What Is OPI Testing?
OPI stands for Oral Proficiency Interview. It is a test given to ascertain a person's English language, listening, comprehension and speaking skills. It has applications in both the business and educational world. It assures that a person's level of English competency is high enough to perform teaching, learning or work functions in English.
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Format
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The OPI test is given by two certified OPI raters, who may perform the test by phone or in person. The test is oral and is the same regardless of the format you take.
The Test
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During the OPI test, a person is first given a warm-up which includes answering autobiographical questions. Next, she has to do level checks, a term that describes the test taker's ability to perform linguistic tasks at a base level. After that, the rater asks questions that increase in difficulty to determine the highest level of competence. A short wind-down session ends the interview.
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Scale Rating
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The tests are rated on an 11-point scale with 0 being no functional proficiency and 5 being educated, native-speaker proficiency. The rest of the points are given if you test to the higher base level. They are called the plus levels. These plus levels range from 0 to 4.
Who Gets Tested
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Conducting the Oral Proficiency Interview is expensive so it is usually only given to people as an final evaluation after a person finishes all other steps in the hiring or admissions process.
Reliability
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The reliability of the OPI depends on the competence of the OPI raters. It measures a speaker's actual language competence and not his ability to speak English well enough to perform a specific job function.
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References
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Lee Chisholm
