In this study, I took a close look at the results of oral proficiency self-assessment tests and OPIc (Oral Proficiency Interview-computer) tests taken twice by the same group of students. I did this to explore the role of self-assessment in Chinese language programs. The data were collected as part of a Language Flagship Proficiency Assessment Project. I used data from 80 college students who were taking Chinese. During the spring of two subsequent years, the students took a self-assessment (with NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-do Statements, 2015) as part of the project, and then immediately took an official ACTFL OPIc with a level of difficulty that was matched to their self-assessment outcome. I analyzed the self-assessment results on both the test and item level. In general, I investigated whether self-assessment can reliably indicate students' language gains over time, with the benchmark of true gain being (in this study) their OPIc scores. The findings revealed that most students' language trajectories were reflected by the results of the self-assessment. In addition, the accuracy rate of self-assessment was positively correlated with students' proficiency levels. After a close examination of the items that were misidentified by the students regarding the difficulty level, students tended to under-assess rather than over-assess their oral proficiency. The comparison of the scores of repeated self-assessments and OPIc tests showed that there was no significant difference in how accurately students could self-assess themselves before and after an academic year in a language program.
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