International ESOL & SESOL 
(CEFR) overall descriptors for each level

Preliminary - A1
(Entry level 1)	
•	Can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases satisfying practical needs in connection with education, training and social roles.  

•	Can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as possessions, address and people known.
  
•	Can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help. 

•	Can read and understand short texts on familiar topics and obtain information from common signs and symbols. 

•	Can write short simple phrases and sentences in documents such as forms, lists and messages.

Access – A2
(Entry level 2)	
•	Can understand sentences and frequently-used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance such as basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment, education, training and social roles. 
•	Can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information, feelings and opinions on familiar and routine matters.  
•	Can engage in conversation to establish shared understanding about familiar topics.
•	Can read, understand and obtain information from short documents, familiar sources, signs and symbols. 
•	Can write to communicate with some awareness of the intended audience.

Achiever – B1
(Entry level 3)	
•	Can understand the main points of clear standard communication on matters regularly encountered in social roles, work, school, leisure, education and training. 

•	Can convey information, feelings and opinions on familiar topics, using appropriate formality. 

•	Can engage in discussion in a familiar situation making relevant points and responding to reach a shared understanding. 

•	Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. 
 
•	Can produce a simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest adapting to the intended audience.  

•	Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give explanations for opinions and plans.

Communicator – B2
(Level 1)	
•	Can understand the main ideas of complex communication on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialisation.  
•	Can interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party.  
•	Can adapt to take account of the listener(s), the context and the medium.  
•	Can engage in discussion in familiar and unfamiliar situations making clear and relevant contributions. 
•	Can obtain information from different sources. 
•	Can communicate clearly and in detail on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options, varying length, format and style appropriate to purpose and audience.

Expert – C1
(Level 2)	
•	Can understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, both written and spoken, and recognise implicit meaning.  
•	Can use the language fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions.  
•	Can respond to extended information and narratives, follow detailed explanations and complex instructions, adapting response to audience, medium and context. 
•	Can engage in discussion in a variety of situations making clear and effective contributions.
•	Can use language flexibly and understand a range of texts of varying complexity and length. for social, academic and professional purposes.  
•	Can produce clear well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organisational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices. 
•	Can communicate ideas and opinions effectively, using length, format and style appropriate to purpose, content and audience.

Mastery – C2
(Level 3)	
•	Can understand with ease virtually everything heard or read.  

•	Can summarise information from different spoken or written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation.  

•	Can express him/herself spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations.