Elamur Research⌕
☰
home / papers / 2026 / CEFR-Based Assessment in Sign Languages: The Case of LSE and Perspectives for LIS

CEFR-Based Assessment in Sign Languages: The Case of LSE and Perspectives for LIS

Paper · 2026 · Maria Grazia Marrocu

Summary

The study asks how well the CEFR, whose 2020 Companion Volume first gave sign languages their own descriptors (CEFR4LS), works in practice for assessing learners of Spanish Sign Language (LSE). It also considers what this means for Italian Sign Language (LIS), where university teaching lacks common assessment criteria. The work is the first phase of a doctoral project that Rey Juan Carlos University (URJC) and Ca' Foscari University of Venice carry out together.

It follows hearing L2M2 learners at levels A1, A2 and B1 using a mixed-methods design:

  • questionnaires at the start and end of the course,
  • self-assessment grids based on CEFR descriptors,
  • interviews with instructors,
  • classroom observation.

Students' self-ratings were rescaled and compared with instructors' analytic exam scores. Self-assessment became more accurate as proficiency grew. However, learners consistently overrated their receptive skills and underrated their productive ones. The author argues that this calls for targeted assessment interventions and supports building CEFR-consistent evaluation practices for sign languages, especially in the fragmented Italian LIS setting.

Key points

  • Data (Corpus 1): collected at URJC in 2024/2025 from 29 A1 students (mean age 20.1), 25 A2 students (21.8) and 22 B1 students (22.3). Six lecturers took part: four Deaf and two hearing (one CODA, one LSE interpreter).
  • Scales: students rated themselves on a 1–4 scale using CEFR sign-language descriptors. Instructors scored grammatical, lexical, discourse and pragmatic competence on a 0–10 grid. Both were mapped onto a common 0–10 metric.
  • Analysis: Excel, RStudio and JASP were used, with ANOVA, post hoc tests, Chi-square tests and correlation analyses.
  • Context: URJC offers the only four-year LSE degree covering levels A1–C1. LSE was officially recognised in 2007, and curricular syllabi have existed since 2010.
  • A1 findings: confidence peaked in linguistic awareness and sociolinguistic appropriateness. Ratings were more dispersed for schematic precision and text structure.

Our summary of the paper, in our own words — not its text. The work belongs to its authors; read it at the links above.

 Institutions

🎓Ca' Foscari University of VeniceVenice · Italy12 works · 328 citations🎓Universidad Complutense de MadridMadrid · Spain9 works · 63 citations

 Fields, topics and concepts

📚 Shelves 5The field of science this work belongs to (OpenAlex fields).Arts and Humanities · 17,450 worksLanguage and Linguistics · 17,296 worksPsychology · 1,649 worksDevelopmental and Educational Psychology · 523 worksLiterature and Literary Theory · 541 works

Cite

Cite as Maria Grazia Marrocu. 2026. CEFR-Based Assessment in Sign Languages: The Case of LSE and Perspectives for LIS. Proceedings of the LREC 2026 12th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Language in Motion.

The paper itself, not this page. BibTeX from the library's record of the work. DOI 10.63317/5pdt9ru4fqfc

@inproceedings{marrocu2026cefr,
  title = {{CEFR-Based Assessment in Sign Languages: The Case of LSE and Perspectives for LIS}},
  author = {Maria Grazia Marrocu},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the LREC 2026 12th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Language in Motion},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.63317/5pdt9ru4fqfc},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.63317/5pdt9ru4fqfc}
}

References

24 references, 0 of them with a card of ours. ↗ leads to the work, «find» searches for one we have no id for yet.

