Foreign Language Assessment Directory (FLAD)

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Name of Test	ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview

Languages	Afrikaans, Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Cambodian, Cebuano, Chavacano, Chinese (Cantonese), Chinese (Mandarin), Czech, Dari, Dutch, Egyptian, English, Farsi/Persian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Ilokano, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Korean, Lao, Malay, Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazilian), Portuguese (Continental), Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Tausug, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, Yoruba

Test Description	The OPI is a live, 15–30 minute telephone conversation with a certified tester, conducted entirely in the target language. It measures how well you use your language to communicate, and rates your ability by comparing your speech to the descriptions listed in the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines, though ILR and CEFR ratings are also available.

Grade Level(s)	11, 12, College, Adult

Proficiency Level(s)	ACTFL Novice, ACTFL Intermediate, ACTFL Advanced, ACTFL Superior

Intended Test Use	Certification/Licensure, Placement, Proficiency, Credit by Examination, Admission, Achievement, Fulfilling a Requirement, Program Evaluation, Summative Evaluation, Professional Purposes, Research

Skills Tested	Listening, Speaking

Test Author/Publisher	American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) ©

Publication Date

Test Cost

Test Length	15-30 minutes

Test Materials	N/A

Test Format	Telephone delivered test

Scoring Method	Rated by ACTFL-Certified ILR OPI Raters

Scoring Process	The ACTFL/ILR OPI is a criterion-referenced assessment. An ACTFL/ILR Certified Tester compares the speech produced to the rating criteria, as described in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines - 2012, the ILR Languages Skill Level Descriptions for Speaking, or the Common European Framework of Reference.

Results Reported	ILR Proficiency Level (0+ to 5), ACTFL Proficiency Level (Novice through Superior), CEFR Scale

Administered By	ACTFL/ILR Certified Tester through LTI, ACTFL's Exclusive Licensee

Administered When	By requested appointment

Administered How	Telephone

Administered Where	Globally

Contact Information	+ Show Contact Information

Test Development and Technical Information	As each interview is personalized, and adapted to the individual, the phases of the OPI follow a standardized structure and elicitation protocol that must be followed by the individual tester. Hence the training and certification, as well as recalibration, of testers is extremely important. Please refer to: Dandonoli, P. and Henning, G. (1990). An investigation of the construct validity of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines and oral interview procedure. FLA, 23. Thompson, I. (1995). A study of inter-rater reliability of the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview in five European languages. FLA, 28. Surface, E. (2003). Reliability and the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview: Reporting indices of interrater consistency for 19 languages. FLA, 36.

Comments	The OPI is offered in over 100+ world languages, with new languages added regularly. For a current list of languages, please visit www.languagetesting.com.

Parallel Versions in Other Languages

Current Users	Government, corporations, academic institutions, NGO's, programs receiving DOD funding

Type of FL Program

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