Research and Insights
Everything we do is shaped by your needs; so together we have a bigger impact on the lives of your learners
We care deeply about what's important to you, your institutions and your learners. We're constantly striving to improve learner confidence, progress and performance. We also want to support your professional development. That's why we measure impact and effectiveness. Our teams of experts do this throughout learning and teaching journeys.
We combine technological innovation (such as advances in AI) with centuries of expertise. By doing this, we're able to provide ever more effective learning experiences. These can adapt to your learners' personal needs.
Shaping the future
We shape the future of learning and assessing English. We do this by combining innovation, our university partnership and the breadth and depth of our research.
Our expertise and university partnership
We have dedicated, in-house research teams. Our experts specialise in language learning, assessment and educational research for English.
We also work with leading experts within the University of Cambridge and beyond.
Driving innovation
Learning, teaching and assessing English will always evolve. We’re committed to being at the forefront of change.
Our experts use research to harness the power of digital advancements, like AI. This helps us create the best and most ethical learning experiences possible.
The latest in assessments
Our English assessments accurately reflect every learner’s level and progress. Driven by research, they combine quality and reliability with cutting edge technology. They also align with international standards.
Backed by our research, you can be confident that our assessments are of the highest quality. You also know that they're fair, and are reliable.
We offer the latest in assessments. These align with the CEFR and are authentic to real-life English. They also accurately identify the progress that learners make.
Helping learners achieve
Our research helps your learners achieve their goals. We care about finding the most effective ways to teach and learn. This means that your learners gain the skills, qualifications and confidence needed for their future.
Understanding and evaluating how learning happens
We uncover the most effective ways to both teach and learn.
We go beneath the surface, learning from teachers and learners across the world. This provides important insights about the learning process. We also get to see first-hand how our products perform in the real-world.
Developing skills through English
Our world is changing fast. We need to prepare students with skills and experiences beyond simply learning English.
Our research-backed resources, frameworks and products support learners to develop skills for life. These include those they need to achieve their goals. For example, we support learners with wellbeing and emotional development. We also cover employability, creative and critical thinking, and communication skills.
Understanding and evaluating how learning happens
We uncover the most effective ways to both teach and learn.
We go beneath the surface, learning from teachers and learners across the world. This provides important insights about the learning process. We also get to see first-hand how our products perform in the real-world.
Effective learning
No two classrooms or learners are ever the same. We need our products to work well for all learners and teachers, no matter their circumstances.
We want everything we make and do to be effective and enjoyable for as many people as possible. Our research helps us do this.
Improving learning & measuring our impact
Knowing that the exams your students sit, or the learning materials you teach with really work is important to us and everyone we work with.
That's why our teams enhance our learning experiences by working with partners around the world to make sure they are effective.
Effective learning
No two classrooms or learners are ever the same, and we need our products to work well for all learners and teachers, no matter their circumstances.
We also know that the ability to see and understand your progress is at the centre of a great learning experience. Our products give ample opportunities to see progress, and utilise it in the next lesson or task. Insights from our research make this possible.
Digital pedagogy
We help teachers use technology and digital learning materials as effectively as possible. We want to understand how technology can help your students learn. To do this we work with our experts, researchers, and teachers so you can use technology and digital learning materials as effectively as possible.
Our digital materials are built on the latest research into second language learning. Our commitment to research lets us deliver useful guidance that improves the learning experience and supports your learners' digital literacy.
Integrating learning and assessment
Good teaching means supporting your students as they progress. It also means providing them with feedback that helps them improve. That's why we've combined our expertise in English language learning and assessment design. It allows us to create products that give teachers and learners the tools they need.
Our products help you track your students' progress and identify where they need extra help. We also offer personalised learning experiences, tailored to each student's individual needs. These have been shown to increase learner engagement and improve learning outcomes.
Providing real-time, targeted feedback helps students identify their strengths and challenges, supporting them with their own learning.
The Cambridge English Curriculum Framework
Learning English is complex and multi dimensional.
