ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the presentation of mediation in the work that led up to the CEFR and in the CEFR 2001 itself, as well as taking a brief look at the approaches to mediation that have been taken up in Germany and Greece as a result. It then discusses (inter)cultural approaches to mediation that were proposed as alternatives to the interpretation of mediation in the CEFR before outlining the broader approach to mediation taken in the CEFR Companion Volume and summarising the way its mediation descriptors were developed and validated. The CEFR Companion Volume presents descriptors for different aspects of mediating text, mediating concepts and mediating communication, as well as for related areas like online interaction and plurilingual/pluricultural competence. Finally, the chapter discusses some examples of action-oriented mediation tasks carried out in small groups, inspired by the new descriptors, and suggests that the descriptors may help to broaden the scope of language education.
