Proficiency Ratings

A compilation of Descriptors (FSI/ACTFL/Others)

P-0 / Novice-Low
- Entry Level
- 10-15 words
- No communicative ability
- Isolated words

P-0 / Novice-Mid
- Memorized material
- Pre-creative (cannot create in language)
- Utterances are only 2 or 3 words.
- Pronunciation frequently unintelligible.
- Vocabulary limited; can only express simple basic needs and basic courtesy formulae.
- Syntax / grammar confused and distorted.

P-0+ / Novice-High
- Greater quantity
- Emerging creativity (not sustained)
- Able to satisfy immediate needs using learned utterances (statements, questions and
answers)
- No real autonomy of expression.
- May show some emerging signs of spontaneity and flexibility in language.
- Vocabulary limited to areas of immediate survival needs.
- Almost all utterances are still memorized material.
- Reactive performance.

P-1 / Intermediate-Low
- Reactive performance.
- Skeletal sentences
- Some strings of sentences but not many
- Almost no modification of sentences
- Almost all utterances contain fractured grammar / syntax.
- Little precision in information conveyed.
- Can ask and answer question on very familiar topics.
- Vocabulary inadequate to express anything but most elementary needs.
- Almost every utterance contains fractured syntax and grammatical errors.
- Little precision in information conveyed.
- Some evidence of simple past, present, and future forms.
- Often conveys wrong information.

P-1 / Intermediate-Mid
- Interactive performance
- More modifications of sentences
- Strings of sentences
- Quantity and quality begins.
- Simple short conversation mostly Q’s and A’s.
- Almost no control of grammar/syntax but emerging evidence of grammatical accuracy.
- Some creation with language.
- Can formulate some questions.
- Accuracy limited to set expressions.
 - Language adequate for survival, travel, and courtesy needs and other elementary needs.

P-1+ / Intermediate-High
- Interactive performance
- Sustaining creation (but falls back from advanced)
- Ventures into Advanced (P-2)
- Satisfies survival needs and limited social demands.
- Shows some spontaneity in language production.
- Fluency usually very uneven.
- Can initiate and sustain a general simple conversation.
- Some control of commoner tense forms but still makes frequent errors.
- Controls most question form.
- Structural / tense breakdown in longer utterances or unfamiliar situations.
- Produce some narration in past and future.

P-2 Advanced
- Able to narrate, describe, string sentences, tell stories, show / demonstrate connected
discourse when speaking about concrete subjects / topic.
- Control of past, future, and present time forms.
- Can operate (somewhat) with unknown topics or situations.
- Can fully participate in casual conversations.
- Can express facts, give instructions, describe, report on concrete topics.
- Fair control of most basic syntax/tense forms.
- Often forced into silence by limitations of grammar and vocabulary.
- Speaking vocabulary able sufficient to respond simply (concrete topics) with some
circumlocutions.
- Shows no thorough or confident control of grammar.
- Can give detailed information about school, family, home, etc.
- Conveys meaning accurately in simple sentences most of the time.

P-2+ / Advanced – Plus

- State opinions (not strong)
- Ventures into superior (P-3)
- Shows ability to communicate in concrete topics relating to particular interests and special
fields of competence (e.g., soccer, art class, etc.)
- Still shows some weaknesses in areas such as plurals, articles, prepositions, and negatives.
- Weakness or no control of more complex structures and tenses (e.g., passive construction,
if conditional, present perfect continuous)

P-3
- Able to use abstract subject matter.
- Answer hypothetical questions (not always grammatically correct)
- Can converse in formal and informal situations.
- Can deal with unfamiliar topics, provide explanations, describe in detail.
- Able to support opinions and hypothesize.
- Can talk, using some of the vocabulary necessary in special fields of competence.
- Only sporadic errors in basic structure.
- Fluent (professional) command (rather than just an amateur one) of the language.
- Good control of basic syntactic patterns and tense forms in grammar.
- Fair to good control of more complex structures and tenses (e.g., present and imperfect
subjunctive, if clauses in the imperfect or past subjunctive, perfect tenses, etc.)
- Conveys meaning accurately in reasonably complex sentences-
- Rarely hesitant because of lack of breakdown of language.
 - Can sustain conversation through circumlocution.
- Broad vocabulary.
- Speaks with sufficient structure (accuracy and vocabulary to participate effectively in most
formal and informal conversations (social, practical, and professional.)

Superior (ACTFL)
- Sustained professional opinion.
- Able to discuss abstract topics
- Support (linguistically) an opinion.
- No patterns of errors.
- Talk in fields of special training with confidence.
- Errors virtually never interfere with understanding.
- Broad vocabulary – rarely hast to grope for a word.

P-3+
-Able to function some of the time at the P-4 level.
- Adjusts style to the situation.
- Almost no syntactical and7or grammatical errors (no patterns of errors).

P-4
- Uses language fluently and accurately on all levels pertinent to needs (e.g., school, job,
social, professional)
- Able to participate in any conversation within range or own experience (e.g., 2 nd grade
student in classroom, graduate student seminar)
- High degree of fluency
- High degree of precision vocabulary.

DESCRIPTION OF SKILLS
A. FLUENCY
Fluency describes the features which give speech the qualities of being normal and natural. These
features include the following features of speech: pausing, rhythm, intonation, and stress. They also
include the rate of speaking, the use of interjections and interruptions, the ability to communicate
ideas, and the ability to produce continuous speech.

B. COMPREHENSION (LISTENING):
Listening comprehension is the ability to understand the meaning of what is being said (e.g., person-
to-person, in a group, from radio/TV). It includes the understanding of specific elements of speech
(e.g., stress and intonation), sound distinctions, and the overall comprehension of this message.

C. GRAMMAR (ORAL)
Grammar (oral/spoken) is the way in which words and phrases are combined to produce meaningful
sentences. It is the way in which the speaker handle/uses the patterns of the language. It is the
competence which the speaker demonstrates in correctly using the rules of the language.

D. TASKS AND FUNCTIONS

Task and functions include the speaker’s ability to carry out certain tasks and functions in the
language (e.g., requesting, obtaining information, participating in informal and formal conversations,
giving instructions, asking and answering questions, creating with the language). It is the way the
speaker uses the language to communicate factual information.
E. VOCABULARY
Vocabulary plays an important role in communication. It includes the content and function words,
compound words and idioms one uses in giving meaning and describing thoughts and ideas. The use
and choice of words allows the speaker to talk in detail on social and technical topics.

F. PRONUNCIATION/ACCENT
Pronunciation refers to the way the sound of a language are produced and how they are understood
and perceived by the listener. Accent refers to the particular way in which the speaker pronounces a
word or words (e.g., with an “American” accent) and whether or not the speaker is a “native
speaker” of the language.

(R. Schwartz, Education & MLL, UMBC)

* FSI / ILR AND ACTFL/ETS SCALES

FSI / ILR SCALE ACTFL / ETS SCALE

0 novice-low
No practical proficiency novice-mid
0+ novice-high
1 intermediate-low
Elementary proficiency intermediate-high
1+ intrmediate-high
2
advanced
Limited working proficiency
2+ advanced-plus
3
Professional proficiency
3+
4
Distinguished proficiency superior
4+
5
Native or bilingual
proficiency

*Foreign Service Institute (FSI) / Interlanguage Roundtable (ILR) / American Council of

Teachers of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) / Educational Testing Services (ETS) Rating Scales