Proficiency Guidelines for Writing Superior. Superior-level writers are characterized by the ability to · express themselves effectively in most informal and formal writing on practical, social, professional, and abstract topics · present well-developed opinions, arguments, and hypotheses. · control structures, both general  and specialized/professional vocabulary, spelling or symbol production, cohesive devices, and other aspects of written form and organization with no patterns of errors. Writers at the Superior level are able to write most kinds of correspondence, such as memos and letters, as well as summaries, reports, and research papers on a variety of practical, social, and abstract topics, and in areas of academic or professional interest. They demonstrate the ability to explain complex matters in detail, provide lengthy narrations in all time frames and aspects, present opinion, develop persuasive arguments based on logic, and construct extended hypotheses and conjectures. They can organize ideas clearly, showing chronological ordering, logical ordering, cause and effect, comparison, and thematic development, but their writing may not totally reflect target language cultural, syntactic, and structural patterns. They demonstrate nearly full control of structures, both general and specialized/professional vocabulary, spelling or symbol production, cohesive devices, and punctuation except for occasional errors that may occur, particularly in low-frequency structures, but that do not interfere with comprehension and rarely disturb the native reader. The length of writing at this level extends from a number of paragraphs up to a number of pages. Their vocabulary is precise and varied with frequent use of synonyms. Superior-level writers can use a dictionary with a high degree of accuracy to supplement specialized vocabulary or to improve content and style. They are aware of formal and informal styles of writing in which format, salutations, and style conform to cultural standards and writing etiquette. They use a variety of sentence structures, syntax, and vocabulary to tailor their writing to various purposes or readers. Advanced Advanced-level writers are characterized by the ability to · write routine social correspondence, narratives and descriptions of a factual nature, and summaries. · join sentences in simple text/writing of at least several paragraphs in length, on concrete topics. · use circumlocution to provide clarity and precision. · narrate and describe in major time frames. Advanced-High — Writers at the Advanced-High level are able to write about a variety of topics with significant precision and detail. They can handle most social and informal business correspondence using conventional greetings, openings, and closings. They can write extensively about topics relating to particular interests and special areas of competence, but tend to dwell on the concrete aspects of such topics. Advanced- High-level writers can describe and narrate in all major time frames, with good control of aspect, and show increasing ability to develop arguments and construct hypotheses, but have difficulty dealing with topics in abstract, global, and/or impersonal terms. Advanced-High level writers often show remarkable ease of expression, but under the demands of Superior-level writing tasks and time constraints and pressure, patterns of error appear. They have good control of a full range of grammatical structures and a fairly wide general vocabulary but cannot yet use them comfortably and naturally all of the time. Written expression may result in occasional miscommunication due to weaknesses in grammar, vocabulary, or in spelling or character writing formation. Writers do not have any clear style or the ability to vary their style according to different tasks and readers, but their writing demonstrates a good sense of organization. Writers at this level generally perform consistently in quality and quantity at the Superior level, but not in both. Their writing production will often read rather successfully on the surface but will fail to convey adequately the subtlety and nuance, hypothesis and/or required details of writing since the writer does not have the flexibility in writing to vary style according to different tasks and readers. Advanced — Writers at the Advanced level are able to meet practical writing needs such as routine social correspondence and notes, as well as simple professional or work-related correspondence; to write about familiar topics by means of narratives and descriptions of a factual nature; and to write cohesive summaries. Advanced-level writers demonstrate the ability to narrate and describe with some detail in all major time frames. Written expression is characterized by a range of vocabulary that expresses thoughts adequately with some circumlocution. Writing at the Advanced level may exhibit a number of cohesive devices, such as pronouns, conjunctions, and other connectors to produce texts, which feature discourse of often several paragraphs in length. There is good control of the most frequently used syntactic structures, e.g., common word order patterns, coordination, subordination. Their vocabulary is sufficient to express thoughts adequately with some circumlocution. There are frequent errors in complex sentences and there may be errors in punctuation, spelling, or the formation of nonalphabetic symbols and character production due to graphic or sound confusion. Advanced-level writing may at times resemble literal translations from the native language or a transcription of oral discourse and generally shows little variation in style, but it is characterized by an awareness of organization or rhetorical structure. Writing at the Advanced level is understandable to natives not used to the writing of non-natives. Intermediate Intermediate-level writers are characterized by the ability to · meet practical writing needs. · write simple messages