Seminar Theme

Assessment

The Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) is the tool by which trained interviewers place foreign language speakers on a proficiency continuum from novice to superior. By focusing on the ability to use the language to accomplish communicative tasks of increasing complexity, the OPI has influenced curriculum, teaching, and assessment, as well as standards for licensure of language teachers.
The application of the proficiency model to the other language skills of writing, reading, and comprehension created a new focus in assessment on performance tasks rather than linguistic manipulation. Teachers create contexts and rubrics for evaluating student performance and portfolios of student work, in addition to more traditional tests of accuracy and grammatical competence.