  1. Anna Cardinaletti. (2018). La lingua dei segni italiana a Ca’ Foscari: Didattica, ricerca e progetti sull’accessibilità. In A. Cardinaletti, L. Cerasi, and P. Rigobon (Eds.), Le lingue occidentali nei 150 anni di storia di Ca’ Foscari (pp. 341-353). Edizioni Ca’ Foscari. http://doi.org/10.30687/978-… — [doi:10.30687/978-88-6969-262-8/016](https://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-262-8/016) ↗
  2. Anna Cardinaletti and Lara Mantovan. (2023). Le lingue dei segni nel volume complementare e l’insegnamento della LIS nelle università italiane. Italiano LinguaDue, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.54103/2037-3597/19575 — [doi:10.54103/2037-3597/19575](https://doi.org/10.54103/2037-3597/19575) ↗
  3. BOE. (2007). Ley 27/2007, de 23 de octubre. https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2007/10/24/pdfs/A4 3251-43259.pdf Carmen Sanchez and David Dunning. (2020). Decision fluency and overconfidence among beginners. Decision, 7(3), 225-237. https://doi.org/10.1037/dec0000122 — [doi:10.1037/dec0000122](https://doi.org/10.1037/dec0000122) ↗
  4. Chiara Branchini, Anna Cardinaletti, A. and Lara Mantovan. (Eds.). (2024). Insegnare la LIS e la LISt all’università. Esperienze, materiali, strumenti per la didattica e per la valutazione. Edizioni Ca’ Foscari. http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-827-9 — [doi:10.30687/978-88-6969-827-9](https://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-827-9) ↗
  5. CNLSE. (n.d.). Cursos de formación LSE en España. https://cnlse.es/es/recursos/otros/formacion/univ ersidades Consejo de Europa. (2020). Marco común europeo de referencia para las lenguas: Aprendizaje, enseñanza, evaluación. Volumen complementario. Consejo de Europa. ↗
  6. Council of Europe. (2020). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment. Companion volume. Council of Europe. exposure to sign. In Proceedings of the Tilburg Gesture Research Meeting. Tilburg University. find
  7. Gerardo Ortega and Gary Morgan. (2015). Input processing at first exposure to a sign language. Second Language Research, 31(4), 443-463. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658315576822 — [doi:10.1177/0267658315576822](https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658315576822) ↗
  8. Graziano Serragiotto. (2017). La valutazione per l’apprendimento delle lingue straniere dal punto di vista dei docenti. Rassegna Italiana di Linguistica Applicata, 49(1), 7-19. find
  9. Ignacio Arroyo Hernández. (2021). Atteggiamenti verso la pronuncia della lingua straniera: Il questionario di Ca’Foscari (2019) nel panorama attuale di ricerca. Rassegna Italiana di Linguistica Applicata, 1-2, 165-172. find
  10. Lorraine Leeson and Beppie Van den Bogaerde. (2019). Sign languages. In D. Newby, F. Heyworth, and M. Cavalli (Eds.), Changing contexts, evolving competences (pp. 100-107). Council of Europe. find
  11. Deborah Chen Pichler and Helen Koulidobrova. (2015). Acquisition of sign language as a second language (L2). Gallaudet University Press. find
  12. Lorraine Leeson, Christian Rathmann, Beppie Van den Bogaerde and Tobias Haug. (2016). Sign languages and the CEFR: Common reference level descriptors. European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe. find
  13. ECML [European Center for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe] (n.d., a). Promoting excellence in sign language instruction. https://www.ecml.at/Thematicareas/SignedLangu ages/ProSign Lorraine Leeson, Jordan Fenlon, Johanna Mesch, Sarah Sheridan and Carmel Grehan. (2020). Corpora in sign langu… ↗
  14. ECML [European Center for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe] (n.d., b). Sign languages. https://www.ecml.at/thematicareas/signedlangua ges Lara Mantovan. (2021). Insegnare la lingua dei segni italiana all’università: Esperienze consolidate e direzioni future. QuaderniCIRD, 22, 33-49. ↗
  15. Eva Aroca. (Coord.). (2012). Propuesta curricular de la lengua de signos española. Nivel usuario independiente B1. Fundación CNSE. find
  16. Marc Marschark, Linda Spencer, Andreana Durkin, Georgianna Borgna, Carol Convertino, Elizabeth Machmer, William G Kronenberger and Alexandra Trani. (2015). Understanding language, hearing status, and visual-spatial skills. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 20(4), 310-330. https://doi.org/1… — [doi:10.1093/deafed/env025](https://doi.org/10.1093/deafed/env025) find
  17. Fundación CNSE (Coord.). (2010). Propuesta curricular de la lengua de signos española. Nivel usuario básico A1-A2. Fundación CNSE. find
  18. Maria Aránzazu Díez. (Coord.). (2014). Propuesta curricular de la lengua de signos española. Nivel usuario independiente B2. Fundación CNSE. find
  19. Gerardo Ortega and Asli Özyürek. (2013). Gesture-sign interface in hearing non-signers’ first Maria Grazia Marrocu. (2023). Espressioni idiomatiche: Confronto interlinguistico tra la LSE Edoardo Lugarini (Ed.). (2010). Valutare le competenze linguistiche (Collana Giscel, 11). FrancoAngeli. e la LIS… find
  20. Maria Tagarelli De Monte. (2022). Using the Common European Framework of Reference for Italian Sign Language education: Lessons from research and practice. Momento – Diálogos em Educação, 31(2), 394-416. https://doi.org/10.14295/momento.v31i02.14502 — [doi:10.14295/momento.v31i02.14502](https://doi.org/10.14295/momento.v31i02.14502) ↗
  21. Monica Barni, Claudio Ferrara, Sabina Fontana and Maria Roccaforte. (2024). Certificare la competenza linguistico-comunicativa nella LIS: Riflessioni, raccomandazioni e proposte. LEND. Lingua e nuova didattica, 1, 8-21. find
  22. Thomas Björkstrand, Erin Balkstam and Josephine Willing. (2019). Sign language dictionary as a digital tool in L2 teaching: Sentence scoring on CEFR levels A1-B2. Department of Linguistics, Stockholm University. find
  23. Tobias Haug and Jorg Keller. (2012). ESF exploratory workshop on development of theoretical and practical guidelines for the adaptation of the CEFR to sign languages: Scientific report. European Science Foundation. find
  24. Travis J Carter and David Dunning. (2008). Faulty self-assessment: Why evaluating one’s own competence is an intrinsically difficult task. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(1), 346-360. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00031.x — [doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00031.x](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00031.x) ↗

Updated

↑ back to top

This page in Markdown → https://md.research.elamur.ai/free/en/papers/marrocu-2026-cefr-based-assessment-sign-languages/