INTERMEDIATE HIGH  – B1

Intermediate High Speakers are able to converse with ease and confidence when dealing with the routine tasks and social situations of the Intermediate Level. They are able to handle successfully uncomplicated tasks and social situations requiring an exchange of basic information related to their work, school, recreation, particular interests, and areas of competence. Intermediate High Speakers can handle a substantial number of tasks associated with the Advanced Level, but they are unable to sustain performance of all of these tasks all of the time. Intermediate High Speakers can narrate and describe in all major time frames using connected discourse of paragraph length, but not all the time. Typically, when Intermediate High Speakers attempt to perform Advanced-Level tasks, their speech exhibits one or more features of breakdown, such as the failure to carry out fully the narration or description in the appropriate major time frame, an inability to maintain paragraph-length discourse, or a reduction in breadth and appropriateness of vocabulary. Intermediate High Speakers can generally be understood by native speakers unaccustomed to dealing with non-natives, although interference from another language may be evident (e.g., use of code-switching, false cognates, literal translations), and a pattern of gaps in communication may occur.

Intermediate High Writers at the Intermediate High Sublevel are able to meet all practical writing needs of the Intermediate level. Additionally, they can write compositions and simple summaries related to work and/or school experiences. They can narrate and describe in different time frames when writing about everyday events and situations. These narrations and descriptions are often but not always of paragraph length, and they typically contain some evidence of breakdown in one or more features of the Advanced Level. For example, these writers may be inconsistent in the use of appropriate major time markers, resulting in a loss of clarity. The vocabulary, grammar, and style of Intermediate High Writers essentially correspond to those of the spoken language. Intermediate High Writing, even with numerous and perhaps significant errors, is generally comprehensible to natives not used to the writing of non-natives, although additional effort may be required. When Intermediate Low Writers attempt to perform writing tasks at the Advanced level, their writing will deteriorate significantly and their  message may be left incomplete.