R TTUZYUW RUEWMCS0000 3231336-UUUU--RUCRNAD. ZNR UUUUU R 191336Z NOV 07 FM CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1// TO NAVADMIN INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC//N1// BT UNCLAS //N01500// NAVADMIN 306/07 MSGID/GENADMIN/CNO WASHINGTON DC/N1/NOV// SUBJ/DEFENSE LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY TEST 5 (DLPT5) TRANSITION UPDATE// REF/A/MSG/CNO/182208ZNOV05// REF/B/MSG/CNO/152204ZDEC06// REF/C/MSG/CNO/052016ZOCT07// NARR/REF A IS NAVADMIN 300/05 WHICH ANNOUNCED INTRODUCTION OF DLPT5 WITHIN NAVY. REF B IS NAVADMIN 352/06 WHICH PROMULGATED PROCEDURES FOR CONVERSION TO DLPT5 AND IMPLEMENTED TEMPORARY MEASURES TO FACILITATE THE TRANSITION, PARTICULARLY WHERE FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY BONUS (FLPB) CERTIFICATION WAS CONCERNED. REF C IS NAVADMIN 259/07 WHICH ANNOUNCED THE TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF DLPT5 AS TEST FOR MODERN STANDARD ARABIC PENDING RESOLUTION OF TECHNICAL ANOMALIES.// RMKS/1. THE FOLLOWING PROVIDES TEMPORARY WAIVER POLICY GUIDANCE FOR PERSONNEL RECERTIFYING IN SPECIFIC LANGUAGES FOR FLPB?S. IT ALSO PROVIDES RESOURCES FOR PREPARING FOR THE NEW DLPT5 WEB-BASED PROFICIENCY TEST. AS ANNOUNCED IN REFS A AND B, DLPT5 IS THE LATEST GENERATION OF LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY TESTING WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE (DOD). THE WEB-BASED TEST REPLACES EARLIER PAPER AND PENCIL EXAMINATIONS AND IS A MUCH MORE CHALLENGING TEST OF LINGUISTIC PROFICIENCY, DESIGNED TO MEASURE ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE SKILL NOT PREVIOUSLY TESTED FOR. 2. BACKGROUND: FOLLOWING 9/11 AND THE ADVENT OF DEFENSE LANGUAGE TRANSFORMATION, DLPT5 TRANSITIONED TESTING FROM PROFICIENCY IN COLD WAR-STYLE MILITARY-CENTRIC VOCABULARY AND SHORT PHRASES TO A MORE GLOBAL, NON-MILITARY LANGUAGE, LIKELY TO BE ENCOUNTERED IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY SECURITY OPERATIONS. DLPT5 THEREFORE INCORPORATES AUTHENTIC MATERIAL (I.E., BROADCASTS AND LIVE RECORDINGS) WHICH INCLUDES EXPANDED VOCABULARY, MORE ADVANCED GRAMMAR, AND NON-MILITARY CONTENT, ALL REQUIRING EXAMINEES NOT ONLY TO INTERPRET/TRANSLATE THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE INTO ENGLISH, BUT TO DEMONSTRATE A MORE COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONTEXT AND MEANING CONTAINED IN TESTED PASSAGES. AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE SHIFT IN LANGUAGE STYLE AND LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY, DLPT5 EXAMINEES HAVE IN MANY CASES RECEIVED LOWER THAN EXPECTED TEST SCORES. 