Resumen de ACTFL Chinese reading proficiency guidelines: Verifying the difficulty hierarchy
The ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines serve as a roadmap for foreign/second language (L2) instruction, assessment, curriculum development, and textbook writing. However, very little research has investigated the validity claims of the ACTFL Guidelines. This study empirically verifies the difficulty hierarchy suggested by descriptors in the ACTFL Chinese Proficiency Guidelines—Reading by scaling teacher-perceived descriptor difficulty. Seventeen ACTFL descriptors that represent essential components of L2 Chinese reading ability were selected and compiled as a Likert-scale questionnaire. Ninety-five experienced Chinese language teachers evaluated L2 Chinese learners' reading proficiency using this questionnaire. Data collected were subject to Rasch analysis and analysis of variance test. Data analysis results revealed that the mean difficulties of descriptors on three major ACTFL proficiency levels (Intermediate, Advanced, and Superior) were significantly different. The difficulty of individual descriptors ascended from Intermediate, Advanced, to Superior level, with few exceptions. These findings confirmed the difficulty hierarchy suggested by the ACTFL Chinese Proficiency Guidelines—Reading.
