Journal
CEFR Journal - Research and Practice
Volume: CEFR Journal - Research and Practice Volume 8 (February 2026)
Date: 2026
Title: CEFR alignment: Combining the best of different methods
Page: 37- 45
Authors: Paraskevi (Voula) Kanistra (Trinity College London, United Kingdom), Jayanti Banerjee (Worden Consulting, United States of America)
https://doi.org/10.37546/JALTSIG.CEFR8-5
NOT YET ACTIVATED
This article is open access and licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
Abstract: The alignment of language assessments to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) is traditionally a complex and lengthy process. Test developers either create a test first and align it to the CEFR post-development, or they integrate CEFR standards from the outset. Both methods necessitate strict adherence to a “series of well-established and largely sequential steps” (British Council et al. 2022: 13). This article introduces a transformative shift in this traditional paradigm by adapting existing standard-setting techniques and leveraging modern tools to streamline alignment procedures. Three standard-setting methods, the Dominant Profile Judgement method, the Item Descriptor Matching method, and the Body-of-Work method, were amalgamated to structure and inform a principled approach to content creation and standard-setting preparation. The ISE Digital writing module will be used to demonstrate how this process expedited panellist alignment and contributed to panellist agreement, both within and between panels.
Keywords: CEFR, ISE Digital, multi-method standard setting, virtual standard setting, Unified Alignment and Test Development (UATD) approach, Dominant Profile Judgement method, Item Descriptor (ID) Matching method, Body-of-Work method
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(Update March 10th, 2026 MGS)
