Praxis Spanish World Language (5195)

Praxis Spanish: World Language (5195) is a Praxis Subject Assessment that measures whether you have the Spanish proficiency, cultural knowledge, and linguistic knowledge needed to teach Spanish. Many states use it for Spanish teacher licensure. It is developed and administered by ETS.

The exam is computer delivered, at a test center or at home. It has four timed sections. Selected-response (SR) questions have four answer choices (A–D). Constructed-response (CR) tasks are typed (writing) or recorded (speaking). All sections target the ACTFL Advanced Low level, and some questions may be unscored pretest items.

Total time is about 3 hours, which includes an unscored Listening practice (about 10 minutes) and an optional Writing practice (about 5 minutes).

• Results are reported as a Praxis scaled score from 100 to 200.
• Each state sets its own passing score; check the requirement for the state where you seek licensure.
• SR questions are scored by computer. Your score is based on the number of questions you answer correctly.
• Each CR task is scored holistically from 0 to 3 by two raters using task-specific rubrics.
• Writing is judged on task completion, topic development, and writing skills (grammar, spelling, accents, register); speaking on task completion, topic development, and language use (fluency, pronunciation).

ACTFL Advanced Low describes a speaker or writer who can narrate and describe in the major time frames (past, present, future), handle a familiar situation with an unexpected complication, and produce connected paragraph-length discourse. Control of grammar may be uneven, but the message is clear to a listener or reader not used to non-native speech. For the exam, that means paragraph-level responses, correct use of past tenses, cohesive connectors, and a register suited to the task.