Exploring the Uses and Usefulness of ACTFL Oral Proficiency Ratings and Standards in College Foreign Language Departments

John M. Norris · Péter Pfeiffer

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EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning Linguistic Education and Pedagogy Second Language Learning and Teaching

Abstract

Abstract: Oral proficiency ratings, based on the ACTFL Guidelines and derived from live or simulated oral proficiency interviews (SOPIs), enjoy widespread use in the United States. In particular, college foreign language departments have increasingly adopted oral proficiency ratings as a way of establishing standards for language or graduation requirements. In the study reported here, the authors explored the intended uses of proficiency‐based standards in foreign language departments and reviewed the research on which specific ACTFL‐level standards are based. They then examined the results of more than 100 SOPIs administered across all levels of instruction within one German foreign language department. The findings suggest that recommended proficiency standards may underestimate the potential and actual achievements of German language learners and miss other valued learning outcomes. The implications of these findings for the valid use of oral proficiency ratings in collegiate settings are discussed.

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1999Educative assessment: designing assessments to inform and improve student performance 1996Testing in language programs 1998The Alternatives in Language Assessment 2002Setting performance standards: concepts, methods, and perspectives 2024ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2024 2001Competency‐Based Learning Models: A Necessary Future 2000ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines—Speaking: Revised 1999 2002The role of task and task-based assessment in a content-oriented collegiate foreign language curriculum

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