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Your company\u2019s business depends on the professional communication skills of bilingual employees. How does this play a role in the hiring process? According to the resumes reviewed, many candidates are heritage language users of the languages needed. If these applicants already speak the desired language, why is it important to test their language proficiency?<\/p>\n
The United States is linguistically diverse, and by testing your applicants’ language skills, you will open your company and candidates up to more opportunities. Beyond these professional advantages, assessing their proficiency has personal benefits, too. Encouraging heritage language users to learn more about their heritage language also enables them to establish connections to the past while carrying histories and traditions into the future.<\/p>\n
The term \u201cheritage\u201d refers to how individuals acquired their language abilities\u2014not to how proficient they may or may not be in the language. For this reason, testing the language skills of heritage language users must be part of the hiring process.<\/p>\n
Many heritage language users learn their heritage language in an informal setting (e.g., at home or in their communities) and use that language with family, friends, and co-workers. They may have native-like pronunciation, be confident when dealing with highly familiar topics, and engage freely and fluently on topics related to everyday life. Heritage language users are typically exposed to their heritage language in childhood but may or may not have learned the language to its full functional capacity because another language became dominant in their day-to-day interactions. They may have never even received formal education in their heritage language. In fact, heritage language users residing in the U.S. have typically received most of their formal education in English-speaking schools, and for this reason, they may not have all the functional abilities in their heritage language that they have in English.<\/p>\n
While heritage language users may be more fluent in a second language, such as English, they are at an advantage compared to language users starting without any background knowledge. Heritage language users already have exposure to their first language and culture, making it easier for them to learn or relearn their heritage language.<\/p>\n
The primary importance of heritage language is that it allows individuals to connect culturally and linguistically to their ancestors. Being proficient in a heritage language also offers professional benefits and opens the door to more job opportunities.<\/p>\n
The term \u201cheritage\u201d does not indicate or predict any specific proficiency level. Heritage language users\u2019 extensive exposure to the language in informal contexts may result in profiles that differ from those of traditional second language users. Nonetheless, their functional ability of language is assessed according to a common set of criteria, which corresponds to a given proficiency level. Their language skills can be assessed at any level of the proficiency scale as described in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines – 2024<\/em>.<\/p>\n With ACTFL assessments, heritage language proficiency is fluid, and each level has specific criteria and descriptions, so the heritage speaker has information on which level they are at in each skill. The main difference between each level is the language user’s ability to communicate, read, listen, or correspond through writing to native language users while contributing their thoughts and ideas to the conversation.<\/p>\n The language proficiency of a heritage language user can differ from second language speakers depending on their exposure level to their heritage language. For example, a heritage speaker at the Intermediate level may have the same proficiency skills as an intermediate second language user regarding lack of vocabulary and limited structural control. However, in some cases, heritage language users can be at the Intermediate level and still possess a higher level of fluency and confidence than Intermediate second language users. <\/span><\/p>\n Advanced-level heritage language users typically perform Advanced-level tasks with quantity and quality. Their native-like pronunciation and fluency, as well as their extensive vocabulary and structural control, may distinguish them from their second language user counterparts. When asked to perform tasks at the Superior level, Advanced-level heritage language users may not demonstrate errors in language control nor diminishing fluency but rather may avoid addressing a Superior-level task. For example, rather than supporting an opinion, they may provide anecdotal information; rather than discussing a topic at the issues level and from an abstract perspective, they may resort to a concrete treatment of the topic; rather than speculating on possible outcomes when asked to hypothesize, they may describe a real situation.<\/p>\n Heritage language users at the Superior level demonstrate the ability to sustain the Superior-level tasks in extended discourse, using precise vocabulary, and with no patterned errors. They are not rated Superior because of the way they sound but rather because their ability to use the language effectively falls within the functional requirements for that level.<\/p>\n Why, then, should businesses test heritage language users\u2019 language skills? The term \u201cheritage\u201d does not identify what language users can do with language, nor does it indicate how well they can communicate in different situations. Simply identifying oneself as a \u201cheritage speaker\u201d of a language does not provide evidence to a prospective employer as to whether that person has the language skills appropriate for the demands of the workplace. Official testing of language abilities does provide this information. Testing heritage language users, using official ACTFL assessments and reporting results based on the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines<\/em>, enables employers to have confidence in their hiring decisions.<\/p>\n Testing proficiency in a heritage language is an excellent way to reduce time-to-hire and the cost-per-hire whether you are looking for candidates internationally or for specific language positions. Language testing measures specific elements of languages and gives data you can use to make the best hiring decisions. High test scores also indicate how likely an employee is to be successful in their position, which may aid in improving retention rates.<\/p>\n Improve your hiring process with Language Testing International\u00ae. We are the exclusive licensee of ACTFL<\/a> and offer various commercial and official testing options. Each ACTFL assessment offers accurate proficiency scores to enable employers to compare testing abilities with linguistic requirements and hire heritage language users with confidence.<\/p>\n Since the creation of Language Testing International (LTI)<\/a> in 1992, we have been a leader in language proficiency testing. Our ACTFL language assessments are under full accreditation and are widely recognized and accepted by academic institutions, corporations, and government agencies. We invite you to complete our online contact form<\/a> to learn more about our wide range of testing options for heritage speakers and other language users.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Your company\u2019s business depends on the professional communication skills of bilingual employees. How does this play a role in the hiring process? According to the resumes reviewed, many candidates are heritage language users of the languages needed. If these applicants already speak the desired language, why is it important to test their language proficiency? The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162,2],"tags":[48,30,33,99,42,32,28,221,97,44,145,31],"class_list":["post-965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bilingual-professionals","category-commercial","tag-bilingual","tag-bilingual-employee","tag-bilingual-employees","tag-bilingual-employees-job-market","tag-determining-proficiency","tag-employee-language-assessment","tag-employee-language-skills","tag-heritage-speakers","tag-hiring","tag-language-in-the-workplace","tag-multilingual","tag-multilingual-employees"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3457,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965\/revisions\/3457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.languagetesting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Different Levels of Language Proficiency<\/h2>\n
Reasons to Test Heritage\u00a0Language Users<\/h2>\n
Test Heritage Speaker Proficiency With Language Testing International\u00ae<\/h2>\n