ACTFL Speaking Assessment: The Oral Proficiency Interview® (OPI)
Language testing is vital to any academic, commercial, or governmental association. Diverse demographics and technology have caused language gaps to become wider, making formal language testing essential to ensure your business or organization is successful.
Language Testing International®(LTI) delivers the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview® (OPI) to help strengthen and enhance the language testing programs of a wide range of organizations as well as for individual candidates seeking a language credential to help advance their careers.
Jump to the relevant section:
- What is the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI)?
- What is the format of the OPI?
- How is the OPI rated?
- Who conducts and rates the OPI?
- How reliable is the OPI?
- How do I request an OPI?
- How is the OPI proctored?
- What is the cost of the OPI?
- ACTFL OPI vs. OPIc
- Should I take the OPI or OPIc?
- In what languages is the OPI available?
- ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2024 — Speaking
- Interagency Language Roundtable Language Skill Level Descriptors — Speaking
- Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR)
- Warm-up
- Level checks
- Probes
- Wind-down
What Is the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI)?
The ACTFL OPI is a live, 15- to 30-minute telephone conversation between a certified-ACTFL Tester and the candidate. The OPI assessment is a valid and reliable test that measures how well a person speaks a language. The interview is structured to assess global speaking ability, measuring language production holistically by determining patterns of strengths and weaknesses. Through a series of personalized questions, a speech sample is elicited, which is then rated against the proficiency levels described in one of three rating proficiency guidelines depending on type of certification needed:
The primary goal of the OPI is the efficient elicitation of a ratable sample. To be ratable, a speech sample must clearly demonstrate the highest sustained level of performance of the speaker (known as the "floor") and the level at which the speaker can no longer sustain the linguistic ability for the level (known as the "ceiling"), over a variety of topics. The OPI resembles a conversation, but in fact, the tester follows a strictly controlled structure and protocol.
The ACTFL OPI is appropriate for a variety of purposes. It is typically used for: language fluency certification, employment selection, program entrance and exit exams, course placement and college credits, program evaluation and performance, Linguist or Teacher Credentialing, and bilingual incentive pay. The ACTFL OPI has been favorably reviewed for college credit by the American Council on Education’s College Credit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT®). ACTFL provides these college credit recommendations to institutions of higher education for their consideration in awarding college credit for demonstrated oral proficiency in world languages. For more information on college credit recommendations, click here.
What Is the format of the OPI Assessment?
The four mandatory phases of the OPI are the:
How Is the OPI rated?
Wondering how an OPI is scored? An OPI can be requested on the ACTFL scale, Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale, or Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). An ACTFL OPI provides a rating from Novice to Superior on the ACTFL scale. An ILR OPI will rate between ILR 0 (No Communicative Ability) and ILR 5 (Mastery). A CEFR OPI reports a rating between A1 and C2.
The OPI assesses language proficiency in terms of the candidate’s ability to use the language effectively and appropriately in real-life situations. It does not address when, where, why, or how a speaker has acquired his/her language skills. The OPI is not an achievement test assessing a speaker's acquisition of specific aspects of a course or curriculum's content, nor is it tied to any specific method of instruction. The OPI does not compare an individual's speaking ability to that of others; rather, it assesses the demonstrated individual speaking ability against the specified rating framework.
Commercial OPIs are single-rated; an ACTFL-Certified OPI Rater evaluates the sample by identifying the speaking proficiency level criteria met by the candidate's demonstrated speaking ability based on the selected rating framework. LTI quality assurance procedures require that over 50% of all commercial OPIs are double rated.
In an Official/Certified OPI, the recorded interview is autonomously and independently rated by at least two ACTFL-Certified OPI raters whose ratings must agree before an Official rating is released.
Who conducts and rates the OPI?
ACTFL-Certified OPI Testers are highly specialized language professionals who have completed a rigorous training process that concludes with a tester's demonstrated ability to consistently elicit ratable speech samples and consistently rate samples with a high degree of reliability.
ACTFL-Certified OPI Testers, through LTI and ACTFL, uphold the highest professional and ethical standards in test administration and rating.
How reliable Is the OPI?
The reliability of ACTFL assessments is well documented by third-party studies. The rigor of ACTFL's selection, training, and certification process for testers and raters, along with ongoing monitoring, norming and re-certification, are second to none.
How do I request an OPI?
Commercial & Government
Organizations wishing to schedule an OPI to test the speaking ability of their candidates must first set up a free account with Language Testing International. We collect some basic administrative information and then provide access to a secure web-based scheduling utility. Using this utility, the organization can request assessments, track those requests, confirm appointments, and see test results. As the OPI is an interview with a live tester, organizations must submit to LTI a request for desired days and times of day for the interview to be conducted over the phone. LTI will confirm the date and time, as well as the phone number to call for the phone interview. Test results are also posted and stored on the Client Utility website, allowing organizations to track their testing activity easily in a single location.
