Nurturing the Hothouse Special: When Proficiency Becomes Performance

Abstract

The U.S. Government Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) Proficiency Definitions and the ACTFL/ETS Guidelines are becoming increasingly well-known and accepted in the profession for purposes of proficiency assessment, curriculum planning and materials design.' As use of the standards increases, there is an inevitable, natural temptation to adapt them for specific purposes. Experience in adapting the Guidelines and Definitions for a special audience is clarifying a number of dangers inherent in this temptation, dangers which must be addressed immediately if the standards themselves and our ability to use them to their maximum potential are to be preserved.2 The ACTFL/ETS Proficiency Guidelines, and the ILR Definitions from which they derive, take as their task the assessment and description of stages in the acquisition of global proficiency-the ability to use the entire range of the target language. Their ultimate point of reference is speech production equivalent to that of an educated native speaker. Three major categories to be considered in rating a speaker's proficiency are defined: function, content, and accuracy. Together they comprise the Functional Trisection and provide the underpinning for the proficiency level descriptions.3