6 | ACTFL PROFICIENCY GUIDELINES 2012 © ACTFL, INC., 2012
Advanced Mid
Speakers at the Advanced Mid sublevel are able to handle with ease and confidence a large number of communicative
tasks. They participate actively in most informal and some formal exchanges on a variety of concrete topics relating to
work, school, home, and leisure activities, as well as topics relating to events of current, public, and personal interest or
individual relevance.
Advanced Mid speakers demonstrate the ability to narrate and describe in the major time frames of past, present, and
future by providing a full account, with good control of aspect. Narration and description tend to be combined and interwo-
ven to relate relevant and supporting facts in connected, paragraph-length discourse.
Advanced Mid speakers can handle successfully and with relative ease the linguistic challenges presented by a complica-
tion or unexpected turn of events that occurs within the context of a routine situation or communicative task with which they
are otherwise familiar. Communicative strategies such as circumlocution or rephrasing are often employed for this purpose.
The speech of Advanced Mid speakers performing Advanced-level tasks is marked by substantial flow. Their vocabulary is
fairly extensive although primarily generic in nature, except in the case of a particular area of specialization or interest. Their
discourse may still reflect the oral paragraph structure of their own language rather than that of the target language.
Advanced Mid speakers contribute to conversations on a variety of familiar topics, dealt with concretely, with much ac-
curacy, clarity and precision, and they convey their intended message without misrepresentation or confusion. They are
readily understood by native speakers unaccustomed to dealing with non-natives. When called on to perform functions or
handle topics associated with the Superior level, the quality and/or quantity of their speech will generally decline.
Advanced Low
Speakers at the Advanced Low sublevel are able to handle a variety of communicative tasks. They are able to participate in
most informal and some formal conversations on topics related to school, home, and leisure activities. They can also speak
about some topics related to employment, current events, and matters of public and community interest.
Advanced Low speakers demonstrate the ability to narrate and describe in the major time frames of past, present, and fu-
ture in paragraph-length discourse with some control of aspect. In these narrations and descriptions, Advanced Low speak-
ers combine and link sentences into connected discourse of paragraph length, although these narrations and descriptions
tend to be handled separately rather than interwoven. They can handle appropriately the essential linguistic challenges
presented by a complication or an unexpected turn of events.
Responses produced by Advanced Low speakers are typically not longer than a single paragraph. The speaker’s dominant lan-
guage may be evident in the use of false cognates, literal translations, or the oral paragraph structure of that language. At times
their discourse may be minimal for the level, marked by an irregular flow, and containing noticeable self-correction. More gener-
ally, the performance of Advanced Low speakers tends to be uneven.
Advanced Low speech is typically marked by a certain grammatical roughness (e.g., inconsistent control of verb endings),
but the overall performance of the Advanced-level tasks is sustained, albeit minimally. The vocabulary of Advanced Low
speakers often lacks specificity. Nevertheless, Advanced Low speakers are able to use communicative strategies such as
rephrasing and circumlocution.
Advanced Low speakers contribute to the conversation with sufficient accuracy, clarity, and precision to convey their
intended message without misrepresentation or confusion. Their speech can be understood by native speakers unac-
customed to dealing with non-natives, even though this may require some repetition or restatement. When attempting to
perform functions or handle topics associated with the Superior level, the linguistic quality and quantity of their speech
will deteriorate significantly.
ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines 2012 – SPEAKING