Assessing Foreign LanguagesThe National Standardized ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview or O P I

Mireille Le Breton, Ph. D.Nazareth College

NYSAFLT CONVENTIONSaturday, March 8th, 2014

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Objectives Introduce the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI)

Highlight the importance of the use of OPI testing

For our Departments and Institutions For our pupils and students, and in the work

world

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Outline

What is the OPI?

Assessment types: achievement vs proficiency tests

Details of testing for proficiency along the ACTFL guidelines & the rating scale

The use of the ACTFL OPI for our Institution, for our students: OPI Use in Academia, the business world and in government communities

Data: Oral Proficiency levels in the work world and length to become proficient in a FL language

The format of interview itself and how to become a certified tester?

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What is the OPI The OPI standardized oral proficiency test follows the

national guidelines and Scale defined by the ACTFL.

What is language proficiency?

Language proficiency refers to one’s ability to use language for real world purposes to accomplish real world linguistic tasks, across a wide range of topics and settings. ACTFL Proficiency Tests reflect and measure these real world tasks.

What does the OPI test?

Testing what an individual can do with what one knows.

Testing the unrehearsed speakers’ demonstrated ability to use language to accomplish real life tasks.

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Assessments types

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Testing for proficiency along the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines

The ACTFL proficiency guidelines allow to compare a person’s unrehearsed ability against a set of language descriptors

Please see document #1, p. 2 of informational handout

Description of proficiency along a continuum from the very top (full professional proficiency) of a scale to the very bottom (little or no functional ability).

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The ACTFL Rating Scale 7

Uses of the ACTFL OPI

The ACTFL OPI is currently being used for a variety of purposes in Academia, the business world and in government.

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Why is the OPI important for language institutions? 1/2

1/ Articulation among language programs:

Admission into programs Placement within a language sequence Determination of the fulfillment of exit

Graduation requirements

2/ Departmental long range curriculum planning:

Establishing proficiency outcomes provides a framework for design and development of curriculum for language courses and sequences of language courses.

Establishing a common OPI level to be reached for

all programs in a given department

Choice of textbooks (document #2, pp. 4-11 in the

informational handout)!

3/ Evaluating the effectiveness of language programs.

4/ Teacher Certification Boards and Teacher Certification.

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5 / Official ACTFL OPI ratings are recommended for the awarding of college credit by the American Council

on Education (ACE) Credit Recommendation Service .

6/ Recruitment effort for the department and the school at large.

7/ Marketing effort.

Why is the OPI important for language institutions? 2/2

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Use of the OPI in the Business World & the Administration.The OPI and OPI ratings are widely used in the

business world and in government for purposes of hiring and promotion in multi-lingual positions.

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Why is the OPI important for the student?Evaluation of progress in the Common Core :

OPIs can serve as Artifacts for students’portfolios to document their progress.

Students may not know that some companies or governmental offices will require them to test at a certain level in the OPI once they are on the job market, to get to certain jobs.

Most highly selective Graduate Schools in Foreign Languages require the student to take the OPI.

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Oral Proficiency Levels in the Work World (document #3, p. 12 informational handout)

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How long does it take to become proficient?The following ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview

(OPI) Ratings represent levels of expected performance for language learners who complete full-time intensive and/or immersion, proficiency-based language training under the supervision of an instructor and with 1-4 students per class.

Source: http://www.languagetesting.com/how-long-does-it-take

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Group I Languages: Including Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, French, Haitian Creole, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish…

Length of Training Minimal Aptitude Average Aptitude Superior Aptitude

8 weeks (240 hours) Intermediate Low Intermediate Mid Intermediate Mid

16 weeks (480 hours) Intermediate High Advanced Low Advanced Mid

24 weeks (720 hours) Advanced Mid Advanced High Superior

Source: http://www.languagetesting.com/how-long-does-it-take

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Group IV Languages: Including Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean…

Length of Training Minimal Aptitude Average Aptitude Superior Aptitude

16 weeks (480 hours) Novice High Intermediate Low Intermediate Low/Mid

24 weeks (720 hours) Intermediate L/M Intermediate M/H Intermediate High

44 weeks(1320 hours) Intermediate High Advanced Low Advanced Mid/High

80-92 weeks (2400-2760 h)Advanced H Superior Superior

Source: http://www.languagetesting.com/how-long-does-it-take

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What is the format of an interview?An oral test, by phone, 20-30minutes where you

assess the proficiency of a student.

Establishing a floor and a ceiling.

Get a ratable sample.

Double rating by another ACTFL certified tester.

Samples at all the levels of proficiency, in English:

<http://actflproficiencyguidelines2012.org/speaking#Novice>

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How to become an OPI Certified Tester?ACTFL convention 4-day training workshop

28 hours of professional development (phase 1)

Rating phase (phase 2)

Interview phase (phase 3)

Take the OPI

You test not only in your class or Department, but nationally and get paid for it!

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Any Questions?Bibliography:

ACTFL OPI Tester Certification Information © 2012 ACTFL, Inc.

ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012:<http://actflproficiencyguidelines2012.org>

ACTFL Language Proficiency Tester Training Site: “About the ACTFL Proficiency Interview (OPI)” © 2012 ACTFL, Inc.

OPI Tester Certification Packet (Assessment) © 2012 ACTFL, Inc.

LTI: <http://www.languagetesting.com/oral-proficiency-interview-opi>

Questions? Please email:mlebret5@naz.edu or call: (650) 644-8600

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