Appendix 2.2 the Concept of Proficiency: a Historical Summary*

Appendix 2.2 The Concept of Proficiency: A Historical Summary*

Prior to World War II Foreign language instruction centered on the development of literacy skills reading, and writing.

World War II Realization that Americans had difficulty communicating with foreigners; Army Language School (later to become the Defense Language Institute) in Monterey, California, began teaching for oral communication.

1950s Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Language School began to rate speaking ability of students and personnel using an interview-based evaluation procedure linked to a rating scale.

1960s ETS staff members were trained in the OPI procedure and began to test Peace Corps personnel.

1970s Application of OPI to educational setting (as part of certification procedure for bilingual and ESL teachers, evaluating students and personnel). “Common Yardstick project” began, bringing together ETS with the English Speaking Union of Great Britain, the British Council, the Deutscher Volkschochschulerband, representatives of the U.S. government and various business and academic groups for the purpose of refining the FSI (currently called ILR) scale and interview procedure for academic use.

1978-1979 President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies formed to assess need for language specialists, recommend types of language programs needed, recommend how to call public attention to the importance of foreign language and international studies, and to identify legislative changes. Report of the Commission, "Strength Through Wisdom" recommended that foreign language proficiency test be developed to assess foreign language teaching in the United States. MLA-ACLS (Modern Language Association-American Council on Language Studies) Language Task Force for the President's Commission made similar recommendations.

1980 ILR scale expanded at Levels 0 and 1 and levels renamed. Under the sponsorship of two grants, ACTFL continued development of longer verbal descriptions of each level in the form of "guidelines" for the four skills and culture. ACTFL began to conduct OPI tester training workshops.

1986 ACTFL Provisional Proficiency Guidelines were published and first OPIs were conducted.

1986.87 ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines revised, no longer provisional. Features of less commonly taught languages included. Culture guidelines were eliminated since it was recognized that language-specific work would be needed. Teaching for proficiency workshops of various kinds were added to the ACTFL Professional Development Workshop list.

1990 First extensive research on comparability of the proficiency scales across languages and skills reported in Dandonoli and Henning (1990); revealed that speaking guidelines were most solid in terms of validity. Projects were initiated to work on guidelines in other skills.

1992 OPI testing was expanded to commercial sector. Language Testing International (LTI) was established to handle the volume of testing. The Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview (SOPI) procedure was designed by the Center for Applied Linguistics as an adaptation of the OPI.

1994 The first tape-mediated proficiency test (Texas Oral Proficiency Test) was used as a competency examination for FL and bilingual teachers.

1999 ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines in speaking were revised. ACTFL Performance Guidelines for K-12 Learners were published.

2000 ACTFL OPI was accepted by the American Council on Education (ACE) College Credit Recommendation Service as a measure through which college credit may be granted.

2001 ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines in writing were revised. Writing Proficiency Test (WPT) was launched

2003 Twentieth anniversary of ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines was commemorated with special issue of Foreign Language Annals dedicated to oral proficiency testing.

2006 ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview – computer (OPIc®) in English was launched.

2007 ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview – computer (OPIc®) in Spanish was launched.

2008 ACE Credit Recommendation for ACTFL OPI is renewed and ACE Credit recommendation is awarded for ACTFL WPT and ACTFL OPIc

ACTFL OPIc Jr. in English launched in Korea. Designed for K-12 learners.

ACTFL finalized the Framework for the ACTFL Assessment for the Performance and Proficiency of Languages (AAPPL). Prototype items were developed and piloted in Chinese.

2009 ACTFL plans to release the OPIc for Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Korean, French, Persian, and Russian

ACTFL plans to launch the OPIc Jr. in English and Spanish in the U.S.

2010 ACTFL plans to publish the 2010 Revisions to the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines. The 2010 ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines for Listening and Reading will reflect new sub-levels of Low, Mid, and High at the Advanced level. The 2010 Guidelines for Speaking and Writing will include the addition of a major level above Superior (Distinguished).

ACTFL plans to launch Construct-based Proficiency Tests in Reading and Listening.

Source: Shrum & Glisan, original material, 2008

*Thanks to Elvira Swender from ACTFL for her contributions to this chart.