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Copyright 2013 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
OPI Workshop Plenary on Implications and Applications of Oral Proficiency Interviewing
Part I: The Broader Context of the OPI and its Impact Official Testing through Language Testing International (www.languagetesting.com)
Exclusive licensee of ACTFL tests since 1992 Schedules, administers, reports ratings for all ACTFL assessments Member of the Association of Test Publishers 1000+ Certified OPI Testers Tests available in over 100 languages
ACTFL Proficiency Tests are:
Measure functional language ability How well an individual can use their language for real world purposes
Criterion-based assessment ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines are the basis for rating
Adaptive and interactive Fair and non-threatening
Not curriculum or text-book dependent Recognize language ability gained in traditional and non-traditional settings
Current testing is being done for:
A. Commercial hiring decisions Some companies using the OPI: Verizon, Canon, Ebay, LG, Paypal, Liberty Mutual, FedEx, ATT, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, Samsung, Comcast….
What will the employee be required to do in terms of linguistic tasks? What level of proficiency corresponds to this job description? See attached handout: Oral Proficiency Levels in the Work World
Examples: Intermediate: Tour Guide, Sales Clerk, Cashier, Housekeeping
Staff Advanced: Doctor, Reporter, Teacher, Customer Service Rep Superior: Lawyer, Financial Advisor, University Professor
B. Academic Programs: entry, exit, graduation requirements, etc.
Examples: o Universities: BYU, Georgetown, Lauder Institute (UPenn),
UCLA, Thunderbird, Univ. of Southern California, Yale, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, Univ. of Chicago, Stanford, Columbia
Copyright 2013 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
o Scholarship programs, such as those sponsored by the National Security Education Program (
C. College Credit Recommendations by American Council on Education
(www.ace.org)
ACTFL Rating (Seaking)
Credit Recommendation Lower/Upper Division
AH/S 6 (LD) + 8 (UP) AM 6 (LD) + 3 (UP) IH/AL 6 (LD) + 1 (UP) IM 6 (LD) NH/IL 3 (LD)
D. Teacher Certification through NCATE: National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education Programs. As of 2013, 23 states require demonstration of language proficiency for some aspect of teacher credentialing.
Part II: Broader Impact of Proficiency Testing on Teaching and Learning
Transforming how we think about language Seeing language as a life-long continuum The role of languages in a global context
A. The National Standards:
Describe what all students should know and be able to do Language as the 5 C’s
o Communication o Cultures o Connections o Comparisons o Communities
Modes Interpersonal
◦ Listening/Speaking ◦ Reading/Writing
Interpretive ◦ Listening ◦ Reading
Presentational ◦ Speaking ◦ Writing
Copyright 2013 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
B. ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners Focus on language use by students in elementary, middle, and
high schools Performance standards that describe the “how well” of what
students should know and be able to do Organized by communication modes Identify anticipated outcomes for students enrolled in well-
sequenced, Standards-based programs Website:
C. ACTFL Assessment of Performance on the Way to Proficiency (AAPPL)
AAPPL – ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Language (intended for 6-12 grade learners)
How well your students are able to “do” what has been taught and practiced
Based on a Framework developed for the Foreign Language National Assessment for Educational Progress
D. LinguaFolio “Can-do” Statements for Self-Assessment
Aligned to the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012 Self Assessment Program Benchmarking Global Statements By Mode and by Level Indicators and examples Designed to be personalized
E. ACTFL Resources Professional Development Workshops Webinars Annual Convention Assessments Proficiency and Performance Formative and Summative Diagnostic Individual and program Official and certified
Copyright 2013 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
Part II: Definition of Proficiency: The ability to use a language to communicate meaningful information in a spontaneous interaction, and in a manner acceptable and appropriate to native speakers of the language.
A. School-to-work Continuum
How do you take what the professional world is asking for in terms of language competence to design curriculum and assess ability?
o Backward design model Desired outcomes and how they are measured
o Set realistic expectations Students need to know where they are along the
continuum and how to progress Articulate across the curriculum
o Vertical: from year 1 to graduation o Horizontal: across different related courses
B. The entire pyramid is supported by a Novice-level base!
Copyright 2013 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
B. Phases of the OPI = Phases of the Classroom, course, semester… Warm-up Level-checks Probes Wind-down
B. Good tester behaviors and good teacher behaviors C. The Assessment Criteria (more than just “accuracy”)
Copyright 2013 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
D. Degrees of Control: Learners function most of the time in the realm of PARTIAL CONTROL!! Conceptual Partial Full
Knowing the rules
Initial presentation
Focus on form
No experience w/ meaningful use of language
Ability to use language in a limited way
Accuracy only in highly practiced contexts
Focus on form and meaning
Ability to use language in a variety of contexts, with variety of topics
Extensive experience in meaningful communication
Focus on meaning
Proficiency does not mean perfection, nor does it imply limitation of instruction to one level at a time. Instruction and assessment at each level should target certain functions for full control, others for partial control, and others simply for conceptual control.
