Grammar by CEFR Level: What Learners Meet, A1 to B2

Teachers search for 'A2 grammar topics' or a 'B1 grammar list' and expect an official answer. There is none. The Common European Framework describes what learners can do with a language, and it was written to apply to any language. It does not say when to teach the present perfect. The grammar lists you see for English were built later, by projects that used different kinds of evidence. This article explains where the lists come from, gives a table of typical structures from A1 to B2, and shows how to use it when you choose stories for a class.

Does the CEFR list grammar for each level?

No. The CEFR does not list grammar for any level. The 2001 framework says so directly: "It is not considered possible to produce a scale for progression in respect of grammatical structure which would be applicable across all languages" (Council of Europe, 2001, p. 113). Grammar lists for English at A1, A2, B1 and B2 come from later projects that mapped English onto the levels.

What the CEFR does give is a scale for grammatical accuracy. It describes how well a learner controls grammar, not which grammar. One descriptor per level is quoted below from the Companion Volume (Council of Europe, 2020, p. 132).

• A1: "Shows only limited control of a few simple grammatical structures and sentence patterns in a learnt repertoire."
• A2: "Uses some simple structures correctly, but still systematically makes basic mistakes; nevertheless, it is usually clear what they are trying to say."
• B1: "Uses reasonably accurately a repertoire of frequently used 'routines' and patterns associated with more predictable situations."
• B2: "Shows a relatively high degree of grammatical control. Does not make mistakes which lead to misunderstanding."

These descriptors are about accuracy when a learner speaks or writes. The CEFR's reading descriptors are separate, and they name no structures either. You can read them in CEFR reading can-do statements.

Where do the English grammar lists come from?

Three projects are worth knowing. They rest on different evidence, and that matters when you use them.

The Core Inventory is frank about its basis. Its authors write that it is "based on experience and consensus, not data-based analysis of the language that learners actually use". A point is listed at the level where it is considered most relevant in the classroom. The authors add that learners "are not expected to have mastery of the language points at that stage".

The English Grammar Profile works the other way round. O'Keeffe and Mark (2017) placed a structure at a level only when the exam writing met six criteria. These included frequency, a rate of correct use of at least 60%, and use by a range of learners from different first-language families. The authors state the limits plainly. The study is limited to written exam data from Cambridge exams.

Typical grammar at A1, A2, B1 and B2

The table below shows what is typically taught at each level. It is not an official CEFR list, because no such list exists. Every row is taken from the appendix of examples in the Core Inventory (North, Ortega & Sheehan, 2010). Each row is a selection, and the inventory marks some of its points as less core than others.

Read the table as the point where a structure usually enters teaching. The inventory's authors report that agreement between their sources was greatest at B1.

What learners actually write at each level

The English Grammar Profile adds detail that a teaching list cannot. O'Keeffe and Mark (2017) give these examples from the exam writing.

• Past simple at A1. Learners use the affirmative form, but only with a limited range of regular and irregular verbs.
• Past perfect at B1. The affirmative form did not show enough correct uses at A2. It met all six criteria at B1, with a limited range of adverbs such as 'never', 'just' and 'already'.
• Past simple at B2. Learners used 'I wondered' and 'I wanted' as polite forms when they made requests or gave thanks.

Their broader finding is about growth after a form is learned. A form can settle early, at the A or B levels. Learners then use it with more words and for subtler meanings as they move up. So 'past simple: A1' does not mean the past simple is finished at A1. The authors observed that knowing more vocabulary appears to go hand in hand with a wider range of uses of a form.

Meeting a structure in reading is not the same as using it

Every list above describes teaching or writing. None of the three projects measured what learners understand when they read. So none of them tells you the level at which a reader can follow the passive or the past perfect in a story.

The general pattern in language learning is that understanding runs ahead of production. The clearest evidence is for vocabulary. Webb (2008) gave second-language learners matching receptive and productive tests. Their total receptive vocabulary was larger than their productive vocabulary. When answers were scored strictly, the gap grew as words became less frequent. When partial knowledge was accepted, the gap was small. His learners were at university level, not school pupils.

