How to assess your learners using the GSE Assessment Frameworks

Billie Jago
Billie Jago
A teachet stood in front of a class in front of a board, smiling at his students.
Reading time: 4 minutes

With language learning, assessing both the quality and the quantity of language use is crucial for accurate proficiency evaluation. While evaluating quantity (for example the number of words written or the duration of spoken production) can provide insights into a learner's fluency and engagement in a task, it doesn’t show a full picture of a learner’s language competence. For this, they would also need to be evaluated on the quality of what they produce (such as the appropriateness, accuracy and complexity of language use). The quality also considers factors such as grammatical accuracy, lexical choice, coherence and the ability to convey meaning effectively.

In order to measure the quality of different language skills, you can use the Global Scale of English (GSE) assessment frameworks.

Developed in collaboration with assessment experts, the GSE Assessment Frameworks are intended to be used alongside the GSE Learning Objectives to help you assess the proficiency of your learners.

There are two GSE Assessment Frameworks: one for adults and one for young learners.

What are the GSE Assessment Frameworks?

  • The GSE Assessment Frameworks are intended to be used alongside the GSE Learning Objectives to help teachers assess their learners’ proficiency of all four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).
  • The GSE Learning Objectives focus on the things a learner can do, while the GSE Assessment Frameworks focus on how well a learner can do these things.
  • It can help provide you with examples of what proficiencies your learners should be demonstrating.  
  • It can help teachers pinpoint students' specific areas of strength and weakness more accurately, facilitating targeted instruction and personalized learning plans.
  • It can also help to motivate your learners, as their progress is evidenced and they can see a clear path for improvement.

An example of the GSE Assessment Frameworks

This example is from the Adult Assessment Framework for speaking.

As you can see, there are sub-skills within speaking (and for the other three main overarching skills – writing, listening and reading). Within speaking, these are production and fluency, spoken interaction, language range and accuracy.

The GSE range (and corresponding CEFR level) is shown at the top of each column, and there are descriptors that students should ideally demonstrate at that level.

However, it is important to note that students may sit across different ranges, depending on the sub-skill. For example, your student may show evidence of GSE 43-50 production and fluency and spoken interaction, but they may need to improve their language range and accuracy, and therefore sit in a range of GSE 36-42 for these sub-skills.

The GSE assessment frameworks in practice – let’s try

So, how can you use these frameworks as a teacher in your lesson? Let’s look at an example.

Imagine you are teaching a class of adult learners at GSE 43-50 (B1). This week, your class has been working towards writing an essay about living in the city vs the countryside. Your class has just written their final essay and you want to assess what they have produced.

Look at the writing sub-skills in the GSE Assessment Framework for adults. Imagine these are the criteria you are using to assess your students’ writing.

You read one of your student's essays, and in their essay they demonstrate that they can:

  • Express their opinion on the advantages and disadvantages of living in the city vs the countryside
  • Make relevant points which are mostly on-topic
  • Use topic-related language
  • Connect their ideas logically and in a way that flows well
  • Write in clear paragraphs

However, you notice that:

  • They tend to repeat common words, such as city, town, countryside, nice, busy
  • They don’t use punctuation effectively, for example missing commas, long sentences, missing capitalization
  • They have some issues with grammatical structures

Compare the above notes to the GSE Assessment Frameworks. What level is your learner demonstrating in each sub-skill? How could you evidence this using the criteria?

Now, compare your answers to the ideas below.

The points marked in the GSE 43-50 column are evidence that the student is at the expected writing level for their class, based on what you observed in their essay. The points marked in the GSE 36-42 column could be shown to the student to tell them what they need to focus on to improve, based on their essay.

Customizing the GSE assessment frameworks

The GSE Assessment Frameworks are flexible and customizable, and you can use the descriptors for your specific purpose. You can choose the appropriate GSE Assessment Frameworks for your context, and build your own formative assessment based on these.

In the example above, you were only assessing an essay, so you could ignore any contexts that were not applicable to that scenario. For example, writes personal and semi-formal letters and emails relating to everyday matters, or incorporates some relevant details from external sources.

