The Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI), is a standardized procedure for the global assessment of functional speaking ability. A face-to-face or telephonic interview between certified testers and an examinee is conducted to determine how well an examinee speaks the target language through comparison of his or her performance on specific communication tasks to the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) Skill Level Descriptions. The Oral Proficiency Interview takes the form of a carefully structured conversation between trained and certified interviewers and the person whose speaking proficiency is being assessed. The interview is interactive and continuously adapts to the speaking abilities of the individual being tested.
The description of expected ability, the learner's speaking proficiency is functionally equivalent to that of a highly articulate well-educated native speaker and reflects the cultural standards of the country where the language is natively spoken.The expected skills include the learner to use the language with complete flexibility and intuition, so that speech on all levels is fully accepted by well-educated native speakers in all of its features, including breadth of vocabulary and idiom, colloquialisms and pertinent cultural references.