An Investigation of the Construct Validity of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines and Oral Interview Procedure

This article reports on the results of research conducted by ACTFL on the construct validity of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines and oral interview procedure. A multitrait‐multimethod validation study formed the basis of the research design and analysis, which included tests of speaking, writing, listening, and reading in French and English as a Second Language. Results from Rasch analyses are also reported. In general, the results provide strong support for the use of the Guidelines as a foundation for the development of proficiency tests and for the reliability and validity of the Oral Proficiency Interview. The paper includes a detailed description of the research methodology, instrumentation, data analyses, and results. A discussion of the results and suggestions for further research are also included.