This descriptive study investigated the levels of oral proficiency of candidates for initial PreK-12 teacher licensure in Spanish and French as reported by faculty and students in the teacher education programs at Ohio colleges and universities. The study was motivated by the adoption of the NCATE/ACTFL "Program standards for the preparation of foreign language teachers" (Initial level--Undergraduate & Graduate; For K-12 and Secondary Certification Programs) as part of a six-year agreement between the Ohio Department of Education and NCATE (the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education) for programs to be accredited. Within the "Program standards", a standard of Advanced-Low level oral proficiency, as measured by an ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview, is the expected level for teacher candidates to receive initial licensure in accredited languages. Historically, in a series of studies since 1967 (Carroll, 1967; Hiple & Manley, 1987; Swender, 2003; Mathews & Hansen, 2004), the Advanced-Low level has been a level that about half of college foreign language majors were reported to have reached at the end of their undergraduate program of foreign language study. Through a survey of faculty members in foreign language teacher education and faculty in foreign language departments in Ohio colleges and universities, and through interviews with selected faculty and teacher candidates at four Ohio colleges and universities, the present study investigated six research questions. These questions were designed to study the extent to which faculty estimated or provided test data to show whether or not their foreign language teacher candidates were meeting this standard. Data were collected and analyzed related to the participants' views on their teacher candidates' strengths and weaknesses in oral proficiency in French and Spanish. The results seemed to indicate that at the time of data collection in 2009, candidates' oral proficiency was rated predominantly at Intermediate-High. Implications of these findings for foreign language teacher education programs and for foreign teacher candidates are given, along with recommendations for further research. The survey instrument, a bibliography, and additional appendices are also included. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]