Assessing Foreign Languages The National Standardized ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview or O P I Mireille Le Breton, Ph. D. Nazareth College NYSAFLT CONVENTION Saturday, March 8th,

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 2

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? 3

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. 4

Assessments types  Achievement test vs proficiency test What one knows vs what one can do  The driver’s test analogy 5

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). 6

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. 8

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 in the informational handout)! 3/ Evaluating the effectiveness of language programs. 4/ Teacher Certification Boards and Teacher Certification. 9

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 10

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. 11

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. 12

Oral Proficiency Levels in the Work World View the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012 at / ACTFL Level US Gov Language Functions Corresponding Professions/PositionsExamples of Who Is Likely to Function at the Level? Distinguished 5454 Ability to tailor language to specific audience, persuade, negotiate. Deal with nuance and subtlety. Diplomat, Contract Negotiator, International Specialist, Translator/Interpreter, Intelligence Specialist Highly articulate, professionally specialized native speakers; L2 learners with extended (17 years) and current professional and/or educational experience in the target culture Superior 3 Discuss topics extensively, support opinions, hypothesize. Deal with linguistically unfamiliar situation University FL Professor, Business Executive, Lawyer, Judge, Financial Advisor Well-educated native speakers Educated L2 learners with extended professional and/or educational experience in the target language environment Advanced High Advanced Mid Advanced Low 2+ 2 Narrate and describe in past, present and future and deal effectively with an unanticipated complication Physician, Military Linguist, Senior Consultant, Human Resources Personnel, Financial Broker, Translation Officer, Marketing Manager, Communications Consultant. Fraud Specialist, Account Executive, Court Stenographer /Interpreter, Benefits Specialist, Technical Service Agent, Collection Representative, Estimating Coordinator Customer Service Agent, Social Worker, Claims Processor, K-12 Language Teacher, Police Officer, Maintenance Administrator, Billing Clerk, Legal Secretary, Legal Receptionist L2 learners with graduate degrees in language- related area and extended educational experience in target environment Heritage speakers, informal learners, non-academic learners who have significant contact with language Undergraduate language majors with year-long study abroad experience Intermediate High Intermediate Mid Intermediate Low 1+ 1 Create with language, initiate, maintain and bring to a close simple conversations by asking and responding to simple questions Auto Inspector, Aviation Personnel, Missionary, Tour guide Cashier, Sales clerk (highly predictable contexts) Receptionist, Housekeeping Staff. Undergraduate language majors without year-long study abroad experience. L2 learners after 6-8 year sequences of study (AP, etc.) or 4-6 semester college sequence L2 learners after 4 year high school sequence or 2 semester college sequence Novice High Novice Mid Novice Low 0+ 0 Communicate minimally with formulaic and rote utterances, lists and phrases L2 learners after 2 years of high school language study (document #3, p. 12 informational handout ) 13

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: 14

 Group I Languages: Including Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, French, Haitian Creole, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish…  Length of Training Minimal Aptitude Average AptitudeSuperior Aptitude  8 weeks (240 hours) Intermediate Low Intermediate MidIntermediate Mid  16 weeks (480 hours) Intermediate High Advanced LowAdvanced Mid  24 weeks (720 hours) Advanced Mid Advanced High Superior Source: 15

 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 HighAdvanced Low Advanced Mid/High  weeks ( h)Advanced H Superior Superior Source: 16

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: 17

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! 18

Any Questions?  Bibliography: ACTFL OPI Tester Certification Information © 2012 ACTFL, Inc. ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012: ACTFL Language Proficiency Tester Training Site: “About the ACTFL Proficiency Interview (OPI)” © 2012 ACTFL, Inc. OPI Tester Certification Packet (Assessment) © 2012 ACTFL, Inc. LTI: Questions? Please or call: (650)