Showcase Your Bilingual Superpower

As a Latino professional, you may often have been asked about your heritage or cultural background, and questions or comments about your appearance being “exotic” or your speech having an “accent” are off-putting. However, there are opportunities for you to showcase your multicultural competencies and show that language is your superpower.

There are over 559 million Spanish speakers globally, 460 million of whom are native speakers. In the U.S., Spanish is spoken in approximately 13% of households and it is becoming more mainstream because the Hispanic population is growing. So, you are not alone! ¡No estás solo! With the immersion of Spanish into all aspects of American daily living and projections stating that 1 in 3 people in the U.S. will speak Spanish by 2050, this is your opportunity to utilize the benefits of being bilingual.  Here are a few areas where Spanish language proficiency certifications can be beneficial to let people know that – “Yo hablo inglés y español”:

Personal and professional development

Research from the University of Washington has shown that toddlers who speak two or more languages have more frontal lobe activity than those who speak one language.  What does that mean for you? Dual language speakers have enhanced memory, focus, and multitasking skills.  The transition between one language to another helps to enhance your flexibility when dealing with different situations, making them less challenging—particularly as it relates to diverse cultural contexts. The expanded mental capacity helps to enhance your opportunities for personal growth and professional development.

Competitive advantage and expanded opportunities

A recent study conducted for ACTFL (formerly known as the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) found that “nine out of 10 U.S. employers report a reliance on U.S.-based employees with language skills other than English, with one-third (32 percent) reporting a high dependency.” This means that not only is your bilingual superpower needed by employers, but it is also a valuable asset which will allow you to seize opportunities to further your career. ¡Súper!

You can obtain official certification of Spanish language proficiency by taking an ACTFL test administered by Language Testing International (LTI). Obtaining language proficiency certification will allow you to officially confirm your language competency to potential and current employers. This gives you a distinct professional advantage in the U.S. and the global marketplace and broadens your career options. A certification also comes with an official digital badge through Credly, which you can proudly display in your professional profile online and on your résumé.

College credit

Did you know you can earn college credit for being bilingual? You can earn semesters’ worth of college credit by obtaining an official certification of proficiency. ACTFL assessments measure your language ability and proficiency regardless of whether you learned the language in school or at home. Many higher education institutions will award college credits based on the official certification. You can get closer to your degree just by being bilingual!

Business and leisure travel experiences

Having the ability to speak English and Spanish means that you do not have to cope with the language barriers that monolingual travelers experience when they are in culturally diverse situations or while visiting any of the Spanish-speaking countries in the world, of which there are over 20. Your bilingual capabilities afford you the ability to effectively communicate with others, easily navigate diverse destinations, and authentically engage in the experience. The cultural and language exposure that travel offers creates opportunities to expand your horizons and enrich your life, both personally and professionally.

Quality of mental health and a life’s journey

The benefits of being bilingual as a child and as we age have been researched and debated at length. In a 2018 article from the Washington Post, Psycholinguist Mark Antoniou of Western Sydney University in Australia proposes that being bilingual benefits the brain, especially as we age, and encourages the use of multiple languages on a regular basis to possibly delay the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. He suggests that, as the brain ages, it begins to deteriorate and that being bilingual can help to establish alternate brain networks and connections known as cognitive compensation.

So, whether you use your bilingual superpowers as a means for personal growth, career advancement, enhanced travel experiences (for business or pleasure), or keeping your mind active, being bilingual supports a life-long journey with many benefits. Australian multi-lingual philosopher Ludwig Witterstein said it best, “the limits of my language means the limits of my world.” In other words, your world is expanded by virtue of your bilingual superpowers. It is your time to go out into the world and reach new heights!

Get certified and showcase your bilingual superpowers with ACTFL assessments delivered by LTI. Find more information and sign up to take a test at www.languagetesting.com.

Sources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/soniathompson/2021/05/27/the-us-has-the-second-largest-population-of-spanish-speakers-how-to-equip-your-brand-to-serve-them/?sh=27dc8b16793a

https://oxfordhousebcn.com/en/8-hidden-benefits-of-being-bilingual/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/speaking-two-languages-may-help-the-aging-brain/2018/12/07/f93489c8-f8b0-11e8-8d64-4e79db33382f_story.html

 

 

Top 10 Tips Before Administering the AAPPL

In preparation for your fall AAPPL testing season, we have pulled together a list of Top Ten Tips to help ensure that your AAPPL experience this year is a smooth one.

1. Choose your proctoring mode and think through the steps you will need to take to set yourself and your students up. These resources can help you go into testing well-prepared:

2. Order your tests with confidence, knowing that your school will only be charged for tests that are actually taken. For example, if you need to change proctoring modes for a class or student, you can simply cancel the tests ordered with one proctoring mode and order new ones based on your needs.

  • Remember that tests must be ordered at least one day in advance for computer-based proctoring.
  • Review this list of great AAPPL Resources, including the AAPPL Client Site Manual and How-to Videos.
  • Know which AAPPL Form is right for your students by reading through this page.

