1.6.1 Grammar 1: Proficiency

This textbook was written with the intention of it being used by diverse students in 5th or 6th semester Spanish language courses in the United States. Students in these classes come from a variety of backgrounds: some might be native speakers of Spanish from a country in which Spanish is the dominant language.  Other students might be from the US but speak Spanish at home.  We often call those students heritage speakers of Spanish.  Both students who speak English at home and students who speak Spanish at home might have gone to an immersion school and received at least part of their education in Spanish.  Still others might be what we call traditional language students.  These students started learning Spanish in a Spanish class in elementary, middle, high school or even at the university level.  And there may be other kinds of students using this book as well!

That’s a lot of diversity and a lot of different experiences with the Spanish language.  And all of those experiences will mean that students using this book have different levels of proficiency (competencia).

What is proficiency?

Language proficiency is the technical term for “what you can do with the language”.  We assume that students who start this class will begin with a minimum of  intermediate-mid speaking and writing skills and a minimum of intermediate-high reading and listening skills as defined by ACTFL.

Who or what is ACTFL and how do they measure what you can do with language?

ACTFL is the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages.  It is the professional organization that guides teachers who might use this book in their classes.  ACTFL is one of the major forces in language education in the US.  They use tests to measure proficiency and Can-do statements to describe the levels of proficiency.  As previously stated, you are likely somewhere in the intermediate range now.  The great thing about proficiency is that as you study more, produce more, use the language more, you can advance your proficiency.  This means that by using this book you are actively working on achieving the advanced level or even superior some day!  Something useful to know about proficiency is that native speakers and non-native speakers of a language are measured on the same scale.  So if you are a traditional 5th semester student using this book, you too could eventually become an advanced or superior level language user.

What proficiency level do I need to be fluent?

It’s interesting, Merriam-Webster defines fluency in a language as: “capable of using a language easily and accurately”.  Which sounds great.  But it’s missing something.  Or a lot of somethings.  Where are you using this language?  On a test? In a conversation?  In a conversation with whom?  Your teacher?  A friend? A random person you met on the bus?  Can you prepare this language or is it spontaneous?  What topics are you talking about?  And so on.  So when will you be fluent?  You are the person who will decide when you’re fluent.  We, as language teaching professionals, will use ACTFL scales to talk about what you can do with Spanish and what language at that level is good for.  As you can see from this Oral Proficiency in the Workplace poster, ACTFL even has suggestions for the types of jobs that you can do with different levels of proficiency and they also have a best guess as to how much you will need to study Spanish to get there.

How do I become more proficient?

Once you know what your proficiency goal is, then you need to work for it.  If you were raised in the United States and went to an English language school, take a minute and calculate how many hours of your life have been spent reading, writing, speaking and listening to English.  Think about the many different contexts in which you have spoken English: with your friends, with your family, at the store, getting directions from a stranger on the street, getting a coffee and, well, you get the idea.  You’ve used English in many different ways in your life.  Now take a moment to think about how you’ve used Spanish.  As we said at the beginning of this reading, the users of this book are a very diverse group of students.  But if you are in the US, however you have used Spanish, you have likely used it in fewer contexts and/or for fewer hours than what you have done with English.  The best way to improve your Spanish proficiency is to use Spanish.  Here are a few ideas:

• Take more classes
• Find ways to use the language outside of the classroom
• Does your university have a conversation partner program?  How about a language conversation table?  Join it.
• Can you use your language skills in a volunteer setting?  Find out and use Spanish!
• What else can you add to this list?