That's why we use the Cambridge English Curriculum Framework (CECF).
The CECF breaks down the challenge of learning English. It creates thousands of small, manageable elements. These elements are carefully tagged and organised. We can then relate them to a range of real - world language learning contexts.
By unpacking the process of learning English in this way, we can tell learners more about their progress.
For example, what they have achieved so far, where they
are now, and what they can do next to maximise their success.
The CECF also underpins exciting developments in new products, technology, and digital tools.
The CECF isn’t a ready-made curriculum in itself. Our teaching and learning materials bring it to life. They do this by applying it to real-world language-learning contexts. This helps create a language-learning journey that is supported by course materials and assessment - all linked together in a single ecosystem.
The Cambridge English Curriculum Framework is the result of years of research.
It builds on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) and the English Profile Programme.
Principles for inclusivity
Creating products that reflect our diverse world is vital. That's why we have produced comprehensive internal EDIB (Equality, diversity, inclusion, belonging) guidelines. The guidelines are the result of extensive research. They support our internal staff and consultants to create diverse and inclusive content.
Accessible learning
Removing barriers to those with disabilities and additional learning needs improves the user experience for everyone,
and empowers all learners to take part in our educational experiences.
We are developing new best practice guidelines for our product teams across our print and digital materials. Our key digital learning platforms also follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1 Level AA).
Specific Learning Difficulties
We have produced a research paper on Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLDs). This outlines terminology and the effects of SpLDs when learning another language. It also includes effective approaches for teaching learners with SpLDs.
Knowing that the exams your students sit, or the learning materials you teach with really work is important to us and everyone we work with.
Cambridge English Corpus
The language in our teaching materials is guaranteed to be relevant and up to date.
We use our world-leading Cambridge English Corpus across our products. This means that we teach learners useful, current language. It's also language that they will encounter every day in their lives.
We use the corpus to observe and track how language is changing. It also helps us identify common learner errors and problems. This helps support learners' individual needs - because every learner is different.
What is a corpus?
A corpus is a massive electronic collection of spoken and written English examples. We use our corpus to answer questions about English vocabulary, grammar and usage. This works in a similar way to how you might look for information using a search engine.
How does a corpus work?
We gather data from a huge range of speakers and writers of English. This means we can identify the typical use of words and phrases.
These frequent words and patterns are the ones we include in our courses. They're based on evidence drawn from a huge sample of language and not on the values or intuition of one person.
The Cambridge Learner Corpus
We collect and analyse learner writing and we have an unparalleled collection. This allows us to see how learners around the world acquire and use language. We can then analyse how they're similar and where there are differences.
This helps us provide tailored and comprehensive support to groups of similar learners. For example, those with the same first language or who are at the same level in their learning.
Our corpus in action
Here are a couple of examples of how the Cambridge English Corpus improves our content. This includes making it more accurate and up to date.
THiNK
The "Get it right" sections in THiNK show our corpus data in action. They alert learners and teachers when learners are statistically more likely to encounter difficulties. This is based on findings from the Cambridge Learner Corpus.
Evolve Digital
Both Evolve and Evolve Digital are Corpus-informed. A new functional language corpus (Funclang) was initiated for use in the courses.
Grammar and Beyond
In Grammar and Beyond, concrete and useful points discovered through analysis of corpus data take students beyond traditional information, and teach them how grammar is used in authentic situations.
Knowing that the exams your students sit, or the learning materials you teach with really work is important to us and everyone we work with.
Improving learning & measuring our impact
Knowing that the exams your students sit, or the learning materials you teach with really work is important to us and everyone we work with.
That's why our teams enhance our learning experiences by working with partners around the world to make sure they are effective.
The work you do transforms the lives of your learners. That's why your thoughts, feelings, ideas and outcomes are at the heart of our products and services. They're also part of how we design and improve them. So we can support you to help your learners be the best they can be.
We want our products to have the greatest impact. That's why we monitor and measure their outcomes on teaching, learning and assessment. We do this in real classrooms around the world.
Understanding what works for our teachers and learners
We're committed to understanding the impact of our products. This includes their impact on learners, teachers, and the wider education system. That's why we conduct impact monitoring and evaluation at all levels. We want to know about their impact in the classroom, and to the education system as a whole.
We collect data from a variety of stakeholders. This includes learners, parents, teachers, decision-makers, Ministries of Education, higher education institutions, and employers. We gather our impact evidence from a number of sources. For example, from surveys, learner performance data and classroom observations. We also look at learner diaries, and gather stakeholder insights.
This helps us to get a full picture of the impact of our products throughout the learning journey. This means we can make sure that they are having the biggest possible impact on learners in the future.
Impact by design
We use our Impact by Design approach to make sure our products have a positive impact on our customers from the start.
Our English language learning and assessment products are created with their intended positive impact in mind. We then monitor and evaluate them on an ongoing basis. This delivers real benefits for learners and teachers.
Cambridge English Impact Framework
We use the Cambridge English Impact Framework to carry out our monitoring and evaluation. The framework covers three key areas: Learning, Teaching and Assessment.
We focus on multiple points within these areas when monitoring impact. These include:
- Motivation and engagement
- Learner and teacher confidence
- Improvement in English language proficiency
- Learning gains
Improving learning and assessment
The data that we collect lets us improve our products and provide a better experience for our learners and teachers.
Because every educational setting is different, we provide practical recommendations tailored to the unique needs of our users. For example, when working with schools we may suggest ways of refining teaching methods, adjusting learning materials, or adapting different assessment strategies.
Our recommendations empower educators with practical, context-specific solutions that lead to better learning and assessment outcomes. Our commitment is to use the data that we collect to make positive changes in the classroom.
Our world is changing fast. We need to prepare students with skills and experiences beyond simply learning English.
Developing skills through English
Our world is changing fast. We need to prepare students with skills and experiences beyond simply learning English.
Our research-backed resources, frameworks and products support learners to develop skills for life. These include those they need to achieve their goals. For example, we support learners with wellbeing and emotional development. We also cover employability, creative and critical thinking, and communication skills.
Supporting life competencies
We created the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework to help you support learners to develop key skills. We call these competencies. They include creative thinking, critical thinking, and communication in the language classroom.
Language classrooms are engaging and collaborative. This makes them the perfect place to develop these skills. It's why the framework is designed to be practical and is grounded in classroom practice.
Sustainability in English language teaching
As teachers and educators, you play an important role in your learners lives. This includes helping them develop the skills they need to flourish.
Sustainability can bring conversations of local and global interest into the classroom. These can help learners to use English to discuss real-world issues. They can also support them to develop the skills to live more sustainably. For example, becoming more responsible citizens. Or, playing an active part in shaping their worlds.
That's why we've developed the Sustainability Framework for ELT. It makes it easier for you to integrate sustainability skills into your lessons. It is a way of understanding the different skills learners need to become informed, compassionate, and innovative agents for positive environmental, social, and economic transformation.
Employability skills
Employability is about more than having the right qualifications or technical skills. To be successful in the workplace, you also need to develop transferable core skills. You also need the right attitude.
That's why we developed our Employability Skills Framework for ELT. It can help you understand the different skills that employees and potential employees need to develop. This is in addition to learning English.
The framework is based on extensive research into employer needs. It's also aligned with the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework. It provides a map of the most important employability skills. This can help you gain a deeper understanding of each skill. It can also help you integrate them more systematically into your teaching.
Mediation
Mediation is the skill of using reading, writing, listening, and speaking to communicate information from one person or group to another. It is identified in the CEFR Companion Volume as a valuable skill in many contexts, such as summarising a discussion task for a teacher, or distilling and condensing information for colleagues. Mediation can also serve cross-linguistic social purposes, such as interpreting a conversation between speakers of different first languages.
