The ACTFL Listening Proficiency Test (LPT) is a standardized test for the global assessment of listening ability in a language. The LPT measures how well a person understands spoken language extemporaneously when presented with discourse types and listening tasks as described in the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines - Listening. Listening skills are evaluated without candidates having time and/or access to dictionaries or grammar references. The ACTFL LPT is a carefully constructed assessment that evaluates Novice to Superior levels of listening ability. It is delivered by computer via the Internet. The test can assess a specific range of proficiency (e.g. Novice Mid to Intermediate Mid; Intermediate Mid to Advanced Mid; and Advanced Low to Superior). These options ensure that the test administered targets the range of the test taker's listening ability and is economical in terms of time and effort. The test length varies: 50 minutes for a two-level test, 75 minutes for a three-level test and 125 minutes for a full-range test. The ACTFL LPT presents between 10 and 25 spoken passages for the test taker to listen to based on the range of proficiency selected. At the Intermediate level, the texts are in the target language and the questions and associated multiple choice answers are in English. At the Advanced and Superior levels, the texts and questions with multiple choice answers are in the target language. The languages include: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
All ACTFL assessments are web-based, delivered over the Internet. Test takers can sign up for a test online at the website of Language Testing International (LTI), ACTFL’s test delivery office, at: https://www.languagetesting.com. Thus, the actual testing occurs at the location designated by the test taker, with attention to test environment and proctoring.
The ACTFL Listening Proficiency Test (LPT) assesses listening comprehension in the target language. The ACTFL LPT presents a wide variety of passages in the target language. They vary in genre, content, length, and complexity depending on the proficiency levels being targeted. They are real-world types of spoken passages such as informal and formal exchanges on general, social, academic, and professional topics such as oral reports, news broadcasts, discussions, and debates. The questions target the main idea, supporting detail and, for some samples, the inferences and connections the test taker can make for the content and organization of the samples he or she hears. The ACTFL LPT assesses how well listeners understand these passages and the listening tasks that listeners can perform with different types of texts and under different types of circumstances. The ACTFL Listening Proficiency Test (LPT) assesses interpretive listening as defined by Standard 1.2 of the World-Readiness Standards of Learning Languages.