The Threshold Level

The Threshold Level is a Council of Europe specification, first published in 1975 by Wilkins, van Ek, and Trim, that describes what an adult learner needs to be able to do in English to function independently in everyday situations in a country where the language is spoken. It marked a decisive shift from grammar-and-vocabulary inventories as the basis for language teaching toward an inventory of communicative purposes (notions, functions, situations) for which language is needed. The Threshold Level became the template for notional-functional syllabuses and, two decades later, for the descriptor architecture of the CEFR.

What the Specification Did

The Threshold Level is a needs-driven specification. Working from analysis of typical adult learner situations (travel, work, transactions, social interaction), it specified for each situation:

1. The notions involved (time, quantity, duration, frequency, location).
2. The functions to be performed (offers, requests, complaints, apologies, agreements).
3. The linguistic exponents typically used to perform those functions.
4. The grammatical patterns those exponents require.
5. The vocabulary needed to instantiate the functions.

This inversion (purposes first, structures derived) was the original contribution and remains the operating logic of communicative syllabuses, exam specifications, and CEFR descriptor scales today.

Threshold Level 1990

Van Ek and Trim's revision incorporated additions consistent with the broadening of communicative competence in the intervening fifteen years. The 1990 version added discourse strategies, a sociocultural component, compensation strategies for managing communicative breakdowns, and a learning-to-learn component covering metacognitive skills the learner needs to continue acquisition independently. The 1975 specification had treated linguistic and functional knowledge as the sole content of the syllabus; the 1990 revision recognised that strategic and sociocultural competences had to be specified as well.

Waystage and Vantage

The Threshold Level was not a single point but the middle of a graded series. Threshold required roughly 375 hours of guided study and corresponded to a learner who could function independently in the target country. The 1990 Waystage specification described a less demanding objective at roughly half the learning load: enough to handle predictable transactional situations but not yet capable of unscripted social use. Vantage (1996) specified the level above Threshold, describing a learner with the range to handle abstract and professional topics. The three levels (Waystage, Threshold, Vantage) map directly onto CEFR A2, B1, and B2 respectively.

Influence on the CEFR

The CEFR's six-level scale and its can-do descriptor architecture trace directly back to the Threshold Level series. Threshold became B1 ("threshold"), Waystage became A2, and Vantage became B2 in the CEFR scheme. The descriptors-by-skill organisation, the situation-and-function specifications, and the grading of language across reference points are all Threshold Level inheritance. North (2014) frames the CEFR as the institutional consolidation of the Threshold programme.

Critiques

The standard critique, articulated most influentially by Widdowson, is that the Threshold Level specifies exponents of functions but not the discourse-level competence to deploy them. A learner who has memorised "Could I have a coffee, please?" as the polite-request exponent may not know when to use it, how to extend it conversationally, or how to repair when the exchange does not go as expected. The 1990 revision partly answered this through the strategic and sociocultural components, but the original criticism, that knowing exponents is not the same as knowing how to interact, remains a recurring concern about exam specifications and curricula derived from the Threshold tradition.

References

• van Ek, J. A. (1975). The Threshold Level in a European Unit/Credit System for Modern Language Learning by Adults. Council of Europe.
• van Ek, J. A. & Trim, J. L. M. (1990). Threshold 1990. Council of Europe.
• van Ek, J. A. & Trim, J. L. M. (1991). Waystage 1990. Council of Europe.
• van Ek, J. A. & Trim, J. L. M. (1996). Vantage. Council of Europe.
• Wilkins, D. A. (1976). Notional Syllabuses. Oxford University Press.
• North, B. (2014). The CEFR in Practice. Cambridge University Press.
• Widdowson, H. G. (1978). Teaching Language as Communication. Oxford University Press.