The ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview in a Canadian Context: The French Speaking Proficiency of Two Groups of Ontario High-School Graduates

1988 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 561-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane Hamm
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 150-154
Author(s):  
Ehsan Kazemi

This study investigates the effect of using a bigger vocabulary size in oral classroom presentations on the speaking proficiency of students in English as a foreign language. The study was conducted with 30 freshman students doing their listening and speaking course in Semnan University. For the entire course of 12 weeks, the students in the experimental group were asked to present their productions in terms of the vocabulary they employed, which was also the focus of the teacher’s evaluation in each session. At the end of the course, they were interviewed for their proficiency in speaking. The descriptive and inferential calculations were done based on a modified version of an oral proficiency interview scale suggested by Penny Ur. The answers were recorded and their fluency and accuracy were graded. The results suggest that students with a vocabulary-rich production improved their speaking proficiency in English more than other students did.   Keywords: Vocabulary size, speaking proficiency, production, fluency, accuracy, interview.    


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwyneth Gates ◽  
Troy L. Cox ◽  
Teresa Reber Bell ◽  
William Eggington

Abstract Two assumptions of speaking proficiency tests are that the speech produced is spontaneous and the the scores on those tests predict what examinees can do in real-world communicative situations. Therefore, when examinees memorize scripts for their oral responses, the validity of the score interpretation is threatened. While the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines identify rehearsed content as a major hindrance to interviewees being rated above Novice High, many examinees still prepare for speaking tests by memorizing and rehearsing scripts hoping these "performances" are awarded higher scores. To investigate this phenomenon, researchers screened 300 previously rated Oral Proficiency Interview-computer (OPIc) tests and found 39 examinees who had at least one response that had been tagged as rehearsed. Each examinee’s responses were then transcribed, and the spontaneous and rehearsed tasks were compared. Temporal fluency articulation rates differed significantly between the spontaneous and rehearsed segments; however, the strongest evidence of memorization lay in the transcriptions and the patterns that emerged within and across interviews. Test developers, therefore, need to be vigilant in creating scoring guidelines for rehearsed content.


ASHA Leader ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 52-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Freeman

Without the supports of IEP programming, high school graduates on the autism spectrum may struggle. Here are five ways speech-language pathologists in schools can help them transition to what's next.


2003 ◽  
pp. 4-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Grebnev

The dynamics of several demographic indicators of Russia - child and teenage cohorts in 1970-2000, life expectancy in 1995-2000, migration flows among federal districts in the period between two censuses of 1989 and 2002 - are considered in the article. The author puts forward the hypothesis about the influence of these indicators on the level of education in narrow and broad senses - in educational institutions and the society as a whole. He estimates the perspectives of regional higher educational institutions under conditions of absence of plan distribution of graduates and the double cyclical fall in the number of high school graduates. The agenda for the development of a two-stage system of higher education corresponding with international integration processes is formulated.


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