Over the past decade, the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) has experienced worldwide policy attraction. It has been borrowed as a policy framework for local language education reforms across the world. This study surveys to what extend the CEFR has been borrowed outside Europe. Based on 43 interviews with international assessment specialists, and complemented by a review of 56 recent publications on CEFR implementation, the findings indicate four different approaches to borrowing the framework, ranging from comparing existing local frameworks with the CEFR to fully localizing it. I discuss these approaches with regard to the role of the local context, and the necessity to align such localizations back to the original framework. Furthermore, the analysis revealed common challenges and benefits when borrowing the CEFR. A particular focus of the analysis is placed on the tensions between universalization versus localization, paying special attention to the role of teacher agency and the danger of losing local ecologies. Based on the findings, implications are drawn in order to inform language educators and stakeholders active in language planning on how to critically approach the CEFR when considering implementing it in local language policies.
Claudia Harsch (Tue,) studied this question.