Cambridge coursebooks frequently employ tasks that require paraphrasing, note-taking, and group discussion. These tasks help learners develop the skill of mediation by giving them opportunities to practice transferring information from one format to another, and to collaborate with others to achieve a common goal.
Oracy - Improving communication skills
Oracy is the ability to communicate effectively through spoken language. It's a key area of development in our most popular coursebooks.
We have harnessed the research that went into the Oracy Skills Framework's development. We're using it to support teachers and learners. This includes helping them to understand physical, linguistic, cognitive, social and emotional skills. These allow for successful discussion, inspiring speech and effective communication.
Our coursebooks help learners to practice these skills in many contexts. We also offer teacher resources. These provide guidance on helping your students to effectively build their oracy skills.
To see a course that fully utilises oracy, take a look at our Cambridge Primary Path.
We have dedicated, in-house research teams. Our experts specialise in language learning, assessment and educational research for English.
Cambridge Life Competencies Framework
Why do we need a Life Competencies Framework?
Our world is changing fast and we need to prepare our students with the skills and experiences that go beyond simply learning an additional language. At Cambridge, we understand that the engaging and collaborative nature of the language classroom is the perfect place to develop and embed these key qualities.
We're working with educators to understand how these skills – Cambridge Life Competencies – can integrate seamlessly into your English language programme.
What does the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework look like?
The Framework outlines six key areas of competency that are important for development: Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking, Learning to Learn, Communication, Collaboration, Social Responsibilities.
These competency areas are linked to three foundation layers – emotional development, digital literacy and subject knowledge. The Framework gives a complete view of transferable skills, all detailed within one system, and shows how these skills develop across different stages of the learning journey.
By clearly defining these core areas of development we can ensure that our teaching and learning materials take a comprehensive approach to delivering and developing these skills in our learners as they progress. This means that teachers can be assured that our resources bring out the best in their students.
How do we use it in our products?
The Framework is used as a basis for our curriculum design. We write classroom activities that bring out key skills such as collaboration and critical thinking in our learners, alongside teaching them about language more generally.
This means that our activities enable learners to develop these skills without teachers having to completely change their approach or do anything extra.
How does it benefit learners and teachers?
The Framework describes how these integral life skills vary across different stages of education, as learners grow and change. This means we understand what learners need to do to progress and develop.
Each broad competency is broken down into 'Can Do' statements that describe the observable behaviours that learners are likely to be able to demonstrate by the end of each stage of learning. This enables us to support learners right through their learning journey and into their future careers.
How did we develop it?
Our research-driven perspective combined with knowledge from classroom practice has helped us create a framework that is rigorous and robust. Our extensive analysis of existing approaches to life skills combined with input from educators from around the world means that the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework fits seamlessly into your language classroom in a useful and practical way.
The Competencies
What do you need to know?
The Cambridge Life Competencies Framework helps us to structure how we introduce these skills to our learners.
Find out more about each skill area by downloading the competency-specific guides below. Or, if you prefer to focus on a particular stage of learning, please choose the booklet that best reflects the age that you teach.
Download your free pack of activity cards for use in the classroom, including adaptations for online learning
We’ve created a pack of cards for each stage of learning, and each individual card tackles a component from one of the core Cambridge Life Competencies. The activities are designed for you to use together with your coursebook or teaching materials. Use them to tweak or supplement tasks, and seamlessly integrate the development of learners’ life competencies into your teaching practice.
The framework in action: a case study
This booklet will showcase how Giga International House, a language school in Catania, has integrated the Cambridge Life Competencies Framework into teaching programmes and the impact this has had on both students and the academic team.