​​​3. Help your students prepare by guiding them to the many available resources online:

  • Practice the components by working through the available Demos and view our online AAPPL Tips Videos.
  • Share the Tasks & Topics with your students to help them prepare to do their best.

4. Set yourself up for technical success by following these steps:

  • Always be sure to run through the System Check well in advance and have your students do the same if using their own devices for testing.
  • Set up headsets and microphones on all devices being used for testing and/or support parents/guardians and students through this process.
  • For Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Thai, language-specific keyboard layouts must be set up. Please refer to the Operating System-Specific instructions linked to in our Technology FAQs and then use the language-specific Demos to test the keyboarding functionality once set up.

5. Set up the in-school testing environment in advance.

  • To ensure there are no connectivity issues with large numbers of students simultaneously accessing media files over your network, we recommend that students practice taking the AAPPL demos in the room you will be using to administer the test.
  • Try to eliminate background noise as much as possible while students record themselves for the ILS component.

6. If using parent/guardian proctoring, support at-home proctors through the process.

  • Share the FAQ/Resources for Parents with parents/guardians.
  • Be prepared to answer questions as they arise and know the support resources that are available through your school and through LTI.

7. If implementing computer-based proctoring, assist students with technical questions when needed.

  • Be sure to read pages 3-4 of this guide for additional technical requirements and considerations.
  • Remember that students must use Google Chrome for the computer-based proctoring system.
  • Remind students that they should test alone in a quiet space and that they may not access cell phones or tablets.

8. Provide test login information to students to give them access.

  • Access student login information on your account and provide it to students, depending on the requirements of your chosen proctoring mode. You can print them for in-school proctoring and email them for parent/guardian or computer-based proctoring.
  • Remember that student log-in credentials are considered sensitive testing documents and should be kept in a secure location.

9. Run the System Check one more time right before testing is to take place to be absolutely certain that the technology is working.

10. Once testing is complete, access your students’ Score Reports and Certificates on your account and tell them what a great job they’ve done!

If at any time you would like a one-on-one walkthrough of your account, or need help ordering and administering tests, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

AAPPL Customer Care
aapplhelp@languagetesting.com
(800) 486-8444 option 1​​​​​

ACTFL’s recent press release, announced the launch of the comprehensive list of AAPPL Topics. The comprehensive list of AAPPL Topics encompasses all forms and versions of the assessment and can be found on ACTFL’s Tasks & Topics page.

AAPPL assessments ordered for Out of School Testing with Parent/Guardian Proctoring will continue to be available throughout the 2021-22 school year. Like in 2020-21, this content will vary from the content included in the In School or Computer Proctored forms.

Spanish Speakers Bring Superpowers to Businesses

The U.S. population is becoming increasingly diverse, and the Hispanic population is a big contributor to the country’s changing demographics. According to the U.S. Census’ latest data, there has been a 23% increase in the Spanish-speaking population since 2010, totaling approximately 62.1 million Hispanics as of 2020. This growth is projected to reach 99.89 million by 2050[i], and the importance of developing business strategies to connect and engage with the Hispanic consumer segment is paramount.

This diversification is not limited to race and ethnicity—it also includes language. In 2013, approximately 6 out of 10 (62%) of Hispanics were bilingual (English & Spanish)[ii] and by 2050, it is anticipated that 1 out of every 3 people in the U.S. will speak Spanish[iii].

What exactly does this mean for your business? Accurately and authentically engaging with Hispanic consumers will allow you to earn their respect, trust, and business.

Companies that intentionally hire bilingual team members to communicate and engage with the Spanish-speaking population have a competitive edge, making language proficiency an undeniable superpower. In ACTFL’s 2019 report titled “Making Language Our Business: Addressing Foreign Language Demand Among U.S. Employers”, 1 out of 3 U.S. employers reported a language skills gap with the greatest need in the following top 5 business areas:

  1. Customer Service
  2. Sales
  3. Marketing
  4. Management
  5. IT

Approximately 9 out of 10 employers reported relying on employees for language skills other than English. Therefore, companies that have bilingual employees who can communicate with their Hispanic customers with both linguistic and cultural competence not only tap into a competitive edge that directly affects their bottom line, but more importantly, they also nurture brand loyalty and longevity with a segment of the population that is often overlooked by other companies. As the largest growing population in the United States, the Spanish-speaking consumer segment can no longer be ignored.

In 2020, the buying power of the Hispanic market was predicted to reach $1.7 trillion. More specifically, Hispanic entrepreneurship grew by 31.6% since 2012, along with the use of digital tools.  Approximately 98% of Hispanic entrepreneurs use digital tools to run their businesses, and about 75% of them use social media for business purposes. The online environment provides direct access to the Hispanic market like never before. In an article titled “Companies Engaging Hispanics Win Big in the U.S.—and Beyond” the author, Jessica Rivera, stated “…research shows that best-in-class companies that aim at least 25% of ad spending at Hispanic consumers are growing by 6.7% annually.”

