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2 The FSI Testing Context
Pages 17-26

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From page 17...
... , how FSI assesses the language proficiency of Foreign Service officers and other Foreign Service personnel, and how the results of those assessments are used in the State Department. MANDATE FOR ASSESSING FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY Foreign Service officers are posted to nearly every country in the world.
From page 18...
... • Report to Washington policies in the host country headquarters about the host country's economy and politics Consular Officers • Adjudicate visas • Interview visa applicants • Provide wide range of services • Interact with wide range of to U.S. citizens local entities, such as the legal system or hospitals Management • Manage the embassy's or • Interact with a variety of Officers consulate's administrative local government officials, support services organizations, and individuals on a wide range of issues Regional Security • Ensure the safety and security • Interact with a variety of Officers of people and facilities local government officials, organizations, and individuals on a wide range of issues aThe broad language uses for chiefs of mission apply generally to career Foreign Service officers serving as ambassadors, although language proficiency is not a prerequisite for an appointment.
From page 19...
... : The Secretary of State shall establish foreign language proficiency require ments for members of the service who are to be assigned abroad in order that Foreign Service posts abroad will be staffed by individuals having a useful knowledge of the language or dialect common to the country in which the post is located. LANGUAGE NEEDS AND TRAINING OF FOREIGN SERVICE OFFICERS FSI's School of Language Studies provides intensive language training on a full-time basis for Foreign Service officers to develop their language proficiency.
From page 20...
... The goal of the language training is to prepare Foreign Service officers to participate effectively in this wide range of language activities. The focus is on a level of professional language proficiency that would allow Foreign Service officers to carry out any of the formal or informal job activities associated with language-designated positions in embassies and consulates.
From page 21...
... At the time of this report, the skill-level descriptions in the ILR framework were being revised. The typical goal for language training is for Foreign Service officers to score at ILR level 3 in both speaking and reading (referred to as "3/3")
From page 22...
... Reading ability is not dependent on subject matter knowledge, although it is not expected that the individual can comprehend thoroughly subject matter which is highly dependent on cultural knowledge or which is outside his/her general experience and not accompanied by explanation. Text types include news stories similar to wire service reports or international news items in major periodicals, routine correspondence, general reports, and technical material in his/her professional field; all of these may include hypothesis, argumentation and supported opinions.
From page 23...
... For all Foreign Service officers, scores below 4/4 expire after 5 years. Components of the FSI Test In all languages, the current FSI language proficiency assessment consists of a speaking test and a reading test.
From page 24...
... The social conversation now includes a gradual warm-up aimed at putting the test taker at ease, and a longer presentation task was replaced with a work-related exchange focusing more on an interactive dialogue. Reading Test The reading test consists of two tasks: 1.
From page 25...
... In contrast with other agencies that use the ILR framework for language proficiency testing, FSI does not align specific reading texts with individual ILR levels. Based on the FSI's belief that it is possible to show a range of proficiency when reading a specific text, there are three general categories of FSI reading texts that roughly correspond to the proficiency ranges of ILR levels 1 to 2 (A-level texts)
From page 26...
... Although listening is not considered explicitly or reported separately, listening skills are obviously required to perform well on the speaking test and are reflected in the comprehension factor. The scoring sequence -- from initial holistic rating to the five-factor derivation of an index score and then to comparison of the separate index scores with the initial holistic rating -- is repeated two times, once for the speaking test and once for the reading test.


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