Cambridge Life Competencies: A case study of how one language school has integrated the framework
Creative Thinking
Key areas:
Participating in creative activities
Creating new content from own ideas or other resources
Using newly-created content to solve problems and
make decisions
Critical Thinking
Key areas:
- Understanding and analysing links between ideas
- Evaluating ideas, arguments and options
Synthesising ideas and information
Learning to Learn
Key areas:
- Practical skills for participating in learning
- Taking control of own learning
- Reflecting on and evaluating own learning success
Communication
Key areas:
- Using appropriate language and register for context
- Managing conversations
- Participating with appropriate confidence and clarity
Collaboration
Key areas:
- Taking personal responsibility for own contribution to a group task
Listening respectfully and responding constructively to others’
contributions
- Managing the sharing of tasks in a project
- Working towards a resolution related to a task
Social Responsibilities
Key areas:
Understanding personal and social responsibilities
as part of a group and in society – including citizenship
- Taking active roles including leadership
Understanding and describing own and others’
cultures
- Understanding and discussing global issues
Emotional Development
Key areas:
Identifying and understanding emotions
Managing own emotions
Understanding and describing own and others’ cultures
Empathy and relationship skills
We have dedicated, in-house research teams. Our experts specialise in language learning, assessment and educational research for English.
Shaping the future
We shape the future of learning and assessing English. We do this by combining innovation, our university partnership and the breadth and depth of our research.
Our expertise
We have dedicated, in-house research teams. Our experts specialise in language learning, assessment and educational research for English.
We also work with leading experts within the University of Cambridge and beyond.
Driving innovation
Learning, teaching and assessing English will always evolve. We’re committed to being at the forefront of change.
Our experts use research to harness the power of digital advancements, like AI. This helps us create the best and most ethical learning experiences possible.
Our expertise
We have dedicated, in-house research teams. Our experts specialise in language learning, assessment and educational research for English.
They conduct research and develop innovative tools, frameworks and resources. These help us to better understand and support teaching, learning and assessment.
Our expertise
Our expertise underpins a learner's whole journey. This includes their first experiences of learning English, through to gaining a certificate in language proficiency. It then helps them to use their skills socially, in work, to study or to travel.
We have over a century of research into language learning and assessment. We use this when developing our products. It ensures that our learning materials are effective and our tests are fair and accurate. It also supports our digital technologies and psychometrics. This means they are tailored to a learner's needs.
Our university partnership
We're a department of the University of Cambridge. We work with leading experts within the University and beyond. This means we're at the forefront of the latest educational research and thinking. The best and latest educational expertise, ideas and findings shape our products.
We have over 800 years of world renowned research, expertise and experience. This has provided unique insights. We use these to shape our exams and learning experiences - which could only come from Cambridge.
The expectations set by the University of Cambridge don’t stop in the colleges that fill the city. They're in everything we do and everything we make. Those standards ensure you receive the products and service you expect. These are recognised around the world and delivered by a team that you can trust.
Learning, teaching and assessing English will always evolve. We're committed to being at the forefront of change.
Advances in technology
We live in a time of change with the emergence of AI and other technological breakthroughs. We make sure, through research, that we integrate any new technology in our products where it adds value to the learning experience.
AI
Generative AI is developing at a breathtaking pace. It will have a profound impact on education, including English language teaching, learning and assessment. We are excited by the possibilities that generative AI offers. For example, how it can make language education more effective and more accessible. We also understand anxieties around AI and digital assessment and have investigated concerns.
We are committed to using technology to enhance, not limit, English language learning.
Innovative assessments: eye tracking
Learners are becoming more familiar with the choice of paper-based and online tests. We need to explore more about how different formats can enrich test-taking and assessment.
For example, eye-tracking can measure the responses of test-takers when reading. This can reveal cognitive processes to learners that they may not have been aware of. These could potentially change and improve their study habits. We are currently investigating this as a strong contender for future language assessment.
Learning through gaming
Games-based learning is proven to maximise engagement and motivation. That's why we're using the latest research to develop exciting new games. These will help your students learn English without even realising it.
Our research has responded to the popularity of video games to help people learn English. We have developed game-based tests that create an immersive environment and engage learners. They do this without sacrificing the authenticity, self-motivation, skill practice, and sense of purpose of classroom-based tasks.
