Problems in Examining the Validity of the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview

The primary problems in measuring speaking ability through an oral interview procedure are not those related to efficiency or reliability, but rather those associated with examining the validity of the interview ratings as measures of ability in speaking and of the uses that are made of such ratings. In order to examine all aspects of validity, the abilities measured must be clearly distinguished from the elicitation procedures, in both the design of the interview and in the interpretation of ratings. Research from applied linguistics and language testing is consistent with the position that language proficiency consists of several distinct but related abilities. Research from language testing also indicates that the methods used to measure language ability have an important effect on test performance. Two frameworks—one of communicative language ability and the other of test method facets—are proposed as a basis for distinguishing abilities from elicitation procedures and for informing a program of empirical research and development. The validity of the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) as it is currently designed and used cannot be adequately examined, much less demonstrated, because it confounds abilities with elicitation procedures in its design, and it provides only a single rating, which has no basis in either theory or research. As test developer, ACTFL has yet to fully discharge its responsibility for providing sufficient evidence of validity to support uses that are made of OPI ratings.