Another benefit of the frameworks is that you can personalize assessments and create tailored learning roadmaps for individual students. Of course, not all learners are the same, so the descriptors allow students to see which sub-skill they need to work on in order to bring their writing (or speaking, listening or reading) up to their expected level. It also helps you as the teacher to understand what sub-skills to focus on in lessons to improve these main skills.

Finally, don’t be afraid to introduce your students to these descriptors or translate them into the learner's first language for lower levels. It is a great way for them to pinpoint and reflect on their strengths and areas for improvement, rather than simply getting a score and not understanding how to get to the next level of confidence and ability.

By incorporating the GSE Assessment Frameworks into your course for formative assessment, you can build students’ confidence and help them better reflect on their learning.

Learn more about the GSE

More blogs from Pearson

  • A woman sat at a table contemplating
    How can I learn to think in a new language?
    Di Charlotte Guest
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    If you are learning a language, you may understand many words but still translate everything in your head. Thinking in a new language means you understand and form ideas directly in that language, without relying on your first language. Most learners move from “understanding nothing” to “understanding more than they speak”, then progressing to simple conversations, and finally thinking naturally in the language. This shift takes practice, but it is possible for every learner – especially if you follow these tips. 

    Build a strong base with core vocabulary and grammar

    When learning a language, you do not need thousands of words at the start. You need the right words.

    Focus on 300–500 high-frequency words – the most common words in a language – and basic grammar. These are words that appear in most daily conversations and texts, and learning them helps you speak and understand basic sentences quickly. With these core words, you can:

    • Talk about your daily life
    • Ask simple questions
    • Share opinions
    • Describe past and future plans

    Short daily lessons (even 15 minutes) are very effective. Combine vocabulary, grammar, listening and speaking in a clear order. A strong base makes it much easier to start thinking in the language.

  • Teacher and students discussing over a laptop
    Gamification techniques that boost student participation
    Di Charlotte Guest
    Reading time: 6 minutes

    Why do students willingly spend hours trying to beat a game level, but struggle to spend ten minutes revising vocabulary? The difference is design. Gamification in education takes the design principles that make games so compelling – clear goals, visible progress, achievable challenges and immediate feedback – and applies them to everyday learning tasks. 

    Why gamification works in education

    Game-design elements – such as points, badges, leaderboards, levels, progress indicators, instant feedback and choice – increase participation and motivation. When students can see their progress, earn recognition and understand exactly what they’re working toward, tasks feel purposeful and effort feels rewarded. When carefully integrated into a learning management system (LMS), gamification turns every action, whether it’s a quiz, discussion or assignment, into an opportunity for quick feedback and visible progress.

    74% of teachers now use digital game-based learning tools, and the worldwide market is expanding at approximately 28% annually through 2030. This highlights how important it is to have platforms that include badges, leaderboards, adaptive tests and analytics to help students and teachers.

    Points and rewards systems

    Points and rewards are quantifiable tokens granted for desired behaviours (for example, submitting work, collaborating, mastering skills). They give instant, visible credit that reinforces habits and makes effort trackable across activities. When paired with choice and feedback, they sustain engagement without replacing intrinsic interest.

    In the classroom, students can earn points for things like attending regularly, submitting work on time, taking part in small quizzes or posting in forums. This gives quick feedback to show student effort and participation. Studies show that gamification can boost motivation to learn by up to 83%. However, it’s important to balance external rewards with chances for choice and reflection, because too much focus on rewards can reduce the natural desire to learn over time.

  • Woman uses AI on computer
    Why grammar still matters in a world of AI
    Di Hannah Lawrence
    Reading time: 7 minutes

    Given that AI can already write emails for us, generate reports and meeting summaries, do we really still need grammar skills? Surely we can just sit back, relax and leave our writing tasks to the machines?

    Don’t be fooled. AI is certainly revolutionizing our productivity and our work processes, but human oversight of AI is still essential – and grammar is fundamental to that oversight. In the same way that calculators didn’t eliminate the need for numeracy and spellcheck didn’t eliminate the need for spelling knowledge, AI doesn’t eliminate the need for language awareness.