journal of linguistic studies

ENGLISH PROFILE
JULIA HARRISON
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England
jxharrison@cambridge.org
English Profile is a global, community programme of research that studies how
people learn English, and aims to enhance the learning, teaching and assessment of
English worldwide. It is backed by the Council of Europe, and linked to the Common
European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF). The CEF was developed as a
Council of Europe initiative to provide objective criteria for describing the different
levels of language proficiency. There are 6 different levels within the CEF, from A1 to
C2, and a series of statements are used to describe what a learner ‘can do’, that is, what
functions they can perform using the language, at each level. Since its development began
back in 1971, the CEF has become a valuable resource for language professionals in all
areas, both as a basis for identifying teaching and learning objectives, and also as a way
to “facilitate the mutual recognition of qualifications gained in different learning
contexts” (Council of Europe, 2001).
English Profile will build on the CEF by providing a set of Reference Level
Descriptions for each level for the English language, which together will create a ‘profile’
of English. They will provide detailed information about the language that learners can be
expected to demonstrate at each level, by providing descriptions of the grammar,
vocabulary, functions etc required at that level. Ultimately English Profile will offer a
clear benchmark for the progress of learners that will be internationally understood by
educators and employers alike. The results of its activities are expected to have an
important impact on a variety of fields, primarily language pedagogy and applied
linguistics, serving as a tool for teacher training, materials development and assessment
for many years to come.
USING REAL LEARNER ENGLISH – THE CORPUS DRIVEN APPROACH
Previous language profiles have been produced by language specialists and have been
personal, however expert, conclusions from an individual’s experience. English Profile’s
unique methodology involves research which looks at the actual language that learners
produce. What this means is that EP’s findings will be based on empirical evidence of
what learners can actually do at each level (i.e. on real life examples of learners’ output)
thus ensuring that the resultant Reference Level Descriptors are as accurate, detailed, and
comprehensive as possible.
This will involve the use of a corpus of learner data, which the EP Network is
working together to build. We aim to collect ten million words of data, which will include
examples of the work of learners who are at all levels of proficiency, and encompassing a
wide range of ages and first languages. We need this data because another aspect of EP’s
approach is that it hopes to avoid 'lingua-centricity', meaning that it will not solely be
concerned with English as it is spoken in the UK by native speakers. It is important that
the impact of different first languages, learning contexts and transfer effects should be
taken into account. Therefore the idea of an ‘English Profile community’ (see below) is
central to the Programme’s success, and we hope that that people involved in English
Language Teaching all over the world will join our network.
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