Applying ACTFL standards in assessing the oral proficiency of the
native Arabic language learners
The purpose of this study is to assess the oral proficiency of Arab students in the
Arabic language departments in some Egyptian universities in order to determine to what
extent the educational system in Egypt was successful to achieve the desired goals of the
learning process...
The idea of this study came from my experience in teaching Arabic as a foreign
language and being an Arabic certified tester at ACTFL. Throughout my teaching period
and OPI training phases, I have interviewed many of non-native Arabic language learners
who achieved the Superior level in oral language proficiency. On another hand, in my
daily views I see many Arabs who are not able to speak Arabic in the Superior level. I
wanted to apply the same measurement on students from Egyptian universities, Arabic
departments to see to what extent the Arab students are able to achieve the superior level
according ACTFL standards. Then I will try to find out the problem causes and introduce
solutions.
I collected my data from 40 students from Cairo University & Ain Shams
University. Those students are college students who have spent nearly 12 years in the
pre-college stage studying Arabic language as an independent subject and also it is the
official language that used with other subjects. At the college stage, those students
continued studying Arabic language for more three years in the Arabic departments as
specialists. After this long exposure to the Arabic language, students are supposed to
achieve the highest level in language proficiency according to ACTFL standards.
The study tries to answer these two questions:
1- What is the oral proficiency level according to ACTFL that those students
achieved?
2- Is there any relation between the educational system (teaching strategies and
curriculums) and this level? If we put in our consideration the nature of the
Modern standard Arabic and the fact that it is not the mother language of all
Arabs.
The study used the OPI exam to assess the oral language ability of the students. It
used the standers defined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign
Languages (ACTFL).
The results showed that out of 40 students, 23 students achieved the highest
degree of proficiency (Superior) in linguistic aspects but had a clear deficiency in
language functions (debate, discussion, supporting ideas and expressing topics in the
abstract or assumption). 11 students achieved the highest degree of proficiency in
language functions aspects but had a clear deficiency in linguistic aspects. Only 6
students achieved the highest degree of proficiency in both linguistics and function
aspects.
These findings raise several questions, which the study is trying to tackle:
- Is the problem in the Egyptian educational system, which does not produce students
capable of critical thinking? on the contrary it relies heavily on memorization, repetition
and gives attention to the form not the meaning (Traditional method)?
-Is the problem in the way of Arabic language teaching methods in schools and universities
as it is taught to students as their mother language and not as a second language?
In order to answer those questions, the researcher highlighted the teaching
methods and curriculum that are used in the Egyptian schools and colleges and tried to
connect between students’ input and the output.
The researcher concluded that the ACTFL standers fit in developed countries
which apply high educational systems and produce students qualified to think and express
what they think about clearly. On other hand, they do not fit in Egypt with its poor
educational system.
Finally, the study recommended applying this study on other Arab countries in
order to determine whether the problem is in the Egyptian Educational system or in the
method of teaching Arabic as a mother language not second language in general.