The Common Framework of Reference for Intercultural Digital Literacies (CFRIDiL): Learning as Meaning-Making and Assessment as Recognition in English as an Additional Language Contexts

This chapter introduces the Common Framework of Reference for Intercultural Digital Literacies (CFRIDiL), a framework developed from research data collected during common teaching and learning activities in three countries (Italy, Denmark, United Kingdom) in a three-year European project. Within a learning scenario where students were taught how to interpret and produce five digital text types, meaning making was brought to the fore by organizing learning experiences and assessment criteria that incorporated digital productions, meta-reflections on one’s own productions, and peer-assessment on a commonly shared grid of criteria. This chapter discusses the framework’s three dimensions: 1) Multimodal Orchestration, 2) Digital Technologies and 3) Intercultural Communication, with a fourth dimension, Transversal Skills, that embraces the former three. In the proposed model, meaning making is prioritised, and English as an Additional Language is not assessed in a vacuum but in combination with interactional, intercultural and community-building resources.