Are you ready to activate your company’s Spanish language superpowers? Here are three (3) quick tips to get you started:

  1. Recruit certified Spanish speakers: Having team members that can communicate in Spanish will provide your company the bilingual capabilities needed to engage with Spanish-speaking people authentically and appropriately. Make sure to test your Spanish-speaking employees for reading, writing, speaking, and listening.
  2. Collaborate with Hispanic businesses and entrepreneurs: Your supplier mix should represent the diversity of the community you are serving. Onboard Hispanic-owned businesses as part of your pool of suppliers as they will be your gateway to doing business with the Hispanic market.
  3. Market in language, in culture, in context, and online: Leverage technology and digital accessibility to connect, communicate, collaborate, and create business opportunities with Hispanic consumers and the community at large.

Now, more than ever, businesses need to be ready to activate their Spanish language superpowers. You can confidently partner with Language Testing International (LTI) to test and certify current staff members, and to hire prospective employees. LTI administers language assessments to thousands of candidates every year and is one of the largest and most respected foreign language proficiency test providers in the world. It offers the highest level of client service as well as convenient online test scheduling and reporting over secure client networks.

Visit www.languagetesting.com to learn more about how to certify the language proficiency of your bilingual employees and new hires.

References:

[i] https://www.statista.com/topics/1861/hispanics-in-the-us-shopping-behavior/

[ii] https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20200915/111016/HMKP-116-JU00-20200915-SD005.pdf

[iii] https://www.forbes.com/sites/soniathompson/2021/05/27/the-us-has-the-second-largest-population-of-spanish-speakers-how-to-equip-your-brand-to-serve-them/?sh=3b23125793ae

Sources:

https://www.leadwithlanguages.org/wp-content/uploads/MakingLanguagesOurBusiness_FullReport.pdf

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/improved-race-ethnicity-measures-reveal-united-states-population-much-more-multiracial.html

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20200915/111016/HMKP-116-JU00-20200915-SD005.pdf

https://www.motionpoint.com/blog/companies-engaging-hispanics-win-big-in-the-u-s-and-beyond/

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171002005951/en/Study-U.S.-Hispanic-Businesses-Continue-Steady-Growth

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/25/latinos-are-a-powerful-force-fueling-small-business-growth-in-the-us.html

Getting Back to Business with Language and Cultural Proficiency

One million vaccinations a day was certainly a lofty proposition as we began the year grappling with how to effectively rid ourselves of COVID-19 and get back to business. As a business owner, diversity specialist, and community advocate, I wondered how this would be accomplished because I know there are still so many gaps in addressing the United States’ diverse populations through linguistically and culturally appropriate initiatives. This is especially true in underserved and underrepresented communities where people, including senior citizens, have little to no access to reliable transportation, major healthcare facilities, or the technology needed to secure an appointment to get vaccinated. Let’s face it, we need everyone to have access to one of the three available vaccines, regardless of their socioeconomic status, ethnicity, cultural background, or language proficiency, so that we can get back to business and to our lives. But how to gather individuals with the linguistic and cultural competence required to effectively communicate with members of these communities in order to promote and provide access to vaccines? 

And then it happened. On a busy morning of back-to-back Zoom calls, I received a text from Father José Rodríguez, a community leader at the local Hispanic Episcopal church in Orlando, Florida where I participate as a volunteer and as a bilingual resource to develop educational programs. He had an opportunity to secure 500 vaccines for local residents of a neighborhood where 59% of working-class families live under the poverty level. Residents are mostly essential workers who have kept the economy going  and many are English language learners, not proficient enough to navigate making an appointment to get the vaccine. His question to me was: “Do you think we can get all the community leaders together, from non-profits to small businesses and government officials, to support the National Guard to administer the vaccines in ten days?” My answer: “Absolutely!”

Language and cultural competency were at the epicenter of every tactic used to accomplish this goal as we assembled a team of talented bilingual workers for the cause. Local Hispanic supermarkets were contacted to serve as sites to enroll predominantly Spanish-speaking people 65+; local media made announcements on TV stations and radio shows, Spanish-speaking elected officials helped with logistics. They were so happy to see Father José scheduling appointments with a brigade of bilingual volunteers from various grassroots organizations. Many senior citizens had tried to secure appointments with the help of their loved ones, but the vaccination sites were a long drive from the neighborhood and they didn’t have transportation. There was a general sense of relief that now all they had to do was show up on Saturday, February 20 to the church’s parking lot at their scheduled time for the National Guard to administer the vaccine. Our organizations’ and bilingual volunteers’ efforts would bring the vaccines to the community.

That Saturday morning, I realized we were experiencing a major breakthrough that was a direct result of the measurable language skills of our team and their cultural competence. Having advocated and volunteered during several crises in Central Florida that lacked any true exercise of cultural competency (the Pulse Night Club tragedy and the displacement of over 200,000 Puerto Ricans after Hurricane María), this vaccination effort was efficient, effective, and smooth because the importance of language and cultural context was taken into account from the get-go. 

