Die Auswirkungen des Gemeinsamen europäischen Referenzrahmens für Sprachen auf den Deutschunterricht in Japan, untersucht anhand von Lehrbüchern für Deutsch als Fremdsprache

This article looks at the application of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) for German language education in Japan. The CEFR was adopted by German publishers and institutions soon after its introduction, and within a few years all textbooks published in Germany, all language tests conducted by German and Austrian institutions, and all language courses in German-speaking countries have been redesigned and labelled with the six reference levels of the CEFR. On the other hand, the implementation of the CEFR in Japan has been much slower. The most widely taken German language test in Japan does not yet reflect the CEFR, and only about 5% of all textbooks published in Japan follow the CEFR. This article looks at the background of these developments with a focus on textbooks, and makes a case for the wider adoption of the CEFR for teaching German as a foreign language in Japan