Prediction of foreign language proficiency.

Best predictors of overall proficiency in a foreign language were examined in 2 experiments. Experiment 1 involved 60 10th- and llth-grade girls attending a private, single-sex high school; Experiment 2 involved a coeducational population of 36 10th-grade students in a public school. Best predictors in both experiments were end of lst-year grade in the foreign language and a measure of phonology-orthography, foreign language word decoding. In 1 experiment, native language vocabulary skill was also a predictor of overall proficiency. Heretofore, foreign language grade and word decoding had not been considered as predictors of foreign language proficiency. The finding that foreign language word decoding was a good predictor of both oral and written proficiency suggests its importance as both a predictor variable and an important component of foreign language proficiency.