So, as we finish the business at hand of making sure everyone gets vaccinated, I encourage corporations, small businesses, community organizations, healthcare facilities, and government agencies to be intentional in preparing to get back to work building our economy by ensuring their teams have language proficient and culturally competent professionals that can help accelerate our growth and do so in an equitable way. One important strategy for doing so is by assessing the language skills of your team members and volunteers using one of Language Testing International’s proficiency tests.

Focusing On What’s Important This Year

Chris Lemon, Northmont High School, Clayton, OH (Spanish Teacher, Department Chair)

A young woman from Spain fell in love with a man from Chile, moved there with him and made a family. Along the way Ofelia discovered democracy and political organizing and volunteered for Salvador Allende’s presidential campaign. Along with many other people at the time, she and her family were rounded up shortly after the September 11, 1973 coup and detained for many months. Thanks to her Spanish citizenship, they were deported rather than disappeared, and she has lived the last 40 years of her life in Sweden.

Two years ago, my brother and I made a trip to Santiago, Chile to see the mountains, the museums, and the stars. When we were at the Museo de la Memoria, I bought a copy of Ofelia’s autobiography, Mi historia – y un viaje al fin del mundo. She left it in the gift shop when she flew back there for the first time in many years to give a speech not long before my own trip.

This school year, our instructional time was cut by about 25%, our first quarter was remote, the rest has been hybrid, and we all know how much our students’ learning was stunted in Spring 2020. So, this year we decided to take a step back and ask ourselves what matters most. Maybe your answers are different than mine, but what I chose to focus on was an emphasis on stories, real and imagined (see Krashen article on Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition here), project-based learning and remote exchange. All three of these were already a part of our teaching practice, but they have really taken off now.

We celebrated our third year of video pen pals with la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, and this year we had about 80-90% of people show up regularly. This compares to about 50% or lower the past two years, in large part because the university students have been online the whole year. The students spoke half of the time in English, half in Spanish, formed new friendships, and incorporated what they learned into class.

Like most of my guests, the UAEM connection started because I met a teacher many years ago who introduced me to another, who then passed this project on to a professor who was interested. I lived in México as an English Teaching Assistant ten years ago, so it is always nostalgic for me to work with these students. I decided with my principal that it would be best to be logged into each of the conversations, which led to accusations from colleagues that I am one screen short of an intervention. I felt like “El Profesor” from Casa de papel.

Other guests joined us remotely, including a student teacher (also from UAEM) and people who live or used to live in Nicaragua, Bolivia, Colombia, Argentina, Cuba, Venezuela, Chile, Spain, Switzerland, Uruguay, and the US. Many were connections (or connections of connections), including former teachers of mine who graciously volunteered their time. In Spanish IV, we study the history of democracy and autocracy in the Spanish-speaking world, and my colleagues helped me track down a former exchange student of ours who came in and talked about how it affected her family and its legacy today.

And I got to thinking… What about Ofelia? It took a few days to get up the courage, and then I direct messaged her on social media and went about my day teaching. Within thirty minutes, she got back to me with a long message about how touched she was that I had reached out and that she would love to come! So, I had my Spanish IV students read some excerpts from her book and run some questions by me. The day came and went and I couldn’t have been prouder of them or happier to have her along. This was right after January 6th, too, so we had a lot to talk about…

So is it working? What effect does sociocultural learning have on students as they work towards language proficiency? Our upper-level students all take the AAPPL test to identify Seal of Biliteracy recipients, and this year my CCP third-year students and our fourth-year students beat the national average scores on that test in all four categories, averaging above Intermediate Mid-3 (I-3) in each area and +1.2 over the national average for the Interpersonal Listening & Speaking.  Nine students earned the Seal with I-5 or higher in all four areas and eleven got I-5 or higher in three areas. Some are still waiting on results yet to come in, along with our German students who took the test for the first time this year.

Is it all sunshine and rainbows? Certainly not. We had a pen pal project set up with a school in Ecuador that totally flopped. There was a severe mismatch of ability levels in a couple of the video pen pal groups, and some of my students didn’t show up to their Meets. I didn’t give a few guests enough lead time to come in, and others were cancelled due to snow days. Many students who I began the year thinking were shoo-ins for the Seal of Biliteracy came frustratingly close or lost momentum this year.

As we head into the home stretch, savor those victories from the year and recognize those students who really grew. They might still sound rough around the edges but honor the work that they (and you) put in to get from where they started to where they are now. I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks as my students will be presenting to each other about a variety of topics that they chose, from Machu Picchu to bee conservation to pets in Latin America.

Next year will be a whole new adventure, and I am proud to be an educator! ¡Feliz verano! Happy Summer!

