Level 0 (No Proficiency)

• No functional ability.

Level 1 (Survival)

• Creates with language.
• Can participate in short conversations.
• Can satisfy basic survival needs; can get into, through, and out of simple situations.
• Can ask and answer questions.
• Comprehensible to native speakers used to dealing with foreigners.

Level 2 (Concrete)

• Can participate in conversations about own background and everyday life: family, interests, work, travel, familiar current events.
• Can describe, narrate, explain processes, and give instructions and directions.
• Can get into, through, and out of situations with complications.
• Uses past, present, and future substantially correctly.
• Comprehensible to native speakers not used to dealing with foreigners.

Level 3 (Abstract)

• Can converse informally and formally about concrete and abstract topics.
• Can hypothesize, support opinions, and resolve problem situations.
• Can speak about unfamiliar situations. " Actually thinks in the target language.

Level 4 (Advanced Professional)

• Can tailor language according to the situation and listeners.
• Can counsel, persuade, and advise.
• Exhibits no pattern of grammatical errors.
• Well-organized discourse.

Level 5 (Equivalent to Well-Educated Native Speaker)

• Speech equivalent to that of a well-educated native speaker of a unstigmatized dialect.
  

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