ORAL PROFICIENCY INTERVIEW
Summary of Speaking Proficiency Levels

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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