The ACTFL Writing Proficiency Test Administered by LTI

As discussed in previous blogs, being able to speak English is not the only skill that employees who work in a global corporate environment need to have; being able to communicate by writing is also essential to remain competitive and gain success. A measure such as the ACTFL Writing Proficiency Test (WPT), administered exclusively through Language Testing International (LTI), is a valid and reliable assessment that measures how well a person spontaneously writes in a required language by comparing their performance in four to five specific writing prompts to the criteria stated in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012—Writing. Topics included in the WPT range from practical to social and professional  that are usually encountered in both formal and informal contexts. The language proficiency level for this test is measured from Novice to Superior.

The ACTFL WPT is usually administered online. In cases where internet access might not be available, or for script/character based languages that present keyboarding challenges, a fixed form paper/pencil booklet is also available. In order to ensure an individualized assessment, candidates complete a Background Survey and a Self-Assessment. While the Background Survey provides information related to the candidates’ work, school, home, and personal activities to aid in identifying appropriate content areas, the Self-Assessment asks candidates to select one of six descriptions they feel most accurately describes their writing ability. Once these details are obtained, the computer then generates a WPT that is customized to each candidate’s experience, background, and self-assessed proficiency level. The computer can generate any of the three possible forms:

  • Form 1 targets Novice and Intermediate tasks and may be rated Novice Low to Intermediate Mid.
  • Form 2 targets Intermediate and Advanced tasks and may be rated Novice Low to Advanced Mid.
  • Form 3 targets Advanced and Superior tasks and may be rated Novice Low to Superior.

Even though the paper-pencil booklet does not include the Background Survey and  Self-Assessment, the tasks do increase in complexity throughout the test, just as they would in the fixed-form option, ranging from simple informative writing to descriptive, narrative, and persuasive writing.

Scoring

While the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines are comprised of five major levels of proficiency – Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior, and Distinguished, the WPT only tests proficiency through Superior. The major levels of Advanced, Intermediate, and Novice are divided into High, Mid, and Low sublevels. There are no sub-levels for Superior. The description of each major level is representative of a specific range of abilities. They also present the limitations that candidates encounter when attempting to write tasks at the next higher major level.

In assessing the writing ability of newly hired employees, or while making important hiring  decisions, having an assessment that is not only standardized but also provides individualized evaluations is highly valuable. The process of selection and hiring is one that usually requires a number of resources, not just in terms of time but also in terms of how the new hire will benefit the organization in the future. Upon hiring an employee, organizations are deciding to invest in that new incoming employee, therefore it is important that they have all the necessary information to make that decision. The ACTFL WPT, a standardized measure of an applicant’s writing ability in a given language, will enable organizations to make that decision. Prior to implementing a testing program, many clients undergo an LTI Task Analysis through which LTI works with a group of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) nominated by the client to participate in a series of data collection activities to identify the communication tasks and functions; range of content/context areas; level of accuracy; and degree of elaboration needed to perform the bilingual position in question. This allows clients to set fair and appropriate, legally defensible minimum proficiency levels, as well as confirm/identify the necessary skills to be tested for the position. Given the increasingly globalized corporate environment that we live in today, employees that are proficient in multiple languages are more important than ever.

ACTFL’s Oral Proficiency Interview Delivered Exclusively by LTI

Given how important spoken English is in a corporate environment for employees to be successful, it is essential to talk about standardized measures that are currently being used to measure these skills. The ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview, or just “ACTFL OPI®” is a holistic criterion-referenced assessment, because it measures a test candidate’s functional speaking proficiency in a given language on a range of tasks according to a specific set of criteria, and it does this within the context of a real-life exchange.  The criteria used during testing and rating of ACTFL OPIs® are the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines, which identify five major levels of proficiency: Distinguished, Superior, Advanced, Intermediate, and Novice, the last three of which are divided into three further sublevels (High, Mid, and Low).

Since the focus of the ACTFL OPI® is on functional proficiency, and given its adaptive nature, the test does not focus on any set of content items that need to be covered, as with traditional testing formats. Instead, topics stem from the actual interaction between the candidate and the ACTFL-certified tester. ACTFL-certified testers are thoroughly prepared to ask questions purposefully to elicit the particular functions associated with each level of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines – 2024. This is done following a standardized structure consisting of four phases:

  1. Phase 1: The warmup — During the first four to five minutes, testers use conversation openers and open-ended questions that invite candidates to share general information about themselves.
  2. Phase 2: The level checks — These are questions targeting the functions and content areas that candidates can handle most comfortably, demonstrating the ability to sustain the assessment criteria while doing so.
  3. Phase 3: The probes — These are questions targeting the functions and content areas of the next higher major level that result in linguistic breakdown. They establish the ceiling or level where performance is no longer consistent and the assessment features associated with that level are no longer sustained.
  4. Phase 4: The wind down — This is the last phase of the ACTFL OPI®. It signals the end of the interview and allows candidates to regain a comfortable level to leave the interview on a positive note.

