Under U.S. Department of Education Award P017A10031, CAL developed and delivered distance learning professional development courses via the Internet on oral proficiency assessment.

In conducting the project, CAL had two main goals: determine the feasibility of using a distance learning approach for foreign language teacher professional development and conducting that professional development. Specifically, the project aimed to familiarize more pre-service and in-service language teachers with the basics of oral proficiency testing as well as to train a small group of Spanish and Arabic teachers to administer and rate a test of oral proficiency, CAL’s Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview (SOPI). All was accomplished using two different distance learning softwares, Blackboard and Desire2Learn.