How new CEFR mediation descriptors can help to assess the discussion skills of management students - Global and analytical scales

The article focuses on the assessment of mediation competence in the context of the Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). We offer new assessment scales developed with the use of descriptors for mediation from the CEFR Companion Volume (2018). The approach to assessment of oral performance that we discuss combines global and analytical marks. For the majority of classroom teachers in Russia, this issue has become very important from two points of view: a) how to introduce new scales of mediation and connect them adequately with traditional speaking skills, described in the literature (Pavlovskaya 2017), and b) how to harmonize global assessment with analytical scales. The research is based on the experience of evaluating the mediation skills of students of the Graduate School of Management, St. Petersburg State University. The implications of the method for classroom teaching are discussed.