Developing CEFR-based mediation rating scales for standardized exams at state language schools in Andalucia (Spain)

Abstract

In 2017, the publication of a new national curriculum for the teaching of foreign languages at Escuelas Oficiales de Idiomas – the network of state Official Schools of Languages – in Spain signaled the top-down inclusion of mediation as a part of the already existing standardized proficiency exams to certify the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) levels. The Junta de Andalucia [Andalusian Regional Government] commissioned a team of four educators from those schools to develop the rating scales for mediation that would be used as evidence of language competence in certification assessment from 2019 onwards. This study addresses the 5-year challenging process of developing rating scales aligned with mediation descriptors in the CEFR Companion Volume (COE 2018, 2020; Spanish version 2021; henceforth CEFR/CV), adapted to their specific regional educational context, and informed by classroom practice. We describe our educational context, and the changes experienced from 2019 to 2023: from merging mediation into the written interaction task and rating scale, through genuine written mediation tasks and rating scales, to an eventual hybrid model at present. In this study, we also aim to reach some conclusions, inviting the use of the latest rating scales we have developed for official language certification.