Understanding language levels

As a language teacher and learner, I hate it when people ask if I am fluent in a language. What the heck does "fluent" mean, anyway - able to speak smoothly and with fluidity? In that case, I'm often not fluent in my native language English. So let's reject the term "fluent" when we're talking about language skill. I prefer to speak in more precise terms about what I, and my students, can do with our language knowledge. 

There are many systems for judging language proficiency, but one of the most widespread (in the United States, anyway) is the ACTFL Guidelines. It divides the process of learning a language into ten steps - Novice Low, Middle, and High; Intermediate Low, Middle, and High; Advanced Low, Middle, and High; and Superior. At the superior level, you can communicate with ease and total understanding in any situation, regardless of dialect. Needless to say, not everyone has that level of skill even in their native language and few learners achieve that rank.

The levels can be conceptualized as being able to use words (novice), sentences (intermediate) and paragraphs/discourse (advanced). This chart (courtesy of tsdwlstandards) breaks it down well:

Notice that the ability to survive and cope in an environment using that target language begins at the intermediate level, and the ability to use the language as a primary work language is more of an advanced level skill. Wherever you are on the continuum of language learning, it's a good idea to set challenging but realistic goals and to strengthen the skills you have while also stretching a little bit into the next level you want to reach. 

If you're interested in more information about the ACTFL guidelines and a breakdown by mode and language skill, check out the LinguaFolio Self-Assessment Grid, a handy tool for seeing where you are and what the next skills to develop might be.