Developing CEFR-Informed Pre-A1 and A1 Writing Instructional Materials for a Junior High School in Japan

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has impacted language learning, teaching, and assessment in Japan in many ways since its publication in 2001, however more research is needed with regards to its application. In this study, issues with the inadequacies of the CEFR descriptors for writing, as well as the gap in research at the CEFR Pre-A1 and A1 levels were addressed. In particular, the CEFR Action Research Model (CARM) was used to investigate how the CEFR illustrative descriptors for writing can be applied to develop new CEFR-informed instructional materials to achieve writing proficiency at Pre-A1 and A1 levels for a secondary school in Japan. To address the shortcomings of the CEFR at the Pre-A1 and A1 levels in writing, relevant ‘Can Do’ descriptors were added and then used as reference for developing new CEFR-informed instructional materials to improve the students’ observed orthographic control and graphomotor fluency problems—areas of concern that have not been sufficiently explored in previous research especially in the Japanese context. As marked improvements in the students’ written output were observed after the intervention, it is recommended that the new instructional materials continue to be improved upon and refined, and instructional materials for the next CEFR level (CEFR A2) be developed. Furthermore, analyses of the relationship between improvement in students’ orthographic and graphomotor skills, and the quality of their writing output would also be an interesting area to pursue for future research.