Contextualizing EFL argumentation writing practices within the Common European Framework descriptors

As English-taught programs are substantially increasing in European higher education and many post-graduate and some undergraduate degrees now require the completion of a final paper for graduation, writing has become a major factor in English as a foreign language (EFL) assessment. One of the most frequently used assessment scales are the broad descriptors outlined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR, Council of Europe, 2001). The purpose of the research reported in this article was to test the effectiveness of adaptations made to the CEFR descriptors for the teaching and learning of argumentative texts in the English Department I at the Complutense University in Madrid, Spain. This 3-year project involved analysis of texts from 2 different one-semester second-year classes of Academic Reading and Writing (CEFR level B2; IELTS 5.5–6.5; TOEFL iBT 87–109), with approximately 50 EFL students per class. From the CEFR B2-level writing descriptors, the research team drew up more specific descriptors to operationalize and assess the use of distinctive structural (constructing well-organized and coherent texts) and rhetorical features (construing interpersonal meaning). The aim of the project was two-fold: (1) to raise student awareness of the dialogic nature of academic discourse (improved meaning making) and (2) to prepare a syllabus to provide both teachers and students with more precise guidelines regarding the expectations for language use (improved teaching and learning strategies). The study shows how university English Departments might implement scaffolding strategies that will allow the student authors to discover points of argument through their sources in order to map out for the reader an articulated series of statements intended to establish a position.