If you teach languages, you've probably had this experience: a colleague tells you their kid is at the Intermediate Mid level. You nod. But what does that actually mean for what your students should be able to do this week, in your classroom?
ACTFL proficiency levels are one of the best frameworks we have for talking about language ability. They're also widely misunderstood. Here's a practical breakdown.
What the levels actually describe
The ACTFL scale is about what a learner can do with the language, not what they've been taught. The five major levels — Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior, Distinguished — each describe a range of real-world performance.
- Novice: Can produce isolated words and memorized phrases. Conversation requires significant scaffolding.
- Intermediate: Can create with language. Can sustain simple conversations on familiar topics. Asks and answers basic questions.
- Advanced: Can narrate and describe in past, present, and future. Can handle a complicated situation or unexpected complication.
- Superior: Can support opinions, hypothesize, and discuss abstract topics with precision.
What proficiency levels are good for
Proficiency levels are useful when you need to communicate where a learner is to another professional — another teacher, a placement coordinator, a board reviewing your program. They give you a shared vocabulary that's calibrated across teachers and across languages.
They're also useful for setting realistic expectations. If a learner is at Novice High, asking them to debate a topic in the target language isn't reasonable yet. Knowing the level helps you choose tasks they can succeed at and push from.
What proficiency levels can't tell you
Here's where teachers often get stuck. A level tells you what a learner can do in a sustained, real-world context. It doesn't tell you:
- What's holding them back. Two Intermediate Mid speakers can have very different gaps — one might struggle with past tense, another with vocabulary depth.
- How fast they're growing. A learner who jumped from Novice Mid to Intermediate Low in three months is in a very different place than one who's been at Intermediate Low for two years.
- What they need next week. Levels are about sustained performance over time, not the differentiation you need to plan Tuesday's lesson.
Can-Do statements: the level you can actually plan around
This is where ACTFL Can-Do statements come in. Can-Do statements break each proficiency level into specific, observable performance indicators. Instead of "Intermediate Mid," you get statements like "I can describe my daily routine in detail."
Can-Do statements are what to plan around. They give you a clear target for what a learner should be able to demonstrate by the end of a unit, and they translate proficiency growth into something you can actually see in class.
Practical takeaway
Use proficiency levels to talk about your learners with other professionals. Use Can-Do statements to plan for your learners in your classroom. Don't let either replace the other.
If you'd like to see how SoWo tracks Can-Do performance over time and surfaces where each learner is, drop us a note — we'd love to show you.