The Impact of the Common European Framework on Foreign Language Education in the Netherlands : Focusing on the Secondary School Level

Abstract

The present paper aims to give a short sketch of an innovation in the field of foreign language teaching (FLT) at secondary school level in the Netherlands. Recently, this country has been trying to construct a 'coherent' system of foreign language education by connecting together different parts of the system with the use of a mediating tool called the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEF). Until now, however, the reform has not yet been formally evaluated in a comprehensive manner. Thus this paper attempts to conduct interim research on the process of its implementation. The final section argues that the introduction of the CEF has reinforced the interrelationship among the FLT subsystems, which include attainment targets, examinations, teacher training programmes and learners' actual learning. From this, it is indicated that an external descriptive framework like the CEF has a clear potential for reinforcing the coherence of language curriculum development.