Teachers often assume grammar behaves the same way: a pupil can follow a structure in a story some time before they can write it. That is a reasonable working assumption. It is not a measured rule. Tasseva-Kurktchieva (2015) studied English speakers learning Bulgarian noun phrases. In some cases they produced a grammatical feature before they fully understood its role. Do not treat 'one level earlier in reading' as a fact.

The Companion Volume gives one reason why production is hard. A learner who is forming a thought must give most of their attention to the task, so accuracy tends to drop (Council of Europe, 2020). It also notes research suggesting that inaccuracy increases at around B1, as learners start to use language more independently.

How to use a grammar list when choosing stories

A grammar list is a checking tool. It helps you see how much of a story will be new to the class.

1. Start with the pupils, not the list. Note which structures the class has met, and which it uses in writing.
2. Skim the story and mark the structures that the list places at the level above.
3. Count how often they appear. One past perfect in a chapter is different from one in every paragraph.
4. Check whether the meaning depends on the structure. If the plot turns on a conditional the class has never met, plan to teach it first.
5. Check the support around it: pictures, audio, repetition and a clear context.
6. Decide: read the story as it is, teach one structure first, or choose another story.

For classroom techniques, see teaching grammar through stories. Grammar is only one part of the match between pupil and book, as how to match students to the right graded readers explains.

Why one structure above level should not rule a story out

There are four reasons to be careful before you reject a story.

• The lists are typical, not rules. The Core Inventory records a consensus about teaching. Its authors do not expect mastery at the level where a point is listed.
• The lists were not built from reading. They record what is taught or written.
• The CEFR describes reading in other terms. Its A2 reading descriptor speaks of short, simple texts with the highest frequency vocabulary. It names no structure.
• A first meeting is useful to you. It gives you a real sentence to return to when you teach the structure later.

There are also good reasons to reject a story. Reject it, or teach first, when the structures above level are frequent, when the plot depends on them, or when the vocabulary is also too hard. Vocabulary load is covered in how many words you need at each CEFR level. For the full set of factors, see how a story is levelled to the CEFR.

How iRead handles this

Every story, quiz and game in iRead is levelled to the CEFR, from A1 to C2. A quiz runs after every session, and practice questions are available between sessions. The questions are generated from the story itself: real sentences from the story, the grammar that appears in the story, comprehension of the plot, and the moral.

Key takeaway

There is no official CEFR grammar list. Treat the published lists as typical guides to teaching and writing, and judge a story by how dense its new structures are.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Council of Europe (2001). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. rm.coe.int/16802fc1bf
2. Council of Europe (2020). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Companion volume. Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg. ISBN 978-92-871-8621-8. rm.coe.int/common-european-framework-of-reference-for-languages-learning-teaching/16809ea0d4
3. North, B., Ortega, A., & Sheehan, S. (2010). A Core Inventory for General English. British Council / EAQUALS. ISBN 978-086355-653-1. www.eaquals.org/resources/the-core-inventory-for-general-english/
4. O'Keeffe, A., & Mark, G. (2017). The English Grammar Profile of learner competence: Methodology and key findings. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 22(4), 457-489. doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.14086.oke
5. Hawkins, J. A., & Filipović, L. (2012). Criterial Features in L2 English: Specifying the Reference Levels of the Common European Framework. English Profile Studies, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-521-18477-9. www.cambridge.org/gb/cambridgeenglish/catalog/teacher-training-development-and-research/criterial-features-l2-english
6. Webb, S. (2008). Receptive and productive vocabulary sizes of L2 learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 30(1), 79-95. doi.org/10.1017/S0272263108080042
7. Tasseva-Kurktchieva, M. (2015). Can production precede comprehension in L2 acquisition?. Second Language Research, 31(4), 493-522. doi.org/10.1177/0267658315581725