1. BUSINESS
ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
PROFICIENCY
RATING
LEVELS
LEVEL PRONUNCIATION STRUCTURE VOCABULARY FLUENCY COMPREHENSION
Top Business
Communicator
6
Pronunciation, stress,
and rhythm are
consistent and clearly
understandable. There
is an ease of fluency
and expression in all
business environments.
Almost all complex
grammatical structures
and sentence patterns
are consistently well
controlled.
The level of the user’s
vocabulary is sufficient
to communicate
effectively on a wide
variety of familiar and
unfamiliar topics.
The speaker is able to
speak in great detail
with a natural flow.
He/she is able to
emphasize a point and
uses appropriate
discourse markers and
connectors correctly
Comprehension is
consistently accurate in
nearly all contexts; this
person may be able to
function literately with
almost any native speaker
from the international
community.
Business English
Proficiency
5
Pronunciation, stress,
rhythm, and intonation,
though still somewhat
influenced by the first
language, can be
communicated at ease,
and any weakness
rarely interferes with
ease of expression.
Basic grammatical
structures and sentence
patterns are
consistently well
controlled. Complex
structures are
attempted but with
errors which sometimes
interfere with meaning.
Vocabulary range and
accuracy are sufficient
to communicate
effectively on common,
concrete, and work-
related topics.
Paraphrases
consistently and
successfully.
Able to speak at length
with relative ease on
familiar topics but may
not vary speech flow as
a stylistic device. Can
make use of
appropriate discourse
markers or connectors.
Comprehension is
accurate on common,
concrete, and work-related
topics and mostly accurate
when the speaker is
confronted with a linguistic
or situational complication
or an unexpected turn of
events.
Business English
Operational
4
Pronunciation, stress,
rhythm, and
intonation are
influenced by the first
language or regional
variation but only
sometimes interfere
with the process of
speaking and
understanding.
Grammatical
structures and
sentence patterns are
most often used
correctly; although
some errors may
occur in unexpected
situations, they
usually do not
interfere with
meaning.
The vocabulary range
is sufficient to
communicate
effectively on concrete
and work-related
topics. Can often
paraphrase when
lacking vocabulary in
unexpected
circumstances.
There may be some
loss of fluency on
transition from
rehearsed to
spontaneous
interaction, but still
there is most often
relatively effective
communication. The
speaker can express
him/herself in most
situations.
Comprehension is
mostly accurate on
common, concrete, and
work-related topics
when the accent or
variety used is
sufficiently intelligible
for an international
community of users
Intermediate
3
Pronunciation, stress,
rhythm, and intonation
are influenced by the
first language or
regional variation and
frequently interfere with
ease of effective
communication.
Basic grammatical
structures and sentence
patterns associated
with predictable
situations are not
always well controlled.
Vocabulary range and
accuracy are often
sufficient to
communicate on
common, concrete, or
work-related topics, but
range is limited and the
word choice often
inappropriate.
Can utilize phrasing of
language, but
cohesiveness is often
inappropriate. There
may be some
clumsiness in language
processing and this
may prevent good
communication.
Although the
comprehension of the
speaker may be
somewhat accurate on
work-related topics when
listening to a speaker who
phrases things simply and
concretely, still may fail to
understand an unexpected
turn of events.
Pre-Intermediate
2
Pronunciation and
stress are heavily
influenced by the first
language and interfere
with understanding.
Shows only limited
control of memorized
grammatical structures
and sentence patterns.
Limited vocabulary
range consisting of
inadequate words and
memorized phrases.
There is frequent
pausing and a
distracting use of fillers
to search for
expressions and to
articulate less familiar
words.
Comprehension is limited
to short phrases which are
carefully and slowly
articulated.
Elementary
1
Very Low Level Very Low Level Very Low Level Very Low Level Very Low Level