This study addresses the validation of an oral proficiency test by examining the language that is obtained from the items presented in the test. The study focused on the language elicited by a form of the Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview (SOPI), the Spanish version of the Texas Oral Proficiency Test (TOPT). The TOPT is used to measure the oral proficiency of foreign language and bilingual education teachers seeking certification in Texas. The result of an analysis of the responses of a number of examinees representing a wide range of overall proficiency levels was the development of a typology of SOPI characteristics. The broad categories of the typology are speaker, topic, audience, and setting. Inter-item relationships and grammatical features of the test were also examined. An appendix outlines the typology of prompt characteristics. (MDM)