Profiling STEM Students’ English Writing Skills Based on CEFR Descriptors within an Outcome-Based Education Framework

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-543-0_4How to use a DOI?

Keywords

CEFR-Based Assessment; Outcome-Based Education; STEM-English Writing

Abstract

Promoting English proficiency is central to nurturing students’ scientific communication competence in STEM education. This study aims to profile the English writing performance of Physics students using the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) as an assessment tool within an Outcome-Based Education (OBE) framework. A descriptive mixed-methods approach was employed. Nine first-year Physics students were subjected to a written task where they produced short texts describing and evaluating one of their favorite scientists. An assessment rubric was used as a CEFR-linked framework to probe grammar, vocabulary, cohesion, content relevance, and mechanics. The study results demonstrated a proficiency spectrum from A2 to C1. The higher-level writers (B2-C1) have shown good syntactic control, academic vocabulary, and cohesion, while the lower-level writers (A2-B1) exhibited limited grammatical accuracy and lexical range. Despite exhibiting varying levels of precision, all students managed to express their admiration for the scientists and reflect personally where they were partially achieving ILO 6 (scientific communication) or significantly realizing ILO 1 (scientific attitude and lifelong learning). In conclusion, CEFR-based assessment provides valid evidence for aligning English courses with OBE outcomes for STEM students and can effectively strengthen linguistic proficiency and disciplinary engagement.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Dwiria Wahyuni
AU  - Siti Nur’Aini
AU  - Senowarsito Senowarsito
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/26
TI  - Profiling STEM Students’ English Writing Skills Based on CEFR Descriptors within an Outcome-Based Education Framework
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Education and Social Science Research (ICESRE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 24
EP  - 34
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-543-0_4
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-543-0_4
ID  - Wahyuni2026
ER  -