The scores reported to candidates follow the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2024 – Speaking, which, as mentioned above, describe language proficiency along a continuum from the very top (Distinguished: highly articulate speakers of the language) to the very bottom of the scale (Novice: little or no functional proficiency)The current ACTFL OPI® only tests through Superior (general professional proficiency), and this is the highest rating candidates can receive, even if their performance surpasses the criteria for Superior. Therefore, the full range of possible scores reported to candidates includes: Superior, Advanced High, Advanced Mid, Advanced Low, Intermediate High, Intermediate Mid, Intermediate Low, Novice High, Novice Mid, and Novice Low. It is important to mention here that the ACTFL OPI® rating scale assumes that proficiency in the language increases substantially within the various global functions and throughout a hierarchy of those functions, rather than growing linearly in an additive fashion.

The ACTFL OPI® being a proficiency-oriented assessment with no recommended cut scores, means that it should result in a description of a candidate’s spontaneous, unrehearsed language abilities. This is important to underscore, because interactions in a corporate environment will not always be such where an employee gets time to think and then speak. Most of the interactions will be casual and in a collaborative setting. Thus, being able to measure spontaneity when it comes to language assessment is a significant positive.

The ACTFL OPI® is easy to use and convenient for candidates, who, while scheduling their test, can choose three possible time slots during which they are available to take the test. The ACTFL OPI® is delivered remotely and multiple proctoring options are available to meet any organization’s or individual candidate’s needs.

Why Language Training is Critical to a Business

The world is becoming more and more interconnected every day, and new technologies and digital platforms capable of bringing brands to any customer with access to the internet are the driving force behind this unstoppable phenomenon. Additionally, to help facilitate access to these new international markets, businesses are striving to increase cross-border trade, international investment, and labor integration.

The vision for most, if not all, business leaders is to turn their humble enterprises into international brands, and there are many reasons for this. For one, successful globalization not only helps companies access the latest industry-specific technologies and innovations, but also helps attract a wider customer base. Expanding internationally can also provide companies with plenty of chances to work with a highly diverse talent pool, enabling them to significantly lower production costs and increase global competition.

There are myriad ways companies can prepare for smooth globalization, one of which is by introducing language training. Below are some of the reasons why language training is critical to a business.

Language Training Upskills Employees

As highlighted in one of our previous posts, languages can be a gateway into another culture  and help companies nurture, foster, and maintain a truly diverse and inclusive workforce that can better communicate with a global customer base. This, in turn, can significantly improve customer retention and foster brand loyalty. Language training can also heighten employees’ cultural awareness and respect for others, thereby allowing them to connect effectively with customers and improve customer satisfaction. Companies that offer language training also demonstrate that they are willing to invest in their employees, thus making the company more attractive to prospective job applicants.

Language Training Improves Business Leaders

Mainstream employees aren’t the only ones who can greatly benefit from language training. In fact, business executives and administrators can also gain an array of competencies from learning a new language. Language training can make them better leaders who can empathize and build a stronger rapport with employees from all walks of life. In the long run, this can lower employee turnover, increase morale, and improve engagement. By working in a multinational company with employees from all over the world, business leaders will be better equipped to deal with conflict management because they are able to view situations from different perspectives. Proficiency in other languages has also been noted to help business leaders become highly perceptive and sound decision-makers who have a wide personal network.

Language Training Enhances the Hiring Process

One of the most desired skills for businesses, outside of regular training, is hiring employees who are multilingual. If you can train your HR department to have language skills, this will also widen your ability to hire globally. This is becoming more common within the business community because of the shift to remote working across the globe.

Language skills could also dictate which job seekers are worth hiring. With the business world now more interconnected globally than ever before, knowing a language gives any job applicant an advantage when seeking employment. For this reason, many choose to study languages while  at the college level as they prepare themselves to enter into the workforce. Studies show that completing at least a minor in a language while in college can boost academic achievement. The good news for students is that all top learning institutions offer foreign languages as a minor, and many students opt to combine them with business degrees to expand their career options. For anyone working toward a business administration degree, they will no doubt be looking to work for global companies, non-profit organizations, or in the government/public sector. All of these sectors often work or have offices abroad, giving those who have a business degree combined with language skills a wider scope for career advancement. A prospective employee who speaks a second language has in-demand skills that can set them apart from other applicants when applying for jobs.

Having people who can speak the languages of your diverse customer base will give your business an advantage over the competition. After all, this ensures that your company values and messages are accurately translated and delivered to foreign markets. In addition, a company capable of communicating in various languages will have a higher chance of working well with external branches, resulting in a locally driven international brand.

Once you’ve offered your employees language training, you will want to test their proficiency. Language Testing International (LTI) can help you with that task.

Since 1992, LTI has been a leader in language proficiency testing for more than 120 languages in over 60 countries. We are the exclusive licensee ACTFL, and to ensure the quality and validity of our tests are up to international standards, we use only certified ACTFL testers and raters.

Our accredited ACTFL language assessments are widely recognized and accepted by major corporations (from Fortune 500s to small businesses), academic institutions, and government agencies. Each test is designed to determine the specific proficiency level of an individual’s speaking, reading, writing, and/or listening abilities and ultimately to provide a valid and defensible rating language credential.

