for communication between language users who might have
different socio-cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The purpose of communication mediation is to
ensure that the communication is successful by promoting an understanding of different
perspectives and establishing common ground. There are three illustrative descriptor scales in the
CEFR Companion Volume that describe the abilities of a good communication mediator:
• Facilitating plurilingual space,
• Acting as an intermediary in informal communication,
• and Facilitating communication in delicate situations and disagreements.
Facilitating plurilingual space refers to showing interest to promote an understanding of cultural
norms and perspectives; demonstrating sociocultural and sociolinguistic sensitivity and respect;
and anticipating and repairing misunderstandings that might arise from the differences in norms
or perspectives. An example of a classroom activity that has the potential to develop the ability to
facilitate plurilingual space in a multilingual class might be a geography class project in which
learners would incorporate descriptions of facts in several languages.
Acting as an intermediary in informal communication concerns conveying the sense of what
speakers are saying in a conversation, speeches, or presentations for language users whose
language skills are not sufficient to grasp the conveyed information.
Finally, facilitating communication in delicate situations and disagreements involves exploring in a
diplomatic way different viewpoints; helping the other parties to better understand the views by
repeating or reformulating them, and establishing common ground and possible areas of the
concession.
Slide 9
Mediating activities are interrelated inherently because they are a mixture of productive,
receptive, and interactive elements. They are also interrelated in terms of the overlap between
the areas of mediation itself that they cover. For instance, when we collaborate in a group to
solve a problem we usually propose and explain ideas and concepts. We ask other group members
about their opinions and negotiate solutions. Such an activity belongs to the category of Mediating
concepts. However, it might also entail Mediating a text when it is necessary to take notes during
the group discussion. It might also require to Mediate communication when it is sometimes
necessary to convey meaning in a diplomatic way or when it is necessary to summarise
somebody’s viewpoint to enhance understanding within the group.
Mediating language is certainly a demanding task for a language learner. It is challenging for three
reasons. First of all, it is a demanding cognitive task that obviously has an impact on language task
performance. It has been observed that there is a correlation between the cognitive demands of
the task and the decrease in syntactic complexity and accuracy of the L2 language user’s
performance
9

(Michel et al. 2019) Secondly, mediation involves the use of the learner’s general competences
and communicative language competences. General competences are knowledge of the world, the
communities in which the language users live and their cultures, practical living, vocational and
sociocultural skills, the ability to learn, and intercultural awareness. These competences may be
necessary to complete the mediation task well (see section 5 of the CEFR 2001). Finally, a
successful mediator, by definition, has to be focused on the needs of other parties. Therefore,
such a person should be emotionally intelligent, open-minded, empathic, socially, culturally, and
plurilingually competent.
Slide 10
Progression up the scale
Progression up the scale of Mediation activities in CEFR CV is characterised by the following
qualities:
CEFR A levels: Focus on simple, familiar information on everyday subjects, e. g. relaying
information such as times, instructions or announcements (Mediating a text) or using simple
questioning techniques, e. g. asking other group members what they think (Collaborating to
construct meaning).
CEFR B levels: Focus on specific information, building upon other peoples’ ideas and different
sources of information, e. g. relaying detailed information from formal correspondence (Mediating
a text) or organising tasks and developing other people’s ideas (Collaborating to construct
meaning).
CEFR C levels: Focus on the effectiveness, reliability, complexity and accuracy of information, e. g.
presenting various forms of empirical data from conceptually complex research concerning
academic or professional topics (Explaining data) or guiding discussion effectively to reach a
consensus (Collaborating to construct meaning).
Slide 11
If you wish to learn more about mediation activities, here is a list of suggested reading:
Council of Europe (2001): Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning,
Teaching, Assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97
Council of Europe (2020): Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Companion volume. Strasbourg: Council of Europe
Publishing. https://rm.coe.int/common-european-framework-of-reference-for-languages-learning-
teaching/16809ea0d4
Hunter, Duncan (2017): “Activity”. ELT Journal 71/4: 516-518.
Michel, Marije, Andrea Révész, Danni Shi and Yanmei Li (2019): “The effects of task demands on
linguistic complexity and accuracy across task types and L1/L2 speakers”. Researching L2 Task
Performance and Pedagogy: In honour of Peter Skehan, in: Zhisheng (Edward) Wen, and
Mohammad Javad Ahmadian (eds.), Task-Based Language Teaching 13, 133-152.
If you are interested in how to implement a mediation scale in the actual classroom activity, listen
to another VITbox project presentation “Applying the CEFR Companion Volume scale of Mediating
concepts in a classroom activity”.
10

