Language Proficiency Descriptions


Accent
  1. Pronunciation frequently unintelligible.
  2. Frequent gross errors and a very heavy accent making understanding difficult, requiring frequent repetition.
  3. Foreign accent that requires concentrated listening; mispronunciation leading to occasional misunderstanding and apparent errors in grammar or vocabulary.
  4. Marked "foreign" accent and occasional mispronunciations which do not interfere with understanding.
  5. No conspicuous mispronunciations for a child of that age level but would not be taken for a native speaker.
  6. Native pronunciation, with no trace of "foreign" accent.

Grammar
  1. Grammar almost entirely inaccurate except in common phrases.
  2. Constant errors showing control of very few major patterns, relative to a native speaker of that age level and frequently preventing communication.
  3. Frequent errors showing lack of control of some major patterns and causing more misunderstanding than would be expected for a native speaker of that age level.
  4. Occasional errors showing imperfect control of some patterns but no weakness that causes misunderstanding.
  5. Few errors, with no patterns of failure, but still lacking full control over grammar that is expected of that age.
  6. No more that two errors during the interview, other than those typical of a child of the same age who is a native speaker of that language.

Vocabulary
  1. Vocabulary inadequate for even the simplest conversation.
  2. Vocabulary limited to basic personal and survival areas (time, food, family, etc).
  3. Choice of words sometimes more inaccurate than would be expected of a native speaker of the same age, and limitations of vocabulary that prevent continuous conversation.
  4. Vocabulary adequate to carry on basic conversation but some circumlocutions are present.
  5. Vocabulary almost as broad and precise as would be expected of a native speaker of the same age.
  6. Vocabulary apparently as accurate and extensive as that of a native speaker of the same age.

Fluency
  1. Speech so halting and fragmentary that conversation is virtually impossible.
  2. Speech very slow and uneven except for short or routine sentences.
  3. Speech more hesitant and jerky than a native speaker of the same age:  sentences left uncompleted.
  4. Speech occasionally hesitant, with some unevenness caused by rephrasing and groping for words, more so than would be typical for that age level.
  5. Speech effortless and smooth, but perceptibly non-native in speed and evenness.
  6. Speech on all topics that are of interest to that age level as effortless and smooth as a native speaker's

Comprehension
  1. Understands too little for the simplest type of conversations.
  2. Understands only slow, very simple speech on concrete topics; requires more repetition and rephrasing than would be expected of a native speaker of the same age.
  3. Understands careful, somewhat simplified speech directed to him, with considerable repetition and rephrasing.
  4. Understands adult speech quite well directed to to him, but still requires more repetition or rephrasing than a native speaker of the same age.
  5. Understands everything in conversation except for colloquial or low-frequency items, or exceptionally rapid or slurred speech.
  6. Understands everything in both formal and colloquial speech expected of a native speaker of the same age.