Oral Production: the Official CEFR Descriptors from B2 to C1
Oral production is one of the CEFR's core language activities: it covers situations where the speaker talks at length without a listener taking turns in return — a presentation, a report, a talk, an extended argument delivered to an audience. Unlike interaction, the whole burden of the discourse rests on the speaker: structuring ideas, linking them, sustaining the distance without a conversational partner to lean on.
The B2→C1 boundary marks a real shift in the nature of the discourse. At B2, the speaker develops a viewpoint clearly and in detail, with organised arguments. C1 adds elaborate structuring, a style suited to context and audience, and a fluency that smooths over the search for words — substance takes over from the effort of phrasing. This page reproduces every official descriptor for this activity at B2, B2+ and C1, scale by scale.
The official descriptors, scale by scale
6 Companion Volume scales cover oral production between B2 and C1. For each one, the B2 and C1 descriptors are shown side by side; where the CEFR publishes B2+ descriptors, they appear in the amber transition band.
Addressing audiences
B2 — independent user
Can give a clear, prepared presentation, giving reasons in support of or against a particular point of view and giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.
Can take a series of follow-up questions with a degree of fluency and spontaneity which poses no strain for either themselves or the audience.
C1 — proficient user
Can give a clear, well-structured presentation on a complex subject, expanding and supporting points of view at some length with subsidiary points, reasons and relevant examples.
Can structure a longer presentation appropriately in order to help the audience follow the sequence of ideas and understand the overall argumentation.
Can speculate or hypothesise in presenting a complex subject, comparing and evaluating alternative proposals and arguments.
Can handle interjections well, responding spontaneously and almost effortlessly.
B2+ — transition zone
Can give a clear, systematically developed presentation, with highlighting of significant points, and relevant supporting detail.
Can depart spontaneously from a prepared text and follow up interesting points raised by members of the audience, often showing remarkable fluency and ease of expression.
Sustained monologue: putting a case (e.g. in a debate)
B2 — independent user
Can develop a clear argument, expanding and supporting their points of view at some length with subsidiary points and relevant examples.
Can construct a chain of reasoned argument.
Can explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.
C1 — proficient user
Can argue a case on a complex issue, formulating points precisely and employing emphasis effectively.
Can develop an argument systematically in well-structured language, taking into account the interlocutor’s perspective, highlighting significant points with supporting examples and concluding appropriately.
B2+ — transition zone
Can develop an argument systematically with appropriate highlighting of significant points, and relevant supporting detail.
Sustained monologue: giving information
B2 — independent user
Can communicate detailed information reliably.
Can give a clear, detailed description of how to carry out a procedure.
C1 — proficient user
Can communicate clearly detailed distinctions between ideas, concepts and things that closely resemble one other.
Can give instructions on carrying out a series of complex professional or academic procedures.
B2+ — transition zone
Can communicate complex information and advice on the full range of matters related to their occupational role.
Sustained monologue: describing experience
B2 — independent user
Can give clear, detailed descriptions on a wide range of subjects related to their field of interest.
Can describe the personal significance of events and experiences in detail.
C1 — proficient user
Can give clear, detailed descriptions of complex subjects.
Can give elaborate descriptions and narratives, integrating sub-themes, developing particular points and rounding them off with an appropriate conclusion.
Overall oral production
B2 — independent user
Can give clear, detailed descriptions and presentations on a wide range of subjects related to their field of interest, expanding and supporting ideas with subsidiary points and relevant examples.
C1 — proficient user
Can give clear, detailed descriptions and presentations on complex subjects, integrating sub-themes, developing particular points and rounding off with an appropriate conclusion.
B2+ — transition zone
Can give clear, systematically developed descriptions and presentations, with appropriate highlighting of significant points, and relevant supporting detail.
Public announcements
B2 — independent user
Can deliver announcements on most general topics with a degree of clarity, fluency and spontaneity which causes no strain or inconvenience to the recipient.
C1 — proficient user
Can deliver announcements fluently, almost effortlessly, using stress and intonation to convey finer shades of meaning precisely.
The Examiner's Perspective
Réda Haiat — CEFR Assessment Expert · 22 Years of Experience
At B2, the speaker builds a solid discourse: arguing, prioritising, developing. At C1, they do all of that without the effort showing. The difference isn't in the structure — that's already there at B2 — but in how easily they can step outside it: digressing and finding their way back, reformulating on the fly, adjusting register mid-sentence because they sense the effect they're producing.
The most reliable marker is how they handle the unexpected. A B2 speaker sticks to their plan; a C1 speaker can drop it and find their way back to it. The C1 descriptors talk about spontaneity, flexibility, idiomatic use — all signs that language is no longer a constraint to manage but an instrument at their disposal. B2 executes what they prepared; C1 improvises on a mastered base.
B2+ produces C1-quality discourse as long as they stay within the formal register they've got under control. What gives them away is a change of tone: shift to irony, complicity, an informal register, and the ease disappears. Register flexibility is the last thing acquired at this boundary.
What I listen for at the boundary
- Can the speaker digress and find their way back, or does the structure fall apart?
- Does the ease survive a change of register, or is it limited to formal speech?
- Do they reformulate on the fly when they sense they haven't been understood?
- Is the idiomatic use natural, or does it read as a rehearsed performance?
- Does the effort of construction still show, or has it disappeared?
Frequently asked questions
How many official descriptors cover oral production between B2 and C1?
28 official descriptors cover this zone: 11 at B2, 5 at B2+ and 12 at C1, spread across 6 scales. All of them are reproduced on this page.
What does the B2+ level mean?
B2+ is a CEFR "plus level": it describes a strong B2 competence, beyond the B2 threshold but not yet meeting the C1 criteria. The Companion Volume publishes specific descriptors for these intermediate bands — that is the transition zone shown between the B2 and C1 columns.
Can I reuse these descriptors?
Yes. The CEFR descriptors are published by the Council of Europe under the CC BY 4.0 licence: you may reproduce and adapt them, including commercially, provided you credit the Council of Europe. That is exactly what this page does.
Going further
Sources
- Council of Europe — CEFR Companion Volume (2020): https://rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989
- The CEFR on the Council of Europe website: https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/