Current research is reviewed for implications for language proficiency assessment practices. Research is discussed concerning adult language proficiency testing, cognitive studies which attempt to conceptualize the construct of language proficiency, development of theoretical models of communicative competence, studies investigating the validity of measures of communicative competence, and ethnographic/sociolinguistic studies of children's functional use of language. Studies and practices reviewed include the following: The Foreign Service Institute oral interview test, Clark's proposal to develop a common measure of speaking proficiency, studies on cognitive-academic language proficiency and basic interpersonal communication skills, models for identifying features of interpersonal and group communication, the distinction between and integration of sociolinguistic and linguistic competence as components of communicative proficiency, functional uses of language in bilingual and monolingual classrooms, studies on language variation, comparisons between home language skills and classroom communication, and the development of the Teacher Observation System for teacher training with a focus on ethnographic and sociolinguistic perspectives. (AMH)