The ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines and Materials for the German Classroom

Abstract

Much has been written within the last few years about the proficiencybased language classroom.' Beginning with the recommendations proposed by the MLA-ACLS Language Task Forces,2 later reiterated by the President's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies,3 the toward proficiency-oriented teaching has played a prominent role in recent efforts to strengthen foreign language education in this country. This movement has encouraged the development of curricular goals articulated by levels of instruction, and the creation of classroom materials, teaching styles and testing instruments which focus on communicative uses of language, and stress both functional proficiency and structural accuracy. The first major initiative in this direction was taken in the late 1970's by the Foreign Service Institute when it sponsored workshops for a limited number of language educators from the academic community. The purpose of these workshops was to introduce nongovernmental language professionals to concepts of oral proficiency testing and to train them in the use of government's oral proficiency interview. This work was subsequently expanded through the joint efforts of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Funded by a series of grants, ACTFL and ETS worked together to adapt the goverment's proficiency standards and tests to the needs of the academic community. Their collaborative efforts culminated in the 1982 publication of the ACTFL Provisional Proficiency Guidelines.4