Developing Talent: Language Proficiency Testing As Learning Impact Evidence

Building workforce capability is critical in achieving an organization’s strategic and operational objectives. Learning and development (L&D) is one of the primary talent management strategies for workforce capability building. L&D interventions could range from new hire orientation to technical skill training, compliance training, language training, or soft skill training to leadership development.

The corporate L&D market has grown to over $370 billion worldwide. In the United States alone, total spending on L&D in 2019 soared to $169 billion, which does not include government or military training dollars yet. However, there has not been much evidence that all the spending on L&D is producing more capable talent. Two-thirds of L&D professionals did not see their L&D efforts as effective in meeting their organization’s business goals. According to a study conducted by the Association for Talent Development, although 96% of the organizations surveyed did some form of learning impact evaluation, only 44% of the organizations surveyed believed their evaluation helped meet their learning goals. Lack of effective evaluation underscores the importance of using the right measurement tool in demonstrating the impact of L&D efforts.

Language Training As A Talent Development Solution

In an increasingly globalized economy, organizations rely on employees who can speak non-native tongues to win the market, whether that involves healthcare practitioners treating migrant patients or a hotel’s staff interacting with international guests. Language training enables your employees to communicate in the language your customers and clients prefer. It also makes in-house translators available for important business meetings or transactions. Multilingual employees help organizations build better client relationships and improve customer feedback.

The benefits of learning a foreign language are not limited to multinational organizations whose business relies on multiple languages. In national or local companies, learning training is one of the effective strategies for promoting diversity and inclusion. Diversity and inclusion continues to get traction in the workplace, because it brings various business gains to organizations, such as employee engagement and job performance.

Regardless of the purpose of language training, business needs or workplace diversity and inclusion, organizations need a strategy that connects learning to measurement, like any other talent development solutions. Measurement is the only way for organizations to demonstrate that their investment in language learning is an effective use of resources. A well-designed learning measurement plan helps organizations build the chain of impact from skill or knowledge acquisition to learning transfer / behavior change to business outcomes. While learning transfer is critical to achieving business outcomes set for a talent development solution, skill or knowledge acquisition is a prerequisite for learning transfer.

Language Proficiency Testing: Commercial Tests Versus Tests Built In-house

Once you offer language learning to your employees, measuring their improvement in the language skill is essential before you start tracking business outcomes associated with language learning. Language proficiency testing is a more suitable method of measurement than achievement testing, which assess knowledge of context-specific information. A proficiency test evaluates one’s ability to use language to accomplish real-world tasks across a wide range of topics and settings and compares one’s performance against a set of criteria for different levels of language proficiency.

When it comes to assessment tools, the buy-versus-build decision is important for organizations, and time, cost, and convenience are the key factors to consider. Building an in-house test is time consuming and requires specialized assessment expertise in your workforce. Not all tests are created equally. A good language proficiency test needs to be reliable and valid. Reliability and validity of a test are established through a rigorous test development process, which includes describing test specifications and desired statistical characteristics of a test, item writing and review, pilot studies, item analysis, and reliability and validity studies. Besides the cost of test development, ongoing costs exist in online hosting, maintaining databases of test scores, revising items, and continuously collecting validity evidence.

Alternatively, organizations may choose to use commercially available tests, which vendors can implement quickly and host, update, and maintain. Test quality has already been demonstrated with sound psychometric properties and with large volumes of validation data across organizations and countries. In language proficiency testing, organizations do not need tests with the organization’s values and culture embedded, as they would in other talent assessment tools. In other words, organizations do not lose their competitive advantage by using commercial language tests. Neither do companies incur huge test licensing fees, since many testing vendors, like Language Testing International (LTI), provide affordable language proficiency tests. LTI helps organizations measure language proficiency in speaking, writing, reading, and listening, separately or altogether, with certifications in more than 120 languages, online or over the phone, making its proficiency testing available anywhere in the world.

Conclusion

The increasing costs and competition for corporate resources have pushed the need to demonstrate the effectiveness of L&D through various learning impact evidence. Language proficiency testing provides one type of impact evidence that is necessary for receiving business gains associated with language learning. Testing tools can be either bought from testing vendors or built in house. However, comparing the pros and cons of both options suggests that organizations would gain the most by using commercially available language proficiency tests over those built in-house.