1. Teaching for Conceptual Control
• Initial presentation and practice • Focus on form and accuracy • Objective: Understand how it works
2. Teaching for Partial Control
• Focus on language use in context • Greater tolerance for inaccuracies • Objective: Use / Recycle / Expand
3. Teaching for Full Control
• Full Control • Focus on functional language use in various contexts • Objective: Ability to sustain the function over range of topic
areas • Automaticity of forms • “Far transfer” of functional ability
E. The Role of the Textbook Depends on. . .
Your goals for the quarter/semester/class Level of the students The textbook itsel
Copyright 2013 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
F. The Role of Grammar Think in terms of a “functional grammar” Don’t treat it totally in isolation (forms + functions) Explicit instruction: When? Why? How? (not an
either/or) Recycling of forms inside new content areas and new
functions Recycling of forms across the curriculum, horizontally
and vertically
G. Designing a functional syllabus: From Novice to Intermediate Content/Context Functions Language forms Everyday, familiar topics (school, home, hometown, free-time activities
Create with the language to have a simple conversation about…
Vocabulary Typical expressions
Asking questions about your friend’s school
Degree of control: Partial or Full?
Interrogatives
Intonation
Word order
Dealing with simple social interactions or transactions Degree of control: Partial or Full?
Vocabulary
Any special expressions or forms
H. Assessing degrees of control
Level of student
Function Degree of control targeted
Implications for grading
Novice High/ Intermediate Low
Asking questions of visiting celebrity for newspaper article
Partial Stay focused on successful questions despite many errors in structures
Copyright 2013 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
Intermediate Mid
Asking questions of visiting celebrity for newspaper article
Full Mistakes in simple forms and structures count; give credit for more complex questions.
Intermediate Mid
Narrating in the past: a memorable vacation experience
Emerging Mistakes in simple forms and structures count; give credit for more complex questions.
Level Function Degree of control
targeted Implications for
grading
Intermediate
High
Narrating in the Past: a
memorable vacation
experience Partial
Make fewer
allowances than for
IM; look at accuracy
and text-type
Advanced Low Narrating in the Past Full
Stay focused on
successful questions
despite errors in
structures;
remember
“grammatical
roughness”
Advanced Mid
Narrating in the past: a
memorable vacation
experience Full
Every mistake in
simple past forms
counts; give credit for
evidence of attempts
at extensive
elaboration
Copyright 2013 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
Part III. How can we use the OPI to help us set realistic expectations?
Assumed knowledge vs. observable performance Degrees of control (explain to students) Differences in skill development (speaking and other skills may
develop at different rates) Use the Guidelines as a stepladder (they do not = a curriculum or
methodology; rather they represented proficiency targets) Share realistic proficiency expectations with stakeholders:
Students Parents Administrators … FSI Case study data:
Adult language learners ◦ College graduates ◦ Highly motivated ◦ Previous language study
Class sizes of 6 Full-time language study for X weeks Daily
◦ 5 hours in-class ◦ 4 independent learning (hw) daily
Copyright 2013 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
Language Class hours
to Intermediate
Class hours to
Advanced Class hours to
Superior
Category I: Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, French, Haitian
Creole Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian,
Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, etc.
240 480 720
Category II: Bulgarian, German, Greek, Hindi, Indonesian,
Malay, Urdu, etc. Category III : Albanian, Amharic, Armenian, Azerbaijani,
Bengali, Bulgarian, Burmese, Czech, Estonian, Finnish,
Georgian, Hausa, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Khmer,
Lao, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Mongolian, Nepali,
Pashto, Persian (Dari, Farsi, Tajik), Polish, Russian,
Serbo-Croatian, Sinhala, Slovak, Slovenian, Tagalog, Tamil,
Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Zulu, etc.
480 720 1320
Category IV: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, etc. 480 1320 2400 - 2760
Copyright 2013 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
Useful websites: ACTFL www.actfl.org will provide access via “Publications” tab at the top to the following:
2012 Proficiency Guidelines: http://actflproficiencyguidelines2012.org Performance Descriptors: http://www.actfl.org/publications/guidelines-and-manuals/actfl-performance-descriptors-language-learners Integrated Performance Assessment: http://www.actfl.org/publications/guidelines-and-manuals/actfl-performance-descriptors-language-learners http://aappl.actfl.org ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Language (has demo of the assessment, as well as a suite of professional development materials)
American Council on Education (credit recommendations) www.acenet.edu For ACTFL OPI score credit recommendations see: http://www2.acenet.edu/credit/?fuseaction=browse.getOrganizationDetail&FICE=300017 Interagency Language Roundtable (government testing scale): www.govtilr.org Linguafolio: http://www.ncssfl.org/links/index.php?linguafolio National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y): www.nsliforyouth.org This program provides scholarships for students 15-18 to study foreign languages abroad. National Security Education Program: www.nsep.gov Look under the “Students” link at the top and at the link on the bottom for Initiatives for various scholarships and funding opportunities for students.
Copyright 2013 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages