Enhancing instructor candidate oral proficiency through interdepartmental collaboration

Abstract

National trends indicate that approximately half of world language instructor candidates in the United States struggle to meet the benchmark oral proficiency standard established by ACTFL (Kissau, 2014; Swender, 2003) and measured by the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI). Given the critical instructor shortage, more needs to be done to help aspiring world language instructors to successfully complete this gatekeeper assessment. To help world language instructors develop the strong oral communication skills they need to successfully complete the OPI, an online, proficiency‐based interdepartmental course was designed to enhance the oral communication skills of nonnative speakers of Spanish, many of whom were aspiring K–12 Spanish instructors. Interview and OPI data suggested that the course succeeded in enhancing students’ oral proficiency when communicating in Spanish. The study presents a collaborative model demonstrating how education and language and literature faculty can work together to better prepare the next generation of world language instructors.