What is the CEFR? The European language framework and six myths about it

The CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) is the Council of Europe's common reference framework for learning, teaching and assessing languages. It was published in 2001 and extended in 2020 with the Companion Volume. It describes language ability in six levels, from A1 to C2, through “can do” statements, and it is used for every language. The CEFR is not an exam; it is the shared language that exams, curricula and coursebooks use when they talk about levels.

The six CEFR levels and their three groups

The six levels fall into three broad groups: basic user (A1 and A2), independent user (B1 and B2) and proficient user (C1 and C2). The 2001 text also gives each level a name that comes from earlier Council of Europe work. These names are used less today, but you may still meet them in older books and articles.

The Companion Volume describes the Pre-A1 band below A1 and the “plus” levels between the six levels (such as A2+, B1+ and B2+) in more detail. For a short description of each level and how to check your own, see How do I know my English level?.

Where did the CEFR come from?

The CEFR has its roots in two documents that described the “threshold” needed to manage everyday life in a foreign language: the Threshold Level for English (1975) and Un Niveau Seuil for French (1976). Levels were later added below and above this threshold, and the six-level scale grew from them. The CEFR was published in 2001 as a framework for all languages; by 2020 it was available in 40 languages.

The 2020 Companion Volume is the final form of an update first published online in 2018. It added new descriptors for mediation and online interaction, expanded Pre-A1 and the plus levels, and made the descriptors usable for sign languages too. In Türkiye, the project “Improving the Quality of Foreign Language Education in Türkiye”, run by the Council of Europe's Ankara Programme Office with the Ministry of National Education, aims to align foreign language education with the CEFR and the Companion Volume.

Myth 1: “The CEFR is an exam”

The CEFR is a reference framework, not a test. The Council of Europe does not see it as its role to verify and validate the quality of the link between an exam and the CEFR levels; making that link coherent and realistic is the responsibility of the organisation that writes the exam. The Companion Volume also stresses that the CEFR is not a standardisation tool and that no body monitors its use. So a “CEFR B2 certificate” is really the certificate of an exam that says it targets B2; the school or organisation asking for it decides which exams it accepts.

Myth 2: “The levels are evenly spaced”

The levels are not evenly spaced like the marks on a ruler. The 2001 CEFR text says that even if A2 and B1 look equally far apart on paper, many learners will need more than twice as long to get from A2 to B1 as they needed to reach A2, and it gives the same warning for the step from B1 to B2. The reason is that the range of tasks, skills and language at each level keeps widening. The text compares the scale to a cone that broadens towards the top, and progress at the intermediate stage to moving slowly but steadily across a “plateau”. So feeling that progress slows down around B1 is normal.

Myth 3: “The CEFR says how many hours each level takes”

The CEFR gives no hours per level; on the contrary, it asks for “extreme caution” when using any scale of levels to calculate average study time. The hour tables that are widely shared are guideline estimates from exam providers. One such estimate says that moving from one level to the next takes about 200 hours of lessons and guided study, and that the total from zero is about 500–600 hours to B2 and 700–800 hours to C1. The same estimate notes that your language-learning background, how intensively you study, your age and how much of the language you meet outside lessons all change the time needed. Source: Cambridge English, “Guided learning hours”.

Myth 4: “C2 means speaking like a native speaker”

C2, the top CEFR level, does not mean speaking “like a native speaker” or “near-natively”. The 2001 text describes C2 by the precision, appropriateness and ease that mark the speech of highly successful learners, and the Companion Volume states plainly that the idea of an idealised native speaker was not used as a reference point when the levels and descriptors were developed. So the C2 goal is not to become someone else; it is to use the language accurately and easily, down to fine details.

Myth 5: “Everyone has one single level”

CEFR levels should not be thought of as a single grade. The framework has two axes: a horizontal axis of different activities and skills, and a vertical axis of progress in each of them. So it is normal for the same person to be B2 in reading and A2 in speaking; the CEFR was designed precisely to make such uneven profiles and partial competences easier to recognise. The Companion Volume gives sample profiles that show a different level for each skill.

Myth 6: “The CEFR is built on the four skills”

Reading, writing, listening and speaking are a familiar split, but the CEFR describes language through four modes of communication: reception (listening and reading), production (speaking and writing), interaction and mediation. The Companion Volume also calls the idea that the CEFR promotes a five-skill model “widespread but false”. Mediation means getting meaning across to someone else: for example, telling a friend who does not speak English, in Turkish, the time and place written on an English notice, or helping a group bring everyone's ideas together.

How does this help when you study?

There are three practical takeaways. First, set your goal skill by skill: a goal such as “B2 in reading, B1 in speaking” is more realistic than “being B2” and shows what to work on. Second, count hours instead of months, and do not mistake the slowdown around B1 for failure; A four-week English practice plan is a good start for writing down how many hours you study each week. Third, before you take an exam, find out which exams and which level the organisation asking for the result accepts.

Sources: Council of Europe, CEFR (2001), sections 2.2, 3.2 and 3.6; Council of Europe, CEFR Companion Volume (2020), chapter 2; Council of Europe, “Relating examinations to the CEFR”; Council of Europe Programme Office in Ankara, “Improving the Quality of Foreign Language Education in Türkiye”. All read on 9 October 2026.

Frequently asked questions