Riverside County Office of Education
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Don Powell
Administrator
dpowell@rcoe.us
(951) 826-6304
Grecia Alaniz
Administrator's Secretary
galaniz@rcoe.us
(951) 826-6304
Proficiency Levels
Based on the variety of studies to date, multilingual people may have an advantage over their monolingual counterparts in cognitive skills, learning, and memory among others. --World Language Framework Chapter 9 Proficiency levels.
The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) has developed quite possibly the most widely used model for determining language proficiency. That proficiency model is far and wide considered the Gold Standard and continues to be in use today. Typically it is represented with an inverted pyramid and includes four specific ranges and and three phases within each range. The four ranges are 1. Novice 2. Intermediate 3. Advanced and 4. Superior. The phases within each range are A. Low, B. Mid, C. High.
1. Novice
A. Low
B. Mid
C. High
2. Intermediate
D. Low
E. Mid
F. High
3. Advanced
G. Low
H. Mid
I. High
4. Superior
J. Low
K. Mid
L. High
These twelve categories are then expanded to include four modes of communication - Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening. So invariably, when you are measuring a proficiency level, people will have variation throughout their learning profile. Invariably you would see proficiency scales that would ultimately look like.
Reading | Writing | Speaking | Listening |
Novice Low | Novice Low | Novice Low | Novice Low |
Novice Mild | Novice Mild | Novice Mild | Novice Mild |
Novice High | Novice High | Novice High | Novice High |
Intermediate Low | Intermediate Low | Intermediate Low | Intermediate Low |
Intermediate Med | Intermediate Med | Intermediate Med | Intermediate Med |
Intermediate High | Intermediate High | Intermediate High | Intermediate High |
Advanced Low | Advanced Low | Advanced Low | Advanced Low |
Advanced Med | Advanced Med | Advanced Med | Advanced Med |
Advance High | Advance High | Advance High | Advance High |
Superior Low | Superior Low | Superior Low | Superior Low |
Superior Med | Superior Med | Superior Med | Superior Med |
Superior High | Superior High | Superior High | Superior High |
Framework and standards directly related to proficiency Levels:
Additional related materials for proficiency levels:
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