Indonesian Oral Proficiency
Guidelines
Ellen Rafferty, Juliana Wijaya, Erlin Barnard
COTSEAL/SEASSI 20th Annual Conference
July 16 – 17, 2010
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Southeast Asian Languages Oral Exams:

Assessing What?
Achievement (exit) or Proficiency?

Assessing Who?

For What Purposes?


Placement and Achievement Tests:
university-based (designed and produced locally)
program-based (in the US: SEASSI, FLAS)
in SEA: Advanced SEA Language Study Abroad (COTIM,
VASI, AFAP, ASK, AST)
National Standard Tests:
Measuring proficiency by ACTFL or ILR scales
Problematizing Standards:
ACTFL and ILR guidelines
ACTFL and ILR scales: Linear progressions
vs Speakers’ non linear progressions
(e.g. heritage language speakers)
 Eurocentric
 script disjunction
 tasks: simple descriptive language may be
easier/harder in one language than the other
 context and content
 registers, speech acts

Proficiency-referenced Scales
ILR











0 (No Proficiency)
0+ (Memorized Proficiency)
1 (Elementary Proficiency)
1+ (Elementary Proficiency, Plus)
2 (Limited Working Proficiency)
2+ (Limited Working Proficiency,
Plus)
3 (General Professional
Proficiency)
3+ (General Professional
Proficiency, Plus)
4 (Advanced Professional
Proficiency)
4+ (Advanced Professional
Proficiency, Plus)
5 (Functionally Native Proficiency)
ACTFL




Novice:
Low, Mid, High
Intermediate:
Low, Mid, High
Advanced:
Low, Mid, High
Superior
SEASSIPE: Southeast Asian Summer Studies
Institute Proficiency Examinations






Developed by Brown, Ramos, Cook, Lockhart (UHManoa) 1988-99
User’s Manual published in 1991
Reports on the design, administration, revision
and validation of SEASSI Proficiency Examinations
Goal: to develop overall language proficiency
examinations in: Indonesian, Khmer, Tagalog,
Thai and Vietnamese
Objective: to assess the grammatical and
communicative abilities of students studying
these languages in order to gage their overall
language proficiency
Paradigm: ACTFL guidelines: novice-advanced
plus (speaking)
SEASSIPE: Oral Exam Format
Students’ responses to the interviewers’
questions are measured by:
1)
Meaning: Interviewer’s general meaning
was understood and interviewer
followed the student’s answer.
2)
Fluency: The student answered quickly
and with few pauses and hesitations
3)
Accuracy: Very few grammatical errors
Thai Oral Proficiency Exam:
Chulalongkorn University – UH Manoa



Speaking test formats:
Communicative
Report
Interview
What guidelines?
Rubrics are similar to ACTFL
Purpose?
Exit, proficiency, placement,
certification
Indonesian Oral Proficiency Guidelines
(COTIM):




developing national standards for Indonesian
oral proficiency levels
defining linguistic features associated with
levels based on a set of sample interviews
collected from seven different Indonesian
language programs across the US (bottom up
approach)
Test format integrates 3 communicative modes:
Interpersonal, Interpretive, Presentational
communicative skills
ACTFL scales adapted: novice low - superior
Test Format: (Rubric 1):
Novice High – Intermediate Mid


to obtain language samples from students and thus to
demonstrate proficiency levels from the novice-high to
intermediate-mid levels.
The oral interview consists of two parts:
1) a student presentation based on an illustration (The
presentation can be a concrete description of the contents
of the illustration or an interpretation of what is going on
with evaluative comments creating a story), followed up by
questions about the illustration to determine the student’s
ability to express him/herself.
2) a conversation lead by the interviewer (to push to a
higher level: the interviewer will request the student to
describe and narrate in paragraph level format discussing
high frequency concrete topics such as school, work,
education, current events, social issues, comparisons).
(Rubric 2): Intermediate High and Above


to obtain language samples from students and thus to
demonstrate proficiency levels from the intermediatehigh through superior levels.
The oral interview consists of two parts:
1) a student presentation based on a reading. (The
presentation should begin with a description/summary of
the contents of the article and end with supported
opinion about the topic), followed up by questions about
the content of the article checking comprehension and
pushing the student to achieve the highest level of
proficiency obtainable.
2) a conversation lead by the interviewer about a variety
of topics (e.g. freedom of expression, human trafficking,
etc.) to elicit a language sample that evidences a wide
range of vocabulary and different registers. The
objective is to push the student to his/her highest skill
level.
Indonesian Oral Proficiency Descriptors:





