Letter to the editor

• Published in: Foreign language annals Vol. 48; no. 4; p. 771
• Main Authors: Burke, Brigid M, Brooks, Frank B, Darhower, Mark Anthony, Swender, Elvira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Alexandria American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages 01.12.2015
• Subjects: Accreditation; Beginning Teachers; Collaboration; College professors; College students; Cooperative learning; Councils; Departments; Editors; Education reform; Educational Change; Educational standards; International languages; Language acquisition; Language Proficiency; Language teachers; Language tests; Language use; Licensing; Professional development; School boards; Secondary school students; Students; Studies; Study abroad; Teacher education; North Carolina; Indiana; United States > US; Pennsylvania
• DOI: 10.1111/flan.12170
• ISSN: 0015-718X

While I believe that teacher candidates should take the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and Written Proficiency Test (WPT) to assess their proficiency levels, I also think individual states should determine their licensure requirements and work with their state departments of education to remedy the extreme shortage of U.S. world language teachers (U.S. Department of Education, 2013). In collaboration with other world language teacher organizations and conferences, the ACTFL could provide free professional development workshops on proficiency-based methods to teachers; assist universities in the recruitment of high-performing secondary students interested in becoming world language educators; fund college scholarships for prospective educators; provide opportunities for high school and college students and in-service teachers to study abroad; support prospective master's of education students who want to become licensed language teachers; and provide access to onsite consultants, who are ACTFL-approved, to teach, mentor, and coach in-service teachers. Concerning certification expectations for teacher candidates, while ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines describe levels of functional linguistic ability from that of a Novice (no functional ability) to Distinguished (equivalent to a highly articulate, well-educated language user), the ACTFL does not prescribe the minimal levels that are selected by state departments of education, private companies, or government agencies when determining language qualifications. The ACTFL also uses testing revenues to underwrite dozens of research projects a year, most recently the ACTFL Reading and Listening Benchmark Study, to provide grants for dissertators and other researchers, to support participation in national and international language testing research colloquia including the ACTFL-Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) crosswalk initiative in collaboration with the Council of Europe, and to achieve college credit recommendation from the American Council on Education (ACE) Review for renewal of the OPI, OPIc, and WPT and to achieve initial recommendation for the RPT and LPT.