oral ability testing

Oral Ability TestingText: Arthur Hughes

Introduction

• Objective: successful interaction-comprehension + production.

• No formal testing at early stages, only informal observation for diagnosis

Setting the tasks

Content

• Operations:

• Expressing: requirements, opinions etc.

• Narrating: sequence of events

• Eliciting: information, direction, service etc.

• Directing: Ordering, instructing, advising etc.

• Reporting: descriptions, comments etc.

Content

Text type:

• face to face or telephone conversation as dialogue or multi-participants

Addressees and topics:

• Not specified

Objective: to come as clear as possible about the nature of ability to be tested

Sample Criteria

Criterial levels of performance (RSA)

Grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation are peripheral but not excluded.

• Accuracy (intelligible communication)

• Appropriacy (clarify intention)

• Range (availability of structures or vocabulary)

• Flexibility (taking initiative, changing direction or adapting to new topic)

• Size (simple to complex utterances)

Referred institutions

• RSA- Royal Society of Arts,

• ACTFL- American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages,

• IRA- Interagency Language Roundtable,

• ARELS- Association of Recognized English Language Schools

Format

Interview:

• Obvious but imbalanced in power.

• Asking for information is absent.

Interaction with peers:

• Common group discussion.

• One can be dominated by other. so careful selection is necessary.

Format

Response to tape-recording:

• Reliable as same audio or video for everyone.

• Inflexible- no follow up of students' response.

Obtaining a sample

• Objective: For properly representing each candidate's ability and reliable evaluation

Author’s Advice

1. Usually long and feasible (30 mins). For placement test- short (5 mins)

2. Selecting a wide sample as a representative of a specified content

3. Carefully planning an adaptive interview

4. Fresh starts: more than one format, more than one tester, more items in a format, space and second attempt.

5. Training for interviews with patience with various materials

Author’s Advice

6. Using a second tester

7. L1 friendly topic

8. Using a quite room with good acoustics

9. Making candidates comfortable

10. Conducting according to collected information.

11. Giving enough talking time to candidates.

Elicitation techniques

Questions and requests for information:

• Avoid yes/no questions

• e.g. Can you tell me what you think of ...?

Picture:

• Single picture for description, multiple pictures lead to narration


Role play:

• For other language functions.

Interpreting:

• Simple specified tasks to test production and comprehension.

• e.g. acting as an interpreter.


Discussion:

• On a topic or to come to a decision with a partner.

• e.g. an upgrade to school facilities.

Tape-recorded stimuli:

• A description, response or simulation.

Imitation:

• Repetition of long sentences.

Techniques to be avoided

• Prepared monologue (stressful)

• Reading aloud (L2 speaker at a disadvantage)

Obtaining valid and reliable scoring

• Clearly recognizable and appropriate descriptions of criterial levels are written

• trained scorers

• only relevant aspects of performance to be counted

• More than one scorer.

Proficiency descriptions

• Grammar

• Vocabulary

• Fluency

• Comprehension

• Holistic and analytic scoring. Use of balanced weightings and conversion table.

Training of scores

• Target group: testers/ interviewers

• Objective: to improve accuracy of criterial levels, pin point intention, identify contexts etc.

• Considering non-linguistic features and avoiding unnecessary ones.

Conclusion

• More than one testers are essential for the sake of scoring reliability.

• Requirements: time and effort

• Important consideration: Backwash

oral ability testing

Education