Oral Proficiency Interview

If you are in the World Languages Education program, pursuing certification in the teaching of foreign language (teaching Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, or Spanish) you will be required to take the Oral Proficiency Interview prior to student teaching.  You must achieve a rating of at least "intermediate high" on the test. 

NOTE: This requirement does NOT apply for students in Elementary Education or Early Childhood education who have a concentration in a modern language.

• The OPI Test
• Certified Testers
• How to Register 
• Taking the Test
• Test Tips
• Intermediate-High Level 

The OPI Test      

The Oral Proficiency Interview is:

• A standardized procedure for the global assessment of functional speaking ability
• A telephonic interview between a certified ACTFL tester and an examinee
• A criterion referenced test that compares an individual's performance of specific oral communication tasks with the criteria of each of 10 proficiency levels.

The OPI takes the form of a carefully structured conversation between a trained and certified interviewer and the person whose speaking proficiency is being assessed. The interview is interactive and continuously adapts to the speaking ability of the individual being tested. There is no script or prescribed set of questions; the topics discussed during the interview are based on the interests and experiences of the speaker.

Through a series of personalized questions, the interviewer elicits from the test candidate examples of his or her ability to handle the communication tasks specified for each level of proficiency in order to establish a clear "floor" and "ceiling" of consistent functional ability. Often candidates are asked to take part in a role-play to prove linguistic functions not easily elicited through the conversational format.

Since the OPI is an assessment of functional speaking ability, independent of any specific curriculum, it is irrelevant when, where, why, and under what conditions the candidate acquired his/her speaking ability in the language.

The interview lasts from 10-30 minutes. Each interview is digitally recorded and assigned an initial rating by the tester. The interview is then blindly rated by a second certified tester. Under the supervision of the ACTFL Testing Office, a final rating is assigned and an ACTFL OPI Certificate is issued.

The ACTFL Certified Testers   

The testers and raters are highly specialized language professionals who have completed a rigorous training process that concludes with a tester's demonstrated ability to consistently elicit ratable samples and to rate samples with a high degree of reliability. ACTFL strictly monitors all testing and rating.

How to Register for the Test   

Spanish Language Education Students:

The Modern Languages Department is able to offer the exam in person for the Spanish test only. If you are a Spanish language education student, please contact Professor Claudia Fernandez via e-mail at cfernan2@depaul.edu to schedule the test.

All Other Language Education Students:

If you are a language teaching student in all other languages, you will need to take the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) administered by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). You will take the OPI test via phone and will need a proctor (see step 3 below).  Allow 4 weeks for the registration process.

Once you are ready to sign up for the exam, you will have to follow four steps:

1. Print the Registration Form. Go to http://education.depaul.edu/StudentResources/Docs/Forms/OPIRegistrationform.pdf. You MUST USE THIS FORM (says DePaul University at the top). This form must be printed, signed, and faxed/mailed in (cannot be completed online.)

2. Complete Your Portion of the Form. On page 1 be sure to indicate the name of the person at DePaul who will proctor your test and also provide dates when you and the proctor are available for the test.  Make sure that the Central time zone is selected because your tester will be calling from New York.  Payment instructions are on page 2. Read and sign the waiver on page 3.

3. Contact Your Proctor. Dr. Mark Johnston of the Modern Languages Department will act as your proctor. Contact Dr. Johnston to set up the times that work best for both of you before scheduling the test. His phone is 773-325-1879; email is mjohnst4@depaul.edu. Ask your proctor to complete the agreement on page 4.

4. Fax or Mail the Completed Form to the LTI Testing Office. For the address/fax number see Page 1 of the registration form.  Please allow three weeks for the scheduling process. On the day of the exam, you will go to McGaw Hall 315-2 (802 W. Belden) and present your photo ID. You will be asked to leave all personal belongings outside the testing room. 

