A Study of Foreign Language Proficiency‐Based Testing in Secondary Schools

Abstract

As foreign language education moves toward proficiency‐based teaching and testing, few studies have looked systematically at its effects on student performance, classroom methods and materials, teacher expectations, and program administration, particularly at the secondary level. The study reported here examines the effects of district‐wide ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) testing. Specifically, the study asks, “Do students who perform well on the OPI also perform well on more traditional measures of student success?” and “What other effects, if any, does oral proficiency testing have on a foreign language program?” Multivariate analyses of variance were performed on scores from the OPI and the subscales of the College Board Foreign Language Achievement Test from 492 third, fourth, and fifth year high school foreign language students. Qualitative data include information from interviews, observations, and a questionnaire distributed to administrators, teachers and students. Significant correlations were found between student performance at the higher levels of the OPI and on the achievement tests. Furthermore, the benefits of the oral proficiency testing program extended beyond student performance to the sense of common direction it provided to teachers and programs.

Assessing Students' Oral Proficiency in an Outcome‐Based Curriculum: Student Performance and Teacher Intuitions

“…The OPI ratings for Level 2 in this study were comparable to those revealed in Huebner and Jensen's (1992) study in which the majority of students in Level 2 Spanish were rated from Novice Mid to Novice High. The Level 4 ratings in the present study, however, were somewhat lower than those obtained in Huebner and Jensen's study in which the majority of Level 4 Spanish students were rated Intermediate Mid.…”

“…'This dual notation represents a rater discrepancy. Huebner and Jensen (1992) also tentatively concluded that students who develop more advanced oral proficiency skills do not suffer, relative to their peers, in the development of other FL skills as indicated by more traditional measures of FL achievement.…”

“…Huebner and Jensen (1992) examined the relationship between the attainment of oral proficiency levels and scores on the ETS College Board Achievement Test. Of interest here is Huebner and Jensen's finding that the majority of students enrolled in Spanish 2 were rated Novice Mid to Novice High in oral proficiency, in Spanish 3 Intermediate Low, in Spanish 4 Intermediate Mid, and in Spanish 5 between Intermediate High and Advanced (1992).8…”

Reasonable Expectations: Oral Proficiency Goals for Intermediate‐ Level Students of German

“…Moreover, Steinmeyer (1984) and Huebner and Jensen (1992) report very low numbers (fewer than 5) of informants at some class levels. Due to a number of limitations discussed below, these studies provide only rough estimates of representative OPI scores in relationship to length of instruction.…”

“…Median scores provided in parentheses. Median scores inHuebner and Jensen (1992) calculated from tabled data in original.…”