The ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines have been revised for 2012 with updated descriptions of what individuals can do with language in terms of speaking, writing, listening and reading in real-world situations in a spontaneous and non-rehearsed context. The levels of the ACTFL Guidelines describe the continuum of proficiency from that of the highly articulate, well-educated language user to a level of little or no functional ability. For each skill, these guidelines identify five major levels of proficiency: Distinguished, Superior, Advanced, Intermediate, and Novice. The major levels Advanced, Intermediate and Novice are subdivided into High, Mid and Low sublevels.

In addition to the addition of the major level of "Distinguished" to the Speaking and Writing guidelines; the 2012 Guidelines also contain a general level description for each major level in all skills, followed by sublevel descriptions of "High," "Mid," and "Low" at the Advanced, Intermediate, and Novice levels.

Another new feature of the 2012 Guidelines is their publication online, supported with glossed terminology and annotated, multimedia samples of performance at each level for Speaking and Writing, and examples of oral and written texts and tasks associated with each level for Reading and Listening.

The direct application of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines is for the evaluation of functional language ability. The Guidelines are intended to be used for global assessment in academic and workplace settings. For the past 25 years, the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines have had an increasingly profound impact on language teaching, learning, and assessment in the United States.

http://actflproficiencyguidelines2012.org/