Have you taken the oral proficiency exam from the actfl?
If anyone has taken the OPI (oral proficiency exam) of the ACTFL (American Council on Teaching Foreign Language) it would be interesting to hear about your experience.
Do you feel the exam was based more on "academic" Spanish or the conversational Spanish really used in everyday situations?
Do you feel the rating accurately represents your level of success in speaking Spanish for the situations in which you use it?
6 Answers
Do you feel the exam was based more on "academic" Spanish or the conversational Spanish really used in everyday situations?
You seem to be suggesting that there is a huge difference between "academic" Spanish and the Spanish spoken by "real" people (as if to say that "academic" Spanish is not spoken and is divorced from the real world). I have only visited Mexico, Spain, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Chile and Panama (so my experience is, somewhat limited) but I have never had problems conversing with the "locals". There have been times when I did not recognize/understand some regionalism (as has also happened when I visited Alabama/Louisiana/etc.) but, in all cases, they understood my "academic" speech even if I didn't understand their "localisms".
I have had the University of Texas site bookmarked for more than a year and have listened to almost all of the two advanced levels and the superior level conversations.
First let me say that I consider listen/understanding to be a different skill set than talking. I understand almost everything said by the speakers in all of the levels, however, I know that my speaking ability is not as strong as my listening comprehension skills.
My personal opinion, and therefore biased, based on the conversations I have listened to I would rate my speaking ability at an Advanced-A level but my listening comprehension skill at the Superior level.
Why the discrepancy? Mainly it is my grammar skills. My vocabulary is very strong because I value vocabulary over grammar. However I have trouble selecting between the two past tenses and in correctly applying the subjunctive. And sometimes I still have trouble with the object pronoun/verb person combinations.
I live in Mexico. Last night I was at a party sitting at a table full of native speakers and being the only gringo at the party and being able to speak Spanish I was kept busy speaking all night with many different people. I never once felt uncomfortable in my ability to communicate, no matter what the topic.
This brings me to the issue as presented in the original question posted. I do believe there is a great deal of difference between "academic" Spanish (or any language for that matter) and "everyday" language. Academic language focuses on the proper use of grammar and the correct selection of vocabulary to express an idea. While everyday Spanish is spoken by people with vastly varying degrees of education and abilities where the sole purpose is communication rather than the strict adherence to rules of grammar.
When I first started studying Spanish here in La Paz I took classes for 6 hours a day 5 days a week and did the equivalent or more in daily homework. I often practiced at a local restaurant while sipping a Negra Modelo. Soon the owner was stopping by daily to check my progress (which I assure you was very slow). One day I complained about how difficult it was for me to understand what people were saying to me. She laughed and told me this story.
I am a Mexican from Guadalajara. I moved to La Paz eight years ago and spent the first five years thinking that I had moved to a foreign country that spoke something other than Spanish.
So dialect, tone and pace can affect even native-speakers.
Gringojrf, I TOTALLY agree with your points. I can listen more accurately than I can respond. I can read Spanish very well and if everyone handed me a transcript of what they were saying I'd be quite fluent :-() The processes of the brain involved in formulating the spoken responses require more cognitive processing than listening. For example, in some instances, a person who is knocked unconscious might later tell you they heard you talking to them when they were unconscious but couldn't reply to you no matter how hard they tried.
I work daily with native Spanish speaking professionals who are primarily from Mexico but other countries as well. They routinely point out to me nuances and differences in everyday Spanish as opposed to "academic" Spanish, such as what I was taught in high school. I also listen to the differences in dialects and can hear differences in tone, pace, etc for different countries or regions. When it comes to a second language, native Spanish speaking friends tell me they have the same difficulty with speaking English during a conversation that I have with speaking Spanish. They can comprehend the spoken words but responding is a more challenging process.
I took the test a couple of years ago and scored intermediate range. I haven't taken it again but I think I could hit the low advanced mark now. The process was over the phone and very formal but the evaluator was professional and courteous. Here is a great website at the University of Texas in which you can watch and listen to native spanish speakers in from various countries. Their short conversations are ranked by level of difficulty and those levels correspond to the OPI levels of proficiency and the subject areas. http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe/
Good luck with the exam !
Well, I'll answer my own question. I took the OPI and I think it is a good test of spoken spanish. Basically, you speak to a native speaker who is trained on the OPI's rating scale. They start you off with a very basic conversation and then it becomes progressively more complex. It's more like a conversation than a "test" because you never feel like you're in a test. The point is to find your maximum level of competent discourse.
If you need to "prove" your level of proficiency for your job or some other official reason this is one of the most widely accepted and reputable tests. The best way to prepare for it is to practice speaking to someone in a conversational style. Start with basic things and then practice things such as giving directions, your life, talking about what you do, travel scenarios, your childhood,etc. Then for more advanced topics try discussing current news events and defending an opinion you have.
