IUP NOW OFFERS YOUR STUDENTS COURSE CREDIT
BY ORAL PROFICIENCY INTERVIEW (OPI)!

Did you know that your students may be qualified to receive course credit at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) for their oral proficiency level in Spanish? At IUP, incoming students who have received a rating of Intermediate-Mid on an official ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (ACTFL OPI), and who have taken a departmental written placement exam, may receive four credits for either Spanish 102 or Spanish 201, depending on their placement on the written exam. This means that a high school student who demonstrates a working proficiency in speaking Spanish will receive, upon entering the university, Spanish credits for only the cost of an OPI and ACE application fee (see below). The written placement exam, given to all incoming freshmen, will be administered to determine for which of the two courses, SPAN102 (Elementary Spanish II) or SPAN201 (Intermediate Spanish) the student will receive the four-semester hours of credit. Students who demonstrate a proficiency level higher than Intermediate-Mid may receive additional credits.

Intermediate-Mid level speakers are able to create with the language by combining and recombining known language elements. They generally respond to questions by speaking in discrete sentences on topics that include "personal information about self, family, home, daily activities, interests and personal preferences, as well as physical and social needs, such as food, shopping travel and lodging" ( ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines-Speaking(Revised, 1999)). They can also ask a variety of questions to obtain information to satisfy basic needs, such as prices, directions, and services. Intermediate-Mid level speakers are most comfortable in the present tense time frame but may occasionally speak in past and future time frames, although with less control. For a complete description of Intermediate-Mid level and other levels of speaking proficiency, please refer to the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines-Speaking (Revised, 1999), available on the ACTFL website: www.actfl.org. 

• Oral proficiency interviews are scheduled through Language Testing International (LTI), the ACTFL Testing Office, and are administered telephonically. Each interview is tape recorded and a preliminary rating is assigned by the ACTFL certified OPI tester. OPIs are blind second-rated by an ACTFL certified OPI tester. When a final rating is determined, an official ACTFL OPI certificate is issued to the student.
• For a student to begin the process, he or she must contact LTI by e-mail at testing@languagetesting.comto request an American Council on Education (ACE) College Credit Recommendation by OPI Examination information package and application (see article from the ACTFL Foreign Language Annals April/May 2000). Current fees are $134 for an OPI by telephone plus a $75 ACE fee.
• See the Dept. of Spanish website for more information: http://www.iup.edu/spanish/proficiency.shtm#opi .