R 172136Z DEC 19
MARADMIN 695/19
MSGID/GENADMIN/CMC WASHINGTON DC I//
SUBJ/FY 2020 MARINE CORPS ENTRY LEVEL TRAINING CONTINUUM FOREIGN LANGUAGE TESTING//
REF/A/MSGID: DOC/DODD/YMD: 20160209//
REF/B/MSGID: DOC/CMC WASHINGTON DC/YMD: 20121220//
REF/D/MSGID: DOC/CMC WASHINGTON DC/YMD: 20140204//
REF/C/MSGID: DOC/CMC WASHINGTON DC/YMD: 20120306//
POC/HQMC IEO/MARINECORPS_FOREIGNLANGUAGEPROGRAM@USMC.MIL//
NARR/ REF (A) IS THE DOD DIRECTIVE ON DEFENSE LANGUAGE, REGIONAL EXPERTISE, AND CULTURE (LREC) PROGRAM, DODD 5160.41E. REF (B) IS THE MARINE CORPS ORDER ON RECRUIT TRAINING, MCO 1510.32F. REF (C) IS THE MARINE CORPS ORDER ON CLASSIFICATION TESTING, MCO 1230.5C. REF (D) IS THE MARINE CORPS ORDER ON THE MARINE CORPS FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROGRAM, MCO 1550.25A.
GENTEXT/REMARKS/1. Purpose. This MARADMIN promulgates Marine Corps policy for the administration of foreign language proficiency testing at The Basic School (TBS) and Marine Corps Recruit Depots (MCRD) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020.
2. Background. The Marine Corps employs the Defense Language Proficiency Test (DLPT) to measure individual foreign language capability. In accordance with references (A), (B) and (C), TBS students and recruits identified as having a self-professed foreign language capability will be administered the appropriate DLPT to the greatest extent possible. In accordance with reference (D), the Director of Intelligence (DIRINT), in his role as the USMC Senior Language Authority, determines which foreign language capabilities are required. Due to limited capacity to administer the DLPT at TBS and the MCRDs, this MARADMIN provides amplifying guidance to references (A) and (B). Any modifications will be promulgated via separate MARADMIN.
3. Validating Proficiency. The DLPT family of tests includes the Very Low Range (VLR), Lower Range (LR), and Upper Range (UR) DLPT, as well as the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and Two Skill Oral Proficiency Interview (TSOPI). The DLPTs measure proficiency in Listening Comprehension (LC), Reading Comprehension (RC), and Speaking Comprehension (S) using the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) proficiency skill levels, ranging from 0 to 5. Due to limitations on time and testing lab capacity, only the Lower Range Listening Comprehension and Reading Comprehension tests will be administered at TBS and the MCRDs.
4. Test Prioritization. Test administration staff at TBS and the MCRDs will use the following five priorities for determining which TBS students and recruits will be tested. TBS students and recruits shall be tested in only one language; any additional language testing may occur after TBS or Boot Camp and School of Infantry/Marine Combat Training within the Marine’s first term of enlistment. All languages are listed with their full description and their trigraph as reflected in the Marine Corps Total Force System (MCTFS).
4.a. Priority 1 – TBS students and recruits who self-professed foreign language capability in one of the following languages will have first priority for testing. These languages are testable in Listening and Reading Comprehension. TBS students and recruits who report a skill in an Arabic dialect will only take the Arabic-Modern Standard (ARB) DLPT for ease of administration and recording of capabilities.
Language Name Trigraph
Arabic-Modern Standard ARB
Bulgarian BUL
Chinese-Mandarin CMN
Dutch NLD
French FRA
German DEU
Hebrew HEB
Hindi HIN
Indonesian IND
Italian ITA
Japanese JPN
Korean KOR
Norwegian NOR
Pashto-Afghan PBT
Persian-Afghan (Dari) PRS
Language Name Trigraph
Persian-Farsi PES
Polish POL
Portuguese-Brazilian QPB
Portuguese-European QPE
Punjabi-Western PAN
Russian RUS
Somali SOM
Swahili SWA
Swedish SWE
Tagalog TGL
Thai THA
Turkish TUR
Ukrainian UKR
Urdu URD
Vietnamese VIE
4.b. Priority 2 – TBS students and recruits who self-professed foreign language capability in Spanish will have second priority for testing. This language is testable in Listening and Reading Comprehension.
4.c. Priority 3 – TBS students and recruits who self-professed foreign language capability in one of the following languages will have third priority for testing. These languages are testable in Listening and Reading Comprehension.
Language Name Trigraph
Albanian SQI
Azerbaijani AZE
Burmese MYA
Cambodian KHM
Chinese-Amoy NAN
Czech CES
Danish DAN
Greek ELL
Haitian-Creole HAT
Language Name Trigraph
Hungarian HUN
Icelandic ISL
Kurdish-Kurmanji KMR
Kurdish-Sorani SDH
Lao LAO
Lithuanian LIT
Romanian RON
Serbian-Croatian HBS
Slovenian SLV
4.d. Priority 4 – TBS students and recruits who self-professed foreign language capability in one of the following languages will have fourth priority for testing. These languages are testable in Listening or Reading Comprehension, but not both.
Language Name Trigraph
Amharic AMH
Cebuano CEB
Chavacano CBK
Language Name Trigraph
Chinese-Cantonese YUE
Hausa HAU
Tausug TSG
4.e. Priority 5 – If a TBS student or recruit who self-professed foreign language capability in any language not listed above, that TBS student or recruit will not test during TBS or Boot Camp. All other languages are generally only testable via an Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI), the administration of which places an undue burden on available training time at TBS or Boot Camp. TBS students or recruits will not test in Arabic dialects during TBS or Boot Camp, due to the necessity to pair Arabic dialect DLPT scores with Arabic-Modern Standard (ARB) DLPT scores.
5. Administration. TBS students who take a DLPT before TBS (e.g., at a college, university, or academy) do not need to test again. If previous test records do not appear in MCTFS, TBS administration staff should work with the TBS students previous academic institution to have their DLPT scores entered in MCTFS.
6. Applicability. This MARADMIN is applicable to the Marine Corps Total Force.
7. Point of contact. Primary POC is: MarineCorps_ForeignLanguageProgram@usmc.mil.
8. Release authorized by Ms. J. D. Cole, SNIS, Senior Advisor for Analysis to the Director of Intelligence, U.S. Marine Corps.//