and letters, take notes, and respond in writing to personal questions. · communicate simple facts and ideas in a loosely connected series of sentences on a given topic with a limited control of basic grammar, not stepping comfortably out of the present time frame. Intermediate-High — Writers at the Intermediate-High level are able to meet most practical writing needs and satisfy limited social demands. They can take rather detailed notes on familiar topics and can respond to personal questions. They can write uncomplicated letters, summaries, paraphrases concerning biographical data, work, and school experience, and topics of current, general interest. They can write simple descriptions and narrations of paragraph length on everyday events and situations in different time frames, although with some inaccuracy. Intermediate-high writers begin to connect sentences into paragraphs using basic connectors. Writers demonstrate sustained control of simple and partial control of more complex sentence structures. In those languages that use verbal inflection to indicate tense and aspect, forms are consistently but not accurately used. There is very little evidence of the use of basic cohesive elements — pronoun substitutes, synonyms — or of paraphrase and circumlocution. Their vocabulary, grammar, and style are still essentially reflective of the spoken language. Their writing, even with numerous but not very significant errors, is comprehensible to natives not used to the writing of non-natives. Intermediate-Mid — Writers at the Intermediate-Mid level are able to meet a number of limited practical writing needs. They can write short, simple letters and descriptions in loosely connected text that are based on personal preferences, daily routine, common events, and other topics related to personal experiences and immediate surroundings. There is minimal use of grammatical and stylistic cohesive elements — subject and object pronouns, relative pronouns, adverbs of time, coordinating conjunctions, and subordinate clauses. Although most writing is still in present time, there is an inconsistent display of familiarity with other time frames or aspects. The writing style is reflective of the grammar and lexicon of the spoken language. Writers show evidence of the control of the syntax in noncomplex sentences and in basic inflectional morphology, such as declensions or conjugations. Writing is best defined as a collection of discrete sentences, since there is little evidence of conscious organization. Intermediate-mid writers can be understood by natives used to the writing of non-natives. Intermediate-Low — Writers at the Intermediate-Low level are able to meet some limited practical writing needs. They can take down simple notes, such as telephone messages. They can create statements or questions based on familiar material. Most sentences are recombinations of learned vocabulary and structures. These are short and simple conversational-style sentences with basic subject-verb-object word order. They are written mostly in present time with occasional and often incorrect uses of past time. Writing tends to be a collection of simple sentences loosely strung together, often in a list-like manner. Vocabulary is limited to common objects and routine activities, but is adequate to express elementary needs. Writing topics are based on basic personal information and predictable, concrete topics tied to limited language experience. There are basic errors in grammar, word choice, punctuation, spelling, and in the formation and use of nonalphabetic symbols. Their writing can be understood by natives used to the writing of non-natives. Novice Novice-Level writers are characterized by the ability to · copy letters of the alphabet or reproduce basic characters with some accuracy. · transcribe familiar words or phrases. · produce lists and occasionally recombine limited memorized material to convey simple meanings. · supply isolated words, phrases, and limited formulaic information on simple forms and documents. Novice-High — Writers at the Novice-High level are able to meet limited uncomplicated practical writing needs, such as lists, short messages, postcards, and simple notes, and to express familiar meanings by relying mainly on memorized material. They are able to recombine learned vocabulary and structures to create simple sentences on very familiar topics, but the language they produce only partially communicates what is intended. The ability to communicate in writing with fewer and more general prompts begins to appear, but with patterns of errors. Writing is generally descriptive, focusing on oneself and on common, discrete elements of daily life. The message is generally comprehensible to natives used to the writing of non-natives. Novice-Mid — Writers at the Novice-Mid level are able to copy or transcribe familiar words or phrases, and they can reproduce from memory a modest number of isolated words and phrases. Novice-Mid writers exhibit a high degree of accuracy when writing using prompts based on a well-practiced, familiar topic and a linguistic repertoire focused at this level. With less familiar topics, there is a marked decrease in accuracy. There is little evidence of practical communicative writing skills. They can supply limited information on simple forms and documents, and other simple biographical information, such as names, numbers, and their own nationality. Errors in spelling or in the representation of symbols are frequent. These writers have no practical writing skills. Novice-Low — Writers at the Novice-Low level are able to form letters in an alphabetic system and can copy and produce isolated, basic strokes in languages that use syllabi or characters. Given adequate time and familiar cues, they can reproduce from memory a very limited number of isolated words or familiar phrases, but errors are to be expected. Writers at this level exhibit no functional ability in writing.