3. WAIVER POLICY: BECAUSE THE NEW WEB-BASED TEST IS MORE CHALLENGING, DOD AUTHORIZED THE SERVICES TO RECERTIFY MEMBERS FOR A ONE-YEAR PERIOD USING SCORES FROM THEIR LAST RECORDED DLPT IF A DLPT5 TEST RESULTED IN LOWER SCORES. ALSO, IF WEB-BASED TESTING WAS NOT AVAILABLE OVERSEAS, THE DLPT5 REQUIREMENT WAS WAIVED PENDING THE INDIVIDUAL?S RELEASE FROM THE OCONUS ASSIGNMENT AND RETURN TO CONUS. RECERTIFICATION THROUGH DLPT5 IS REQUIRED WITHIN 180 DAYS. A. BY REF B, NAVY IMPLEMENTED DOD?S TEMPORARY MEASURES FOR ONE YEAR EFFECTIVE 31 DECEMBER 2006. THE WAIVER APPLIES TO DLPT5 TESTS RELEASED PRIOR TO 1 OCTOBER 2007 (FY-08), WHICH INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGES (SEE NOTES 1 AND 2): ALBANIAN NORWEGIAN ARABIC-IRAQI PASHTO-AFGHAN ARABIC-LEVANTINE PERSIAN-AFGHAN CHINESE-MANDARIN LOWER RANGE RUSSIAN LOWER RANGE CHINESE-MANDARIN UPPER RANGE RUSSIAN UPPER RANGE GREEK SERBO-CROATIAN LOWER RANGE HINDI SPANISH LOWER RANGE KURDISH-SORANI LOWER RANGE SPANISH UPPER RANGE URDU NOTE 1: LOWER RANGE TESTS EXAMINE PROFICIENCY LEVEL UP TO INTERAGENCY ROUNDTABLE LEVEL (ILR) 3; UPPER RANGE TESTS MEASURE ABOVE ILR 3. NOTE 2: REF C ADDRESSES TESTING AND CERTIFICATION FOR MODERN STANDARD ARABIC (MSA). THE DLPT5 IN MSA HAS BEEN TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED AND THE DLPT IV HAS BEEN REINSTATED. NAVY TESTING POLICY RELATIVE TO THE DLPT5 IN MSA HAS LIKEWISE BEEN TEMPORARILY MODIFIED AS A RESULT. SEE REF C FOR DETAILS. B. THE ONE-YEAR TRANSITION PERIOD AUTHORIZED BY DOD EXPIRES 31 DECEMBER 2007. WAIVERS EXECUTED WITHIN THE TRANSITION PERIOD REMAIN EFFECTIVE FOR ONE YEAR OR UNTIL THE MEMBER RECERTIFIES WITH A SECOND DLPT5. AT THE END OF THE ONE-YEAR WAIVER PERIOD, ANNUAL CERTIFICATION FOR FLPB SHALL BE BASED SOLELY ON DLPT5 SCORES. C. TRANSITION/WAIVER POLICY FOR FUTURE DLPT5 CONVERSIONS. CONSISTENT WITH PARA 3 OF REF B, AS TESTING IN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGES IS CONVERTED AND AS THE NEW DLPT5 TESTS ARE DEPLOYED, THE SAME ONE-YEAR TRANSITION POLICY DESCRIBED ABOVE WILL APPLY. THE TRANSITION PERIOD BEGINS ON THE DATE THE NEWLY-DEPLOYED DLPT5 BECOMES THE OFFICIAL TEST OF RECORD IN A PARTICULAR FOREIGN LANGUAGE. DURING THIS TRANSITION PERIOD, MEMBERS WILL TEST IN THE NEW DLPT5 VERSION ON OR ABOUT THEIR NORMAL ANNUAL RECERTIFICATION DATE. IF THEIR CORRESPONDING DLPT5 SCORES DECLINE FROM THE LAST RECORDED PRE-DLPT5 EXAM IN THE SAME LANGUAGE, THE MEMBER WILL HAVE THE OPTION OF USING THEIR MOST RECENT PRE-DLPT5 SCORE TO EXTEND THEIR FLPB CERTIFICATION, FOR ONE MORE YEAR. SUBSEQUENT CERTIFICATIONS IN THE SAME LANGUAGE, HOWEVER, WILL BE BASED SOLELY ON DLPT5 SCORES. THE ORAL PROFICIENCY INTERVIEW (OPI) REMAINS THE OFFICIAL TEST FOR MEASURING SPEAKING PROFICIENCY. MEMBERS ASSIGNED OCONUS AND WITHOUT DLPT5 ACCESS WILL BE RECERTIFIED BASED ON THEIR MOST RECENT QUALIFYING OPI SCORE, SHOULD THEY REMAIN IN AN AREA WHEN DLPT5 IS NOT AVAILABILE FOR MORE THAN ONE YEAR. IN ALL CASES, NON-AVAILABILITY OF DLPT5 MUST BE VERIFIED BY NETPDTC. 