Video 3: Mediation Strategies

Slide 1
Mediation strategies
Slide 2
When we wish to communicate information using language we certainly need to employ a
range of language resources at our disposal. In addition, it will often be necessary to
supplement language knowledge by employing certain cognitive processes that help
facilitate comprehension on the part of the addressee and thus help him/her to achieve
the objectives of the communication.
These cognitive processes are known as communication strategies and the corresponding
competence as strategic competence. Definitions of communication strategies vary and
have been evolving over the past few decades. In one of the earliest definitions, Canale
and Swain had a rather restricted view of what they might be and saw them as “verbal and
non-verbal communication strategies that may be called into action to compensate for
breakdowns in communication due to performance variables or to insufficient
competence” (Canale and Swain 1980: 30). Duquette described them as the ability to
apply communication strategies to keep the communication channel open and to maintain
the interaction between the interlocutors in accordance with the intentions of the
speakers (Duquette 1988: 90). These definitions were later elaborated on by Bachman and
Palmer who defined strategic competence as a set of metacognitive components or
strategies which are responsible for cognitive management in language use and allow a
language user to set goals, assess and plan his or her language response to a
communicative situation (Bachman and Palmer 1996: 70).
Following the work of previous linguists, the CEFR presented language strategies as
“means the language user exploits to mobilise and balance his or her resources, to
activate skills and procedures, in order to fulfil the demands of communication in context
and successfully complete the task in question” (CEFR 2001: 57). What is meant in the
CEFR by strategies is the adoption of a particular line of action to maximise the
effectiveness of communication.
Four categories of communication strategies were identified in this document: pre-
planning, execution, monitoring, as well as repair action, and in this way the document
combined the ideas proposed by predecessors.
Communication strategies in the CEFR relate to the language activities of reception,
interaction, production and mediation.
Slide 3
Now let’s turn our attention from communication strategies to mediation strategies.
According to the CEFR “mediation strategies reflect ways of coping with the demands of
using finite resources to process information and establish equivalent meaning”. The
document provided only descriptions of strategies used while interpreting, glossing or
translating texts but not for summarising or paraphrasing texts.
In this chart, you can see the four types of mediation strategies described in the CEFR, that
11

is:
12

• Planning, e. g. developing background knowledge or preparing a glossary

before embarking on the task of translating a document
• Execution, e. g., noting possibilities of chunks of text
• Monitoring, e. g., checking the congruence of two versions of the text
• Repair, e. g. refining the text by consulting dictionaries, a thesaurus or experts in
the field of interest.
There were no illustrative scales available in the CEFR.
Slide 4
The presentation of mediation strategies in the CEFR Companion Volume builds on
and expands the ideas presented in the original document.
As can be seen in the diagram on the right, the CEFR Companion Volume focuses on
descriptions of strategies used to explain new concepts and ways to simplify texts, instead
of descriptions of strategies in terms of pre-planning, execution, monitoring and repair.
Mediation strategies include a wider range of activities and they are no longer limited to
translation, glossing and interpretation. Some of these activities are related to
collaborating within a group to solve a problem and facilitating such collaboration. Others
are related to the processing of texts to make them accessible for the recipients of the
information.
The CEFR Companion Volume emphasises the way the source content is processed for the
recipient of the information to make it clear and understandable, e. g. by explaining,
simplifying, illustrating, exemplifying or adapting the text.
The mediator in the CEFR CV is an intermediary between interlocutors and he/she may
need to flexibly move back and forth between interlocutors, texts, languages, or discourse
types adapting the message to the audience type and the socio-cultural context. He/she
should have a positive influence on the communication between the interlocutors by
interpreting different perspectives, managing ambiguity, anticipating misunderstandings
and intervening diplomatically in the course of the communicative event. Therefore, apart
from language knowledge and skills, the mediator needs a continually developing
awareness of sociocultural and sociolinguistic differences which might affect
communication.
The document presents 5 scales which describe strategies employed during the mediation
process which are aligned with the CEFR language proficiency levels.
Slide 5
As I mentioned before, there are two categories of mediation strategies in the CEFR CV:
strategies used to explain a new concept and strategies used to simplify a text. Strategies
for explaining a new concept are divided into ways of linking to previous knowledge,
breaking down complicated information and adapting language. Strategies used for simpli-
fying text, on the other hand, are divided into means of amplifying a dense text and means
of streamlining a text.
13