Global tasks/Functions
Context
Content/Topics
Accuracy
Text type
Novice Mid:







speak in discrete words and phrases.
produce mostly memorized utterances.
The context is very predictable and limited to self and
immediate surroundings, dealing with common discrete
elements of daily life.
respond to direct questions with limited words, and they
need frequent prompting from the interlocutor.
They are highly reactive.
Long pauses are frequent, with frequent hesitation, lack
of vocabulary and inaccuracy (pronunciation, grammar,
structure, diction, use of question words in answers).
They are understood with difficulty by sympathetic
interlocutors familiar with non-native speakers.
Novice High:







can convey information related to self and immediate
environment (study and kinship, places, preferences)
but producing mostly formulaic and memorized phrases.
can respond to simple and direct questions
tend to repeat and rephrase and clarify the interlocutor’s
utterances in their response.
use simple sentences although they often still use
incomplete sentences and in phrases (resort to 1st
language when tasks are incomplete)
inaccurate pronunciation influenced by his/her First
Language, but can still be understood by sympathetic
interlocutors accustomed to non-native speakers
Errors are frequent, for example word order, use of
negation, omissions of prepositions, affixation, and
deletion of verbs
are understood with difficulty by sympathetic
interlocutors familiar with non-native speakers.
Intermediate Low:





communicate some basic ideas, although with
difficulty; using simple sentences with many long
pauses, searching for words.
demonstrate limited ability to create with the
language to convey basic, limited personal message.
responses are typically reactive, indicating inability to
initiate conversations. Topics include self, family,
friends, places, likes and dislikes.
pronunciation is influenced by 1st language (English),
understood only by sympathetic interlocutor.
patterned errors are evident, such as word order
preposition, deletion of ‘ada’ in negative, prepositional
phrase.
Intermediate Mid:







demonstrate ability to create with the language both
combining and recombining learned materials.
speak in strings of sentences.
can talk about concrete topics, such as self, family,
occupation, travel, school, and leisure activities
can communicate uncomplicated idea:
personal experience, future plans, simple comparisons
utilize time and sequence marker, use simple
connectors, more frequent use of affixation
common patterned errors include passive voice,
frequent inaccurate word choice.
when hesitate, revert to their first language.
Intermediate High:







demonstrate emerging ability to describe and narrate.
show emerging paragraph, but mostly operate in
strings of sentences.
incorporate some communicative strategies such as
asking for clarification, repair (self correct to more
formal expressions/forms).
can make more complete comparisons.
utilize more variety of connectors.
occasional lapses into informal forms & pronunciation,
while formal forms are called for.
venture to use more complex patterns, such as more
varied use of affixes and passive voice.
Advanced:







can narrate different time frames (past, present and
future).
can describe with greater details and a wide range of word
choices.
full conversational partner, functioning in informal and
formal settings, but mostly formal settings.
concrete topics of personal and public interest e.g.
education, economy, environment, social issues and
current events.
can use complex sentences and morphology involving
accurate of passive and active sentences, subordinate
clauses, nominalization
can self correct and be understood without difficulty by
speakers unaccustomed to non-native speakers
connected discourse with adequate cohesive devices
Advanced High:










can state and fully support opinion and explain in details
in concrete topics.
emerging some ability to synthesize.
emerging ability to conceptualize and discuss abstract
topics.
strategies to persuade and convince the interlocutors.
emerging ability to demonstrate the socio-linguistics
skills to achieve your communicative tasks, such as to
persuade, to apologize, to criticize.
functioning in informal and formal settings, but mostly
formal settings with higher presentational skills.
increasing control of verbal affixes and nominal affixes
use more extensive vocabulary
increasing control of verbal affixes and nominal affixes
more extensive vocabulary
Skills of Advanced and Superior Speakers
Advanced level
 Ability to describe and narrate in paragraph discourse.
 Some ability to appropriately shift from informal to
formal register.
 Ability to discuss concrete and factual topics (social and
professional topics)
 Ability to negotiate a culturally appropriate manner out
of an uncomfortable situation and in so doing
demonstrate socio-cultural knowledge.
Superior Level
 Ability to tailor language to fit the audience, persuade,
negotiate, advocate for a position and interpret.
 Ability to discuss a wide range of concrete and abstract
topics in extended discourse.
 Ability to elaborate complex concepts and choose
appropriate words
 Ability to handle most formal and informal settings.
Future:




More data collection
Dissemination
Standardization for different purposes
Insights for Indonesian language
curriculum and material development:




Communicative based
Content based
Task based
Standards or proficiency based ***
THANK YOU
TERIMA KASIH