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Assessing Speaking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 May 2010

Jean Turner
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Extract

The publication of the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Guidelines (1986) and the creation and popularization of the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (ACTFL-OPI) have had a profound effect on foreign and second language instruction and assessment, drawing attention to language students' abilities to use language in performing particular functions and tasks rather than to what they have learned about language. The growing interest in communicative language teaching, with its emphasis on meaningful interaction in the language as opposed to knowledge of linguistic rules, has complemented interest in the ACTFL Guidelines' descriptions of functional language ability and the interview-format oral proficiency interview.

Type
Assessing Language Abilities
Information
Annual Review of Applied Linguistics , Volume 18 , March 1998 , pp. 192 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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References

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