Taking the Test   

Once your application has been processed you will be sent an e-mail with your confirmed test date, time, and other instructions. This e-mail will provide you with a unique ID and PASSWORD to access your test information and status on the LTI Test Candidate Website. Please keep this important e-mail and website information. You will be able to verify the date and time of your OPI and, after the test, check the status of your test result.  You will also be able to print your ACTFL OPI Proficiency Certificate. The proctor will also be notified of the OPI date, time and telephone number by e-mail.

 Finalize appointment arrangements with your Proctor. All appointments are considered confirmed, unless we receive notification from the candidate or proctor.

If an appointment needs to be rescheduled:

• Contact the LTI Test Coordinator immediately (800-486-8444 extension 14).  There is no charge for appointments that are rescheduled prior to one business day before the scheduled appointment.
• For appointments that are canceled or rescheduled within 24 hours of the test, there is a $55.00 rescheduling/cancellation fee.
• For missed appointments there is a $55.00 fee.
• There is a $55.00 fee for canceled applications which will be deducted from your refund should you cancel and application.

Once the rating of your test is completed (usually within 2-4 seeks), you will be able to view the test results on the LTI website. Each test becomes a permanent record in the ACTFL Test Archive. For an additional fee of $50.00 a test rating can be expedited as "express" and a final rating guaranteed within 10 business days.

Test Tips   

Prepare for the test by reading the Proficiency Descriptions below.  Be sure that you fully understand the functions, level of accuracy and discourse length required at your desired level.

When taking the OPI, listen carefully to the questions asked by the interviewer before answering. When answering, give as detailed a response as possible. Saying little to avoid making mistakes will not improve your rating. If you do not know a specific term in the target language, describe it and try not to resort to English or making up words. If you do use English or a slang term, do not be surprised if the interviewer asks you to describe what that word means in the target language.

Language Proficiency Standards and Intermediate High Level   

All candidates, regardless of the target language they teach, must be able to present information, concepts, and ideas orally to an audience of listeners. They must know their audience and adjust their presentation accordingly.  Candidates must be able to deliver oral presentations that may be preplanned, but in which they speak extemporaneously, referring to notes as needed, but not reading them verbatim.  They must use connected discourse that incorporates various time frames, vocabulary specific to the context of the presentation, and extralinguistic support as necessary to make the message clear to the audience (e.g., visuals). Presentations may consist of literary and cultural topics as well as topics of personal interest to the presenter.

Candidates must comprehend and interpret oral messages including face-to-face and telephone conversations, news broadcasts, narratives, and descriptions in various time frames, speeches, and debates. In interpretive listening, the level of detail of the comprehension is contingent on the listener's familiarity with the topic of the text. All candidates, regardless of the target language they teach, should be able to identify the main idea(s) and supporting details of an oral message; infer meaning of unfamiliar words in new contexts; infer and interpret the author's intent; identify some of the author's perspectives and some cultural perspectives; and offer a personal interpretation of the message they heard.

Intermediate High speakers are able to converse with ease and confidence when dealing with most routine tasks and social situations. They are able to handle successfully many uncomplicated tasks and social situations requiring an exchange of basic information related to work, school, recreation, or particular interests and areas of competence, though hesitation and errors may be evident. Intermediate-High speakers handle the tasks of the Advanced level, but they are unable to sustain performance at that level over a variety of topics. With some consistency, speakers at the Intermediate High level narrate and describe in major time frames using connected discourse of paragraph length. However, their performance of these Advanced level tasks will exhibit one or more features of breakdown, such as the failure to maintain the narration or description semantically or syntactically in the appropriate major time frame, the disintegration of connected discourse, the misuse of cohesive devices, a reduction in breadth and appropriateness of vocabulary, the failure to successfully circumlocute, or a significant amount of hesitation Intermediate High speakers can generally be understood by native speakers unaccustomed to dealing with non-natives, although the dominant language is still evident (e.g., use of code-switching, false cognates, literal translations, etc.) and gaps in communication may occur.

For a complete description of all levels of the OPI rating scale click here.

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