Receptive Skill (Reading): Understanding Texts with High-Frequency Everyday or Job-Related Language (B1)
This CEFR B1 benchmark describes the ability to understand written texts dealing with common, everyday topics or subjects related to one's work, provided the language used is frequent and relatively straightforward.
Scope and Characteristics:
- Text Types:
- Personal emails and letters (see line 34).
- Simple instructions, brochures, short official documents.
- Short newspaper or magazine articles on familiar topics.
- Website texts about products, services, or information relevant to daily life or work.
- Simple narratives or descriptions.
- Language Focus:
- High-Frequency Language: The text primarily uses vocabulary and grammatical structures that are common in everyday communication or within a specific, familiar job context.
- It generally avoids very specialized jargon, complex literary devices, or highly abstract concepts (unless previously studied).
- Comprehension Focus:
- Understanding the main points and essential information.
- Grasping the writer's intention (e.g., to inform, request, complain).
- Following the sequence of events or arguments in a straightforward text.
- Being able to extract specific details relevant to a task (e.g., finding opening hours, understanding product features).
- May need a dictionary for some less frequent words but can generally understand the core message without it.
Skills Developed (B1):
- Reading and understanding personal correspondence.
- Getting the main information from simple factual texts related to daily life or work.
- Following instructions or descriptions.
- Navigating websites or brochures for specific information.
Challenges:
- Texts with a high density of unknown vocabulary.
- Complex sentence structures (e.g., multiple subordinate clauses).
- Figurative language or cultural references.
- Texts on unfamiliar or abstract topics.
Learning Focus:
- Regular reading of authentic materials at the appropriate level (simplified news, blogs, emails, informational websites).
- Vocabulary building, focusing on high-frequency words and common collocations.
- Practicing reading for gist and specific information.
- Developing strategies for dealing with unknown words (guessing from context, using a dictionary effectively).
- Understanding common text structures (e.g., email format, news article structure).