Individuals
Individuals wishing to test and certify their speaking ability in a language through a live interview with an OPI tester can order and take an Oral Proficiency Interview test by clicking here. At the scheduled OPI appointment time, the candidate must sign into the remote proctoring platform via a computer with an internet connection and a webcam. The remote proctor will then instruct the test taker to call the OPI tester by phone while observing the phone call over the computer. (Logistically, the OPIc is a simpler alternative for most individuals. For more information regarding the OPIc, click here.)
How is the OPI proctored?
Organizations can arrange to proctor Oral Proficiency Interview Assessments on location. The tests must be proctored by an authorized, responsible individual, ideally a member of the HR department or faculty of the organization requesting the assessment. This individual, nominated by the organizing agency, will sign a form and provide it to LTI in advance of the assessment, undertaking to guarantee the identity of the candidate and the conditions under which the test is taken.
Individuals can arrange to take the language proficiency interview via LTI's remote proctoring program by signing up for one of the Language Proficiency Certification options offered to individuals by LTI. To view individual language proficiency options, click here.
What is the cost of the OPI?
Organizations, please fill out a Contact Us form to learn more.
Individuals can obtain pricing information about the OPI by clicking here.
To take the OPI, you need to make a phone call to a U.S.-based phone number to connect with your ACTFL-certified OPI tester. Please understand that you are responsible for any costs incurred when calling in to take the OPI. Testing fees paid when ordering your test do not include the cost of the phone call.
ACTFL OPI vs. OPIc
The ACTFL OPI and OPIc (Oral Proficiency Interview-computer) are proficiency-based assessments that allow a speaker's language skills to be rated according to one of the proficiency scales used in different applications around the world (ACTFL, CEFR, or ILR).
The OPI exam generally lasts 15 to 30 minutes and consists of a live interview with an ACTFL-certified Tester in the language. During the interview, the examinee's responses to questions, probes, and prompts enable the Tester to assess and rate their speaking proficiency. Each OPI is an individualized experience, and the Tester will adjust throughout the interview based on the examinee's demonstrated abilities in the language.
The Oral Proficiency Interview-computer (OPIc) is a computer-based assessment that imitates the live OPI but is instead delivered online with a series of recorded prompts provided by Ava, the virtual avatar that serves as the OPIc Tester. The candidate's recorded responses are then reviewed by ACTFL-certified raters that rate their demonstrated speaking proficiency.
Should I Take the OPI or OPIc?
Since the OPI and the OPIc both assess an examinee's holistic ability to speak a language, choosing one or the other will largely depend on the examinee's preferences and the availability of the test in the target language. The OPIc is available in fifteen languages while the OPI is available in over 100 languages. The OPIc can be scheduled on demand with one of our remote proctoring providers while the OPI must be scheduled at a time that is mutually convenient for the candidate and the ACTFL-certified OPI tester.
Both the OPI and the OPIc provide benefits such as the option to use the ratings for program admissions, graduation requirements, and hiring. Both are valid and reliable assessments of speaking proficiency that are rated by language professionals who undergo ACTFL's rigorous certification program and consider factors like function, accuracy, content and context, and text type to evaluate examinee's speaking holistically. See this page for more information about the OPIc.
In what languages is the OPI available?
ACTFL & ILR: Afrikaans, Akan-Twi, Albanian, Arabic (MSA), Armenian, **Assyrian, Azerbaijani, **Baluchi, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, **Burmese, Cambodian, Cebuano, Cantonese Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, **Ga, Georgian, German, Greek (Modern), Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hindi, **Hmong, Hungarian, Ilocano, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, **Javanese, **Kazakh, **Kikongo, Korean, Krio, **Kurdish-Kurmanji, **Kurdish-Sorani, Lao, **Lingala, Malay, Malayalam, **Mongolian, Nepali, Norwegian, Pashto, Persian Farsi, Polish, (European) Portuguese, Punjabi, **Romanian, Russian, Serbian/Croatian, **Sindhi, Sinhalese, **Slovak, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, **Tajik, Tamil, **Tausug, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, **Turkmen, **Uighur, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Wolof, Yoruba, Zulu
ILR (only): Levantine, Algerian, Egyptian, Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, Libyan, Moroccan, Palestinian, Sudanese, Syrian, Tunisian, Yemeni
**Limited rater capacity, please contact LTI at support@languagetesting.com for more information.
If the language you need is not listed, please fill out a language request form.
Schedule Your Test With LTI Today
Since the founding of LTI in 1992, we have led the field of language proficiency testing. As the exclusive licensee of ACTFL, we deliver assessments for more than 120 languages in over 60 countries. ACTFL language assessments are accredited and widely recognized and accepted by government bodies, academic institutions, and major corporations. ACTFL assessments are available for writing, speaking, reading, and listening.
For organizations seeking to learn more about the many benefits of working with LTI and assess your employees' and candidates' skills, we invite you to complete our online contact form. If you are an individual, please schedule a test online.