How to "rate your level of proficiency"?

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Katya
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How to "rate your level of proficiency"?

Post by Katya »

Hello,
I am filling out applications for fellowships at college and the form asked one to "rate your level of proficiency using a scale from 1 to 5 with 1 being beginning and 5 being fluent." The form is for a language related fellowship, so I would expect that they are interested in an accurate assessment, but I have no idea how to rate myself on this scale. Can any of the language teachers here describe what it would mean to be proficient at 2,3, or 4?

Here is how I would describe my proficiency: I consider that I speak Russian "fluently" in the sense that I spend 3 years studying in a Russian university and all of my communication was in Russian, with which I was very comfortable. My writing is comprehensible, but marked by grammatical errors and not comparable to an educated native speaker's writing.
For French, I can read most materials without trouble and write with some grammatical errors, but am not conversationally as fluent.
For Arabic, I can read short texts on familiar subjects.

Thank you!
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Maïwenn
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Re: How to "rate your level of proficiency"?

Post by Maïwenn »

I suggest : 5 for Russian, 4 for French and 2 or 3 for Arabic (what about your oral skills in Arabic? If you can't speak it at all, I'd say 2. If you can speak on familiar topics, then maybe 3).

I hope it helps! :)
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Katya
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Re: How to "rate your level of proficiency"?

Post by Katya »

Thank you Maiwenn! I think I will say 5,4,2, since I am not very comfortable speaking yet. :)
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ANTHOS
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Re: How to "rate your level of proficiency"?

Post by ANTHOS »

It's very difficult to answer this type of question.

At the very least, I would expect them to give some guidance about what each level represents.

For example, "fluent" and even "beginner" is something different to different people!

Whatever you do, don't sell yourself short!
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