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Oral Ability Testing Techniques

This document discusses testing oral ability and the challenges involved. It notes that oral ability tests should include a representative sample of possible oral tasks to elicit natural language use and assess comprehension and production validly. Several testing formats are described, including interviews, interactions between candidates, and responses to audio/video recordings, each with benefits and limitations. The document emphasizes the importance of carefully planning, structuring, and scoring