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The renewed national focus on teacher quality and effectiveness has resulted in more rigorous standards that describe the knowledge and skills required of teacher candidates across all disciplines. In the area of foreign languages, three sets of professional standards address the oral proficiency of teachers in the target languages they teach across the career continuum. For teacher candidates, the ACTFL/NCATE Program Standards for the Preparation of Foreign Language Teachers (2002) establish minimum oral proficiency levels based on the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines-Speaking (2012). Utilizing ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) data, this study examines to what extent candidates are attaining the ACTFL/NCATE Oral Proficiency Standard of Advanced Low in most languages or Intermediate High in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Findings indicate that 54.8% of candidates attained the required standard between 2006 and 2012 and that significant differences emerged for language, year tested, and university program results. Further research that takes into account additional contextual information about candidates and programs will inform continuing professional dialogue about the oral proficiency of teacher candidates entering the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance evaluation research indicates that variance in ratings may be attributable to systematic sources beyond the actual performance of the ratee. However, the majority of prior work compares ratings across sources and uses ratings from a single rating event. Using confirmatory factor analysis and multivariate latent growth modeling (MLGM), we specifically examine peer ratings from 740 participants on 5 performance dimensions across 3 distinct performance situations for systematic sources of variance beyond ratee performance. Results demonstrate that both ratee performance and the performance context have systematic effects, with contextual effects varying by how “strong” or “weak” the situation is for a given performance dimension. Furthermore, MLGM results suggest that the influence of performance dynamism is only meaningfully interpreted when contextual effects are modeled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reliability of the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) has not been reported since ACTFL revised its speaking proficiency guidelines in 1999. Reliability data for assessments should be reported periodically lo provide users with enough information to evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the assessment. This study provided the most comprehensive analysis of ACTFL OPI reliability to date, reporting interrater consistency and agreement data for 19 different languages. Overall, the interrater reliability of the ACTFL OPI was found to be very high These results demonstrate the importance of using an OPI assessment program that has a well-designed interview process, a well-articulated set of criteria for proficiency determination, a solid rater training program, and an experienced cadre of testers. Based on the data reported, educators and employers who use the ACTFL OPI can expect reliable remits and use the scores generated from the testing process with increased confidence. Recommendations for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Practitioners are not adequately prepared to handle concerns related to the acceptability of the online survey medium from the worker's viewpoint because the literature has only begun to address this issue. This study assessed reactions to Web-based questionnaires while moving an organization's climate survey online. Initial questions, posed via a paper-and-pencil instrument, gathered opinions concerning online surveys (n = 437). A Web-based climate survey was then created and piloted (n = 98). Afterwards, the finalized instrument was administered (n = 403), and a follow-up questionnaire was disseminated (n = 175) to further gauge workers' reactions. Despite some initial anonymity concerns, most personnel were amenable to online surveying, and the Web-based medium did not appear to discourage participation from any subgroup (based on gender, race, military versus civilian classification, and workgroup size comparisons). This article, which is intended for practitioners considering the transition to Web-based surveys as well as those interested in evaluating and improving current Web-based survey processes, outlines issues regarding online survey implementation, offers a tool for evaluating survey software, and concludes with lessons learned and avenues for future research/practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]