French Language Syllabus for DELF and DALF Exams
A matter of confusion and irritation for students is the fact that there is no fixed syllabus for DELF/DALF exams as grammar, vocabulary and expression usage differs from book to book.
[quote align=”left”]Bonjour, bon appetit, bon voyage ça va, salut, rendez-vous, merci, s’il vous plait, et cetera (etc.,)[/quote]Below is the guidelines for language proficiency as per the CEFR. There are four parts of the exam irrespective of the level of exam taken: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. An individual taking up any level of exam is tested in all the four areas of French language. The French language knowledge in each level is discussed below:
DELF/DALF French Proficiency Level(as per CEFRL) |
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A1 (Breakthrough) |
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A2 (Waystage) |
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B1 (Threshold) |
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B2 (Vantage) |
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C1 (Proficiency) |
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C2 (Mastery) |
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DELF A1 (Beginner/Breakthrough):
- Can understand and respond to basic expressions of greetings and farewell
- Can present/ introduce himself/herself slowly and clearly or introduce someone else.
- Can interact to people in day to day scenario like shopkeepers, vendors etc.,
- Has basic knowledge of vocabulary related to family, relationships, household items etc.,
- Can identify and name countries, places, nationalities In French
- Can read simple sentences and text clearly.
- Can write post cards, letters, emails explaining personal experience during vacation, holiday or invite somebody using basic phrases and expressions.
- Can talk about colour, shapes, common vegetables and fruits
- Has basic knowledge of nouns, pronouns, number and gender of nouns, common adjectives, articles, prepositions and some important verbs (regular & irregular) in simple present, simple past, imperative and near future tenses.
DELF A2 (Elementary / Waystage):
- Can express his/her feeling of hungry, thirst, hot, cold.
- Can ask and give directions about a place.
- Can understand and take part in discussions related to day to day events if spoken to directly, slowly and clearly
- Can understand a situation and react using expressing of sadness, happiness, fear etc.,
- Can follow, read and understand to simple set of instruction like sign boards, newspaper advertisements, magazine extracts, instruction manual of everyday equipment, follow simple recipes with the aid of a bilingual dictionary.
- Can talk and write about his/her likes/dislikes, hobbies, leisure activities, work, education, future plans, his/her culture/celebrations, childhood incidence etc., as a sequential manner and using appropriate grammatical sentence structure.
DELF B1 (Intermediate / Threshold):
- Can listen and get overall understanding of the main points of discussion of a known topic with peers, classmates and friends when spoken at a normal speed with request to repeat certain words or phrases.
- Can take part in group discussions with native speakers when the conversation is not hurried, can understand instructions, explanations given by teacher and narrate small stories and recollect some incidence of daily like a flash news on TV, a neighbourhood robbery, a spectacular sports event, a movie recently watched.
- Can understand text of varying length with or without the assistance of a dictionary.
- Can talk and write opinion, beliefs and suggestions about simple matters related to personal likes/dislikes as well as some controversial issues related to pollution, people/culture, education, unemployment, governments/politics etc.,
- Can clearly express personal feelings with explanation about cause, reason, consequence etc.,
- Can describe in writing or in speaking about everyday objects, everyday places or events in a sequence using connecting words. Also can write about various life experience, dreams and aspirations with a detailed account of each event.
DELF B2 (Upper Intermediate / Vantage):
- Can understand and react to ideas related to complex text on both concrete and abstract topics like specialized topics related to technology, science, education etc.,
- They can express and Interact fluently and spontaneously with native speakers as part of their regular interaction without creating strain in understanding and understanding for either party
- Can create grammatical structured clear and detailed text on a wide range of topics with emphasis on explaining a viewpoint on a common / complicated issue and also giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options chosen by the speaker.
DALF C1 (Advanced) / C2 (Proficiency/Mastery)
- Can read, write and understand a wide range of text which is lengthy, more complex, demanding and can recognise the meanings implicitly.
- Can express oneself fluently and spontaneously without obviously searching for expressions or phrases.
- Can communicate in the language flexibly and efficiently for social, academic and professional purposes.
- Can produce in writing clear and orally well-structured text on complex subjects. Is able to show controlled use of connectors, patterns and cohesive devices
- Has a vast knowledge on French matters related to social, economic, politics and technology. Can submit to an exam the French way which is different from the exam pattern the student is used to in his or country.