Slide 6
Strategies to explain a new concept.
There are several ways in which we can help our audience understand difficult ideas and
complex concepts. CEFR CV classifies these ways into 3 types of strategies: linking to
previous knowledge, breaking down complicated information, and adapting language.
Linking to previous knowledge means activating the already existing knowledge of the
interlocutor. This has a scaffolding effect which is beneficial for understanding new
meanings and gaining knowledge. Linking to previous knowledge can be achieved by
asking questions, making comparisons, defining, and giving examples.
Another strategy type is breaking down complicated information into smaller, sometimes
simplified, chunks. This can be achieved by presenting a longer process in stages,
transforming a text into bullet points, highlighting main points and presenting them as an
argument chain, or pointing to the relationships among parts of the text and the whole
text.
The last strategy type which facilitates understanding ideas is adapting language. We
adapt language by paraphrasing texts and using simpler language, e. g. by using non-
technical language when talking to the audience which consists of non-specialists in the
technical field. Language can also be adapted by using simpler syntax, explaining difficult
terminology and idioms, and by making similes, that is by comparing to a familiar object or
idea.
Slide 7
Strategies to simplify a text
There are two main ways in which we make a text easier to understand: amplifying a text
and streamlining a text. These two processes are opposite to each other and are used with
different texts.
Amplifying is used with texts which are dense and concise. Such texts are difficult for non-
specialists to understand because of the scarcity of information. We can make the
concepts easier to understand by repeating important information, paraphrasing in
different ways, modifying style or giving relevant examples.
The other process, streamlining a text, is used with texts which are long-winded and
confusing. Such texts can be simplified by highlighting key information, eliminating
repetition and irrelevant information, and even by reorganising information to emphasise
important points.
Slide 8
The Companion Volume also provides a separate set of scales relating to mediation
strategies. Progression up the scale of Mediation strategies in CEFR CV is characterised by
the following qualities:
• CEFR CV A levels generally focus on simple information and processes, e. g.
repeating the main point of a simple message in Adapting language, or identifying
and highlighting key sentences in a short everyday text in Streamlining text.
• CEFR CV B levels emphasise specific information and processes, and the clarity of
14

presentation, e. g. explaining technical topics using non-technical language for

non-
specialists in Adapting language or simplifying a text by deleting non-relevant
information in Streamlining text.
• Finally, CEFR CV C levels highlight complex or elaborate information and
processes, and spontaneity and flexibility in the adaptation of texts, e. g. providing
extended definitions and explanations to introduce a complex concept in Linking to
previous knowledge, or adapting the language of a very wide range of texts for the
requirements of the audience in Adapting language.
Slide 9
If you wish to learn more about mediation strategies, here is a list of suggested readings.
Bachman, L. F. and A. S. Palmer. 1996. Language testing in practice. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Canale, M. and M. Swain. 1980. “Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to
second language teaching and testing”, Applied Linguistics 1: 1-47.
Council of Europe. 2001. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
https://rm.coe.int/1680459f97
Council of Europe. 2020. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages:
Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Companion Volume. Strasbourg: Council of Europe
Publishing. https://rm.coe.int/common-european-framework-of-reference-for-languages-
learning- teaching/16809ea0d4
Duquette, L. 1988. “La créativité dans les pratiques communicatives”. In: A. M. Boucher, A.
M. Duplantine, R. Leblanc, Pédagogie de la communication dans l’enseignement d’une
language étrangere. Bruxelles: De Boeck-Wesmael.
Ślęzak-Świat, A. 2009. Components of strategic competence in advanced foreign language
users. Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego. https://rebus.us.edu.pl
If you are interested in how to implement a mediation scale in the actual classroom
activity, listen to another VITbox project presentation “Applying the CEFR Companion
Volume scale of Mediation strategies in a classroom activity”.