ACTFL Guidance on The ACTFL® Proficiency Guidelines and Fair Use
1. What is the purpose of the ACTFL® Proficiency Guidelines?
The ACTFL® Proficiency Guidelines describe 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. Official ACTFL tests that use the Proficiency Guidelines provide a reliable, valid, recognized way to assess an individual’s language proficiency. Official ACTFL tests aligned to the ACTFL® Proficiency Guidelines deliver accurate, benchmarked assurance of an individual’s proficiency level in the tested language.
2. Who can use the ACTFL® Proficiency Guidelines?
ACTFL encourages and supports nonprofit educational use of the Proficiency Guidelines by:
- Classroom educators in pre-kindergarten through post-secondary institutions
- School, district, and post-secondary language programs
- State, regional, and national educational language organizations
- Other nonprofit educational organizations or institutions
ACTFL provides many resources to support educators who use the Proficiency Guidelines for curriculum development, classroom-based assessment, and to estimate learner progress toward proficiency:
https://www.actfl.org/professional-learning/educational-workshops.
3. How does ACTFL use the ACTFL® Proficiency Guidelines to provide official ACTFL test scores?
ACTFL uses the ACTFL® Proficiency Guidelines to develop and validate its suite of valid and reliable tests that measure language proficiency. Based on decades of research, field-testing, and certifying official raters, ACTFL’s testing program is proprietary to ACTFL. Presently, only ACTFL’s exclusive licensee, Language Testing International (LTI), is authorized to provide valid and reliable official ACTFL scores.
4. Why can’t other testing companies provide an official ACTFL score on their tests?
Other testing companies cannot claim to use ACTFL® Proficiency Guidelines and scales to produce an official ACTFL score because ACTFL cannot ensure that external tests are aligned with the ACTFL® Proficiency Guidelines criteria. Outside testing companies are free to develop their own systems and measure language proficiency according to their own scales and scores.
5. Avant Assessment has been providing ACTFL scores for years. Why is ACTFL reacting to it now?
While this lawsuit has brought our concerns into the public sphere, ACTFL has reached out privately multiple times—over many years—to Avant to request that it ceases violating ACTFL trademarks and intellectual property. Unfortunately, those discussions did not result in Avant ceasing to use our intellectual property, and we have been forced to take formal legal action to do so. Under U.S. law, trademarks must be protected.
6. Why is ACTFL also taking action against the Global Seal of Biliteracy?
The Global Seal of Biliteracy presents an official ACTFL proficiency level on its certificates. While some awarded Global Seals are based on official ACTFL tests, many others are not. A claim of an ACTFL score on a non-ACTFL test misrepresents the validity of those other tests. The Global Seal of Biliteracy cannot assert that any test except an official ACTFL test can provide an ACTFL score.
7. What does this mean for other companies that do business with ACTFL?
This action is between ACTFL and Avant; it has no bearing on any other professional relationship between ACTFL and its other partners or stakeholders – including individual educators.
8. When will this legal action be resolved?
Unfortunately, these types of proceedings have no set timetable for resolution. ACTFL hopes to quickly bridge differences, and is working toward a speedy resolution.
9. Will the cost and availability of ACTFL language testing services be affected by this legal action?
This action has no bearing on ACTFL language testing services. ACTFL testing and scores will continue as normal.
10. Why is ACTFL taking action when the guidelines were developed with public dollars?
The ACTFL® Proficiency Guidelines and their revisions were developed by ACTFL using a mix of public and ACTFL funding. This does not mean, however, that the work product is non-proprietary; ACTFL has always been the sole owner of its intellectual property.