References

Helfat, C. E. (2007). Dynamic capabilities: Foundations. In C. E. Helfat, S. Finkelstein, W. Mitchell, M. A. Peteraf, H. Singh, D. J. Teece, & S. G. Winter (Eds.), Dynamic capabilities: Understanding strategic change in organizations (pp. 1–18). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Training Industry, Inc. (2020, April 1). Size of the training industry. https://trainingindustry.com/wiki/outsourcing/size-of-training-industry

Prove and Improve L&D effectiveness. (2018). In Gartner. https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/insights/learning-measurement

Ho, M. (2016). Evaluating learning: Getting to Measurements that matter. Alexandria, VA: Association for Talent Development. https://www.td.org/research-reports/evaluating-learning

Gurchiek, K. (2017 May 3). Language Training Speaks to Improved Business Results. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/organizational-and-employee-development/pages/language-training-speaks-to-improved-business-results.aspx

Ho, C-H. (2020, December 30). Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in The Workplace: Language Training. https://www.languagetesting.com/blog/2020/12/30/promoting-diversity-and-inclusion-in-the-workplace-language-training/

SIOP Top 10 Work Trends. https://www.siop.org/Business-Resources/Top-10-Workplace-Trends?utm_source=SIOP&utm_medium=Website&utm_campaign=FOWpage&utm_content=FOWpage

5 Ways Language Training Improves Employee Performance. https://www.td.org/insights/5-ways-language-training-improves-employee-performance

Best In Class: Is Your Company Multilingual Enough? https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesinsights/2017/04/07/best-in-class-is-your-company-multilingual-enough/?sh=4d3c619b63bf

Understanding Proficiency. https://www.languagetesting.com/lti-information/understanding-proficiency

Choosing Effective Talent Assessments to Strengthen Your Organization https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/special-reports-and-expert-views/documents/effective-talent-assessments.pdf

The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (2014 Edition) https://www.apa.org/science/programs/testing/standards.

Hinkin, T. R. (1998). A brief tutorial on the development of measures for use in survey questionnaires. Organizational Research Methods, 1, 104-121.

The Importance of Spoken English in Today’s Global Work Environment

Writing in a language versus being able to speak or converse in a language are two different things. The skill of writing in a particular language can be obtained via classroom instruction, assignments, books, and dictionaries. On the other hand, communicating effectively in spoken English can be challenging, especially when it comes to the pronunciation of certain words and getting the right intonation. One difference between writing and speaking in any language is that while writing one has time to edit or even delete and reword entire sentences or paragraphs. Speech on the other hand is fluid, spontaneous, and it’s not as easy to edit what has already been said.

Knowing how to speak English in a global market can have several benefits. For example, an employee who is fluent in English will benefit by being able to communicate with potential markets outside of a company’s home base. This will simultaneously benefit the employer by helping to expand the employer’s reach and profitability. Given the fact that in today’s economy, money and products are continuously moving between different countries and continents, it goes without saying that a common shared language is important. In many cases, that global language of business is English, which in turn makes it even more important to focus on spoken English.

Many multinational companies seek candidates who are proficient in the English language and who will be able to perform the job successfully. Language Testing International (LTI) has been providing language testing since 1992 to the corporate sector, with industries ranging from retail to hospitality. The assessments provided by LTI are accredited by ACTFL, and are recognized and accepted by major corporations, academic institutions, and government agencies. The tests offered by LTI include speaking, reading, writing, and listening sections. Each test is designed to determine the specific proficiency level that an individual has and ultimately provide a valid and defensible language credential. It is important that any business or organization know whether a potential candidate has the correct level of language proficiency for the position. With LTI, one can be assured that employees and job candidates have undergone the most rigorous language proficiency testing available in the industry. It is also worth mentioning here that in addition to helping organizations select the right candidate for the right position, LTI also has first-hand experience to overcome challenges associated with administrative burden and the cost of the hiring. LTI, by using remote proctoring services, makes language testing more convenient, without conceding the security of the process.

English, at the end of the day, is the global language of science, aviation, computers, and tourism. Additionally, knowing English increases a job candidate’s chances of getting hired at a multinational company, not just abroad but also in their home country. Research has shown that a third of learners in global markets, such as Asia, Europe, and South America, are learning English to apply for jobs in their home country. The same number of people have also learned English to be able to apply for a job overseas. Today, knowing English has become a necessity if one wants to enter a global workforce. Research from all over the world shows that cross-border business communication is conducted in English, and many international and multinational companies expect their employees to be proficient in English. Large global organizations such as Airbus, Samsung, SAP, Technicolor, and Microsoft have mandated English as their official corporate language. In addition, in 2010 the company Rakuten, which is a Japanese cross between Amazon and eBay, made it mandatory for their 7,100 Japanese employees to be able to speak English to be competitive in the world market.

Therefore, the importance of learning, and knowing how to communicate effectively in English in today’s global market cannot be understated.

References

  • Global Business Speaks English – Harvard Business Review (Tsedal Neleey, 2012)
  • Engaging and Integrating a Global Workforce – SHRM Foundation, https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/documents/3-15%20eiu%20theme%202%20report-final.pdf
  • How to Successfully Work Across Countries, Languages, and Cultures – Harvard Business Review (Tsedal Neleey, 2012)
  • The ACTFL English Study – Preliminary Report (June 2016)
  • Assessing Evidence of Validity and Reliability of the ACTFL Speaking Proficiency Test (SPT) (2020)
  • Importance of English in Employment – Deccan Herald (Jyothi, 2012)