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Presentation in Chinese LEARN Symposium 09

A Project Report: Oral Proficiency Interview Via Computer Patrick Lin Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center patrick.lin@us.army.mil. Presentation in Chinese LEARN Symposium 09. 1. Significance of the OPIc project 2. Milestones of the OPIc project

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Presentation in Chinese LEARN Symposium 09

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  1. A Project Report: Oral Proficiency Interview Via Computer Patrick Lin Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center patrick.lin@us.army.mil Presentation in Chinese LEARN Symposium 09

  2. 1. Significance of the OPIc project 2. Milestones of the OPIc project 3. Issues and solutions Presentation Outline

  3. OPIc refers to Oral Proficiency Interview via Computer: -- It is an oral proficiency test delivered via computer. -- It replicates the structure of an interactive OPI. -- It is scored by human raters. OPIc is a joint project by ACTFL and DLI What is OPIc?

  4. Advantages --It can deal with a great number of examinees. --It is standardized. --It is more convenient for examinees and administers. --It is cost effective. Disadvantages --Inflexibility --Impersonal Feasibility and Reliability --Big question: Is OPIc feasible and reliable?. Why Is OPI Delivered by Computer?

  5. HSK Oral Proficiency Test --Designed for foreigners learning Chinese language. -- A 20 minute oral test delivered via computer and scored by human raters. --Three tests for Basic, Elementary-Intermediate, and Advanced speakers; Certificates at eleven levels based on the test scores. AP Chinese Oral Test --Designed as the test of the AP Chinese Language and Culture course in high school, which is roughly equivalent to a 4th semester college course. --A 20 minute oral test delivered via computer and scored by human raters. --AP's 5-point sores: 5 (Extremely well qualified), 4 (Well qualified), 3 (Qualified), 2 (Possibly qualified), and 1 (No recommendation). Existing Computer Delivered Chinese Oral Tests

  6. 1. Initial stage -- ACTFL launched OPIc project for DLI in early 2008 (in Arabic, Korean, Chinese, Farsi, French, Russian and Bengali languages). 2. OPIc rater training --The first training step is norming procedures in Mid November 2008, with 6-7 hours listening to 20 existing English ACTFL OPIcs online. --The second step is a 2-day language specific OPIc rater training in late February 2009. 3. Chinese OPIc validation --DLI Chinese classes take OPIc at the end of semester 2 in May. --Students take the OPIc and a regular face-to-face OPI within 72 hours. Half of the students take the OPIc first while another half take it later. --Students take the OPIc simultaneously rather than individually. -- Ratings of the OPIc and OPI will be carefully compared. Milestones of OPIc Project

  7. Inflexibility issue Impersonality issue Rating issue Issues and Solutions

  8. Current OPIc is designed to test Level 0+ to Level 2 speakers only. Warm-up, level-check, and probe tasks will be able to provide enough language samples to determine the examinee’s real level. It has been suggested that current OPIc be divided into two separate tests for L0+ to L1 and L1+ to L2 speakers. Let examinees choose the test level for themselves first. How to Make a Pre-recorded Test Fit All Examinees?

  9. Examinees provide personal information right before OPIc test. Only those topics that match the examinee’s interest will be used. Each topic will have 3 to 4 personalized questions to elicit examinee’s responses. Simulated role-play will be included in OPIc. How to Make OPIc a Personalized Test?

  10. A global rating will be given basing on all the following factors: Communication Functions/Tasks Speech Delivery Lexical Control Sentence Structure Texts Produced Sociolinguistic Competence How to Rate the OPIc Objectively?

  11. 1. Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK): http://www.hsk.org.cn Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR): http://www.govtilr.org 3. ACTFL Language Testing International: http://www.languagetesting.com/assessments_commercial.cfm 4. The AP Chinese Language and Culture Exam: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_chineselang.html Reference

  12. Questions and Comments are welcome! Thanks! This speech/presentation is authorized by the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center and the Department of Defense. Contents of this presentation are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, Department of the Army, or the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center

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