Mediation

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How does the CEFR present mediation? 🧠

Now that you have been introduced to mediation, read this short information sheet from the CEFR website: Info sheet: Mediation to see in a little more detail how mediation is presented in the CEFR.

You see that mediation can mean a lot of things and—as the diagram at the end shows—that there are a lot of different categories of descriptors. Let’s look at this in more detail. 

Below you will find one descriptor for Level B1 as an example for each of the types of mediation given in the diagram. When you read the descriptors, you will see that, in fact, we are talking here about activities that happen more or less every day, especially in a school, academic, or professional context. Mediation is not something new. It is the idea of consciously including it in curricula for (language) education that is new.

Look through the list carefully, thinking about which of them are relevant to and feasible in your teaching situation. There is one example of descriptors for each category. Among the many categories, some will be more relevant to your context than others. Jot down or highlight 5-8 categories (not more!!) that are relevant to your learners.

Examples of descriptors at Level B1 ✍️

Mediating concepts

This section is particularly relevant to collaborative group work. Language is a tool used to articulate that thinking in a dynamic co-constructive process. How can the user/learner facilitate access to knowledge and concepts through language? 

Facilitating collaborative interaction with peers: The user/learner contributes to successful collaboration in a group by making conscious interventions where appropriate to orient the discussion, balance contributions, and help to overcome communication difficulties.

  • Can collaborate in simple, shared tasks and work towards a common goal in a group by asking and answering straightforward questions.

Collaborating to construct meaning: This concerns stimulating and developing ideas as a member of a group. It is particularly relevant to collaborative work in problem-solving, brainstorming, concept development, and project work.

  • Can repeat part of what someone has said to confirm mutual understanding and help keep the development of ideas on course.

Managing interaction: There are sometimes situations in which the user/learner has a designated lead role in a group or several groups.

  • Can give simple, clear instructions to organize an activity.

Encouraging conceptual talk: This involves providing scaffolding to enable another person or persons to themselves construct a new concept, rather than passively following a lead.

  • Can ask why someone thinks something or how they think something would work.

Mediating a text

The first few sections concern the way in which mediation was mainly interpreted after it was first introduced by the CEFR in 2001. There are also two categories concerning reactions to creative text (including literature).  

Relaying specific information: This refers to the way some particular piece of information of immediate relevance is extracted from the target text and relayed to someone else. It may be done within the same language or across languages.

  • Can relay (in Language B) specific information given in straightforward informational texts (e.g., leaflets, brochure entries, notices, and letters or e-mails) (in Language A).

Explaining data: This refers to expressing verbally information in figures (graphs, diagrams, etc.), perhaps as part of a PowerPoint presentation or when explaining graphics accompanying a text.

  • Can interpret and describe (in Language B) overall trends shown in simple diagrams (e.g., graphs, bar charts) (with text in Language A), even though lexical limitations cause difficulty with formulation at times.

Processing text: This involves condensing and/or reformulating the original information and arguments in a text, focusing on the main points and ideas. It may be done within the same language or across languages.

  • Can summarize (in Language B) the main points made during a conversation (in Language A) on a subject of personal or current interest, provided people articulated clearly.

Translating a written text: This is the process of giving an informal oral or written translation of a written text, often a notice, letter, e-mail, or other communication.

  • Can provide an approximate oral translation (into Language B) of clear, well-structured informational texts (written in Language A) on subjects that are familiar or of personal interest, although lexical limitations cause difficulty with formulation at times.

Note-taking (lectures, seminars, meetings, etc.): This concerns the ability to grasp key information and write coherent notes, which is valuable in academic and professional life.

  • Can take notes as a list of key points during a straightforward lecture, provided the topic is familiar and the lecture is both formulated in simple language and articulated clearly.

Expressing a personal response to creative texts (including literature): This reflects the approach taken in school sectors and in adult reading circles, focusing on expression of the effect that a work has on the user/learner as an individual.

  • Can explain in some detail which character they most identified with and why.

Analysis and criticism of creative texts (including literature): This concerns more formal analysis of, for example, the significance of events in a novel, the treatment of the same themes in different works, and more global evaluation of the work or works as a whole.

  • Can point out the most important episodes and events in a clearly structured narrative in everyday language and explain the significance of events and the connections between them.

Mediating communication

Even if one thinks of mediation in terms of rendering a text comprehensible, the difficulty in comprehension may well be due to a lack of familiarity. Understanding the other requires an effort of translation from one’s own perspective to the other, keeping both perspectives in mind.

Facilitating pluricultural space: This category involves creating a shared space between linguistically and culturally different interlocutors (that is, the capacity to deal with “otherness”, to identify similarities and differences, to build on known and unknown cultural features, and so on) in order to enable communication and collaboration.

  • Can support an intercultural exchange using a limited repertoire to introduce people from different cultural backgrounds and to ask and answer questions, showing awareness that some questions may be perceived differently in the cultures concerned.

Acting as an intermediary in informal situations (with friends and colleagues): There are sometimes situations in which the user/learner, as a plurilingual individual, mediates across languages and cultures to the best of their ability in an informal situation.

  • Can communicate (in Language B) the main sense of what is said (in Language A) on subjects of personal interest, while following important politeness conventions, provided the interlocutors articulate clearly and they can ask for clarification and pause to plan how to express things.

Facilitating communication in delicate situations and disagreements: Sometimes a user/learner may have a formal role to mediate in a disagreement between third parties or may informally try to resolve a misunderstanding, delicate situation, or disagreement between them, seeking balance in the representation of the viewpoints of the other parties involved in the discussion.

  • Can demonstrate their understanding of the key issues in a disagreement on a topic familiar to them and make simple requests for confirmation and/or clarification.

Mediation strategies

The first three categories here relate to any form of mediation; the last two to mediating a text.

Linking to previous knowledge: Here the mediator may explain new information by making comparisons, by describing how it relates to something the recipient already knows, or by helping recipients activate previous knowledge.

  • Can show how new information is related to what people are familiar with by asking simple questions.

Adapting language: Here the user/learner employs shifts in language, style and/or register in order to present the content of a text in a different genre and register.

  • Can paraphrase short passages in a simple fashion, using the original order of the text.

Breaking down complicated information: Understanding can often be enhanced by breaking down complicated information into constituent parts and showing how these parts fit together to give the whole picture.

  • Can make a set of instructions easier to understand by repeating them slowly, a few words/signs at a time, employing verbal and non-verbal emphasis to facilitate understanding.

Amplifying a dense text: This concerns the explication of a difficult text through the inclusion of helpful information, examples, details, background information, reasoning, and explanatory comments.

  • Can make an aspect of an everyday topic clearer by providing simple examples.

Streamlining: This involves expressing the information in the text more economically by eliminating repetition and digressions and excluding those sections that do not add relevant new information.

  • Can identify and mark (e.g., underline, highlight) the essential information in a straightforward, informational text in order to pass this information on to someone else.

Cut and paste together the 5-8 descriptors that you chose from the different categories. Now that you’ve read these descriptors together, think of possible classroom activities they suggest. Ideally, imagine a scenario that would bring (most of) these activities together.

Next ⏭️

Now that you have a good idea of what mediation entails and of activities that it can inspire, read the section on mediation in the CEFR Companion Volume —focusing on the categories that you selected. In particular, read the little introduction to each category.

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