Course Credit by OPI

Proficiency Guidelines

In the spring of 2003 the Department of Spanish adopted a new set of guidelines to help coordinate proficiency-oriented instruction. To that end, the chart below indicates the minimum oral tasks that students should be able to accomplish upon completion of Spanish 101, 102 and 201 at IUP.

At the end of the given course the student will be able to . . .

	Topic Context	SPAN 101	SPAN 102*	SPAN 201**
1.	SELF	Give auto-biographical information (state name, origin, nationality, age, address, phone number)	Describe daily routines during a typical day	Describe academic majors, courses, career plans
2.	OTHERS	Describe self and identify others, including family members, friends, roommates, classmates (physical description, personality)	Describe the way people and things are and used to be	Give an extended description of self and others in the present, past and future time frames
3.	ACTIVITIES	List daily activities and tell about likes and dislikes	List past activities of self and others	Narrate and describe events in the present, past and future
4.	NUMBERS	Count from 0 - 100 and use numbers in giving information about self and others (e.g., age, address, phone numbers)	Count from 100-? and use numbers in describing people and things (e.g., giving the date, naming prices)	Use large numbers in situational contexts (e.g., making purchases, exchanging money)
5.	ELICITING INFORMATION	Obtain biographical information about others by asking questions about name, age, origin, etc.	Obtain information about present and past activities and routines of others	Participate in conversations by asking questions to negotiate meaning and elicit additional information
6.	SURVIVAL SITUATIONS	Respond to typical survival situations with words/short phrases (e.g., ordering food from a menu)	Successfully participate in simple survival situations without complications (e.g., buying a bus ticket, getting a hotel room)	Successfully participate in survival situations with complications (e.g., reporting lost luggage, sending food back in a restaurant)

*Fulfill the objectives from SPAN 101 plus the following.
**Fulfill the obejctives from SPAN 102 plus the following.

Course Credit by OPI

The Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) Spanish Department has a new provision whereby incoming students may earn IUP Spanish course credits for their oral proficiency levels in Spanish. Incoming students may receive course credit for their oral proficiency levels in Spanish through the American Council on Education (ACE) Credit Recommendation Service and Language Testing International (LTI), the assessment agency for the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Students who have taken an ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) through LTI, received a proficiency rating by LTI, and received credit recommendation by ACE may receive the following course credits in Spanish at IUP:

To begin the process, students must contact LTI by e-mail (testing@languagetesting.com) to request an ACE College Credit Recommendation by OPI Examination information package and application. There is a fee for the OPI and an ACE application fee. LTI will make arrangements for students to take an OPI by telephone with a certified ACTFL OPI tester. Each interview is recorded and a preliminary rating is assigned by the tester. OPIs are blind second rated by a certified ACTFL tester, and, when necessary, arbitrated by a third certified ACTFL tester.

The following is a description of Intermediate-Mid oral proficiency:

Intermediate-Mid level speakers are able to create with the language by combining and recombining known language elements. They generally respond to questions by speaking in discrete sentences on topics that include “personal information about self, family, home, daily activities, interests and personal preferences, as well as physical and social needs, such as food, shopping travel and lodging” (ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines-Speaking (Revised, 1999)). They can also ask a variety of questions to obtain information to satisfy basic needs, such as prices, directions, and services. Intermediate-Mid level speakers are most comfortable in the present tense time frame but may occasionally speak in past and future time frames, although with less control.

For a complete description of Intermediate-Mid level and other levels of speaking proficiency, please refer to the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines-Speaking (Revised, 1999) which is available under “Publications” on the ACTFL website (www.actfl.org).

For additional information concerning the OPI and the ACE application process, please contact:

Language Testing International, (LTI)
95 Church Street, Suite 310
White Plains, NY 10601
1 (800) 486-8444
(914) 948-5100
E-mail: testing@languagetesting.com
http://www.languagetesting.com