The purpose of this research is to examine the detailed components of Japanese students' English speaking ability in terms of communicative competence by using an oral proficiency test based on Bachman's Communicative Language Ability model (included in an appendix). Eighty college students were tested on four tasks--speech making, visual material description, conversational response, and sociolinguistic competence--and their responses were rated by multiple evaluators on a scale. The results of this test show that it is possible to construct a valid, reliable, and practical test of speaking ability and shed light on native English language speaking raters' scoring of Japanese students' speaking ability. It also shows that a Japanese teacher will be capable of conducting the test in a classroom setting easily, quickly, effectively, and economically without any outside assistance. Twenty-one references and ten tables are included. (KFT)