In a study designed to validate oral language proficiency tests, it is planned to administer a series of tests to 100 native Mandarin Chinese-speaking subjects (foreign students and their spouses). The tests will measure communicative competence in speaking (ability to speak, exhibiting control of linguistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic rules; and fluency) and communicative competence in reading (ability to react to these rules as manifested in written language, and to react fluently). Three different testing methods will be used, resulting in a multitrait-multimethod design: interviews, translation, and self-rating. The results will verify hypotheses of competence, and the components of the construct, oral proficiency. (Author/GDC)