ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) competence descriptors have been applied by the European Benchmarking Chinese Language (EBCL) project and addresses the particular difficulties and issues related to learning the Chinese script when developing A1 and A2 descriptors for receptive and productive writing competencies. It reviews the relationship between Chinese as foreign language (CFL) learners' competences in spoken and written Chinese, and the learners' perceived learning difficulties. The CEFR has been applied and implemented in Europe and beyond as a broad framework not only for European modern languages, but also for languages with non-alphabetic writing systems such as Chinese and Japanese. As is commonly known, the Chinese language is a non-alphabetic language with a writing system usually termed as logography, similar to Japanese or Arabic. Both CFL practitioners and learners have been greatly challenged and felt apprehensive about teaching and learning a language with such a difficult writing system.
