Course

Course Summary
Credit Type:
Exam
ACE ID:
ACTF-0040
Organization:
Length:
15-30 minutes
Dates Offered:
Credit Recommendation & Competencies
Level Credits (SH) Subject
Lower-Division Baccalaureate 6 Speaking ability in the respective target language
Upper-Division Baccalaureate 3 Speaking ability in the respective target language
This exam will receive 6 semester hours in the lower division and 3 semester hours in the upper division with a total of 9 semester hours
Description

Objective:

The ACTFL OPI is a live interview conducted telephonically between an ACTFL Certified OPI Tester and the individual whose language proficiency is being assessed. The interview lasts between 20 and 30 minutes depending on the proficiency level of the rest taker. A ratable sample is elicited through a series of personalized questions that adhere strictly to a standardized elicitation protocol designed to establish the speaker's highest level of sustained ability as well as the level at which the speaker is no longer able to sustain all the assessment criteria for the level. The elicited speech sample is digitally recorded and rated by the tester according to a standardized ACTFL OPI rating protocol. The rating assigned to the elicited speech sample reflects the descriptors contained in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines Speaking. Each sample is independently rated by a minimum of two ACTFL Certified OPI Testers. The two ratings must agree exactly. Any rating discrepancy is arbitrated by a third Certified OPI Tester and an Official ACTFL OPI Rating is assigned when two ratings agree exactly. The languages include: Afrikaans, Akan-Twi, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Baluchi, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cambodian, Cantonese, Cebuano, Chavacano, Czech, Dari, Dutch, English, French, Ga, Georgian, German, Greek, (Modern), Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hausa, Hebrew, Hiligaynon, Hindi, Hmong-Mong, Hungarian, Igbo, Ilocano, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kikongo-Kongo, Korean, Krio, Kurdish, Lao, Malay, Malayalam, Mandarin, Mandingo-Bambara, Nepali, Pashto, Persian-Farsi, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian/Croatian, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Slovak, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tajik, Tamil, Tausug, Telugu, Thai, Tigrinya, Turkish, Turkmen, Uighur, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Wolof, Wu and Yoruba.

Skills Measured:

The ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) is a global assessment of functional spoken language ability that measures language holistically by determining patterns of strengths and weaknesses, establishing a speaker's level of consistent functional ability as well as the clear upper limits of that ability, and comparing the sample to the descriptions contained in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines- Speaking. Though holistically rated, there are four major categories of assessment criteria on which ratings are focused, the global tasks/functions performed with the language, the social contexts and content areas in which the language can be used, the accuracy features which define how well the speaker performs the task pertinent to those contexts and content areas, and the oral text type (from individual words to extended discourse) produced. The OPI assesses Interpersonal Listening/Speaking (Standard 1.1) as defined by the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages.
Instruction & Assessment
Supplemental Materials