4. DLPT5 PREPARATION. GIVEN THE INCREASED DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY INHERENT IN DLPT5, POTENTIAL TEST TAKERS MUST PREPARE EARLY. THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGE LEARNING RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE TO HELP PREPARE FOR THE TESTS: A. NAVY KNOWLEDGE ONLINE (NKO) AT WWW.NKO.NAVY.MIL HAS AN EXTENSIVE LANGUAGE RESOURCE LIST OFFERED BY THE CENTER FOR INFORMATION DOMINANCE (CID) CENTER FOR LANGUAGE, REGIONAL EXPERTISE AND CULTURE (CLREC). TO ACCESS THE LIST, LOG ON TO THE NKO HOMEPAGE AND SEARCH ON CLREC LANGUAGE RESOURCES. SELECT THE CLREC LANGUAGE RESOURCE LINK AND OPEN THE EXCEL SPREADSHEET. THE SPREADSHEET PROVIDES LINKS TO FAMILIARIZATION, BASIC, INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED LANGUAGE LEARNING, DICTIONARIES, WORKING AIDS, SOFTWARE AND CULTURAL MATERIALS. B. DEFENSE LANGUAGE INSTITUTE (DLIFLC) AT WWW.DLIFLC.EDU PROVIDES DLPT5 FAMILIARIZATION GUIDES FOR EACH DLPT5 TESTED LANGUAGE, AS WELL AS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) RELATIVE TO THE DLPT5 EXAM. THE DLIFLC WEB SITE ALSO CONTAINS LINKS TO FIELD SUPPORT MODULES, THE GLOBAL LANGUAGE NETWORK (LINGNET), THE GLOBAL LANGUAGE ON-LINE SUPPORT SYSTEM (GLOSS), AND FOREIGN LANGUAGE BROADCASTS VIA THE SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS FOR LEARNING (SCOLA) SYSTEM. GLOSS PROVIDES ON-LINE LANGUAGE SUSTAINMENT AND ENHANCEMENT COURSES. THESE RESOURCES CAN BE ACCESSED DIRECTLY VIA: WWW.LINGNET.ORG, WWW.GLOSS.LINGNET.ORG OR WWW.SCOLA.ORG. C. JOINT LANGUAGE UNIVERSITY (JLU) IS ACCESSIBLE FROM THE NKO HOMEPAGE BY SEARCHING FOR JLU THEN SELECTING JOINT LANGUAGE UNIVERSITY (JLU). TRAINING MATERIALS CAN BE ACCESSED IN THE JLU SITE?S LEARNER MODE. D. VOICE OF AMERICA MULTIMEDIA BROADCASTS ARE AVAILABLE IN 44 LANGUAGES AT WWW.VOANEWS.COM. E. RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY POSTS INTERNATIONAL NEWS AND BROADCASTS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES AT WWW.RFERL.ORG. 5. INFORMATION ON DLPT5 TESTING AND OTHER DLPT QUESTIONS IS AVAILABLE AT HTTPS://WWW.ADVANCEMENT.CNET.NAVY.MIL (DEFENSE LANGUAGE LINK). 6. POINTS OF CONTACT: - CTICS(NAC) DAVID BAKER (CNO (N13F1)) AT (703) 693-7210/DSN 223 OR EMAIL AT DAVID.BAKER1(AT)NAVY.MIL. - CTIC(AW) ROBERT MEDLEY (CNO (N13F2)) AT (703) 693-7213/DSN 223 OR EMAIL AT ROBERT.L.MEDLEY(AT)NAVY.MIL. 7. RELEASED BY VADM J. C. HARVEY, JR., N1.// BT # NNNN