Incorporation of ACTFL proficiency guidelines and OPI into a Chinese heritage language curriculum

Traditional college heritage language (HL) classes often place more emphasis on literacy development than speaking improvement. However, the native‐like abilities of some heritage language learners (HLLs) in certain areas, such as acoustic perception and pronunciation, do not guarantee their oral competency. To address the issue, this study integrated the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines—Speaking and mock Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPIs) conducted by certified ACTFL OPI testers into a Chinese HL curriculum over one semester. Forty‐one participants completed pre‐ and post‐surveys and mock OPIs at the beginning and end of the semester, respectively. The pre‐post‐survey comparison indicated participants' enhanced speaking awareness and stronger speaking initiatives inside and outside of class. The pre‐post‐mock‐OPI comparison indicated improved oral proficiency of 15 participants, and some minor qualitative improvements in one or two of the criteria of Functions and Tasks , Accuracy , Context and Content , and Text Type in 16 of the other 26 participants. Implications regarding the improvement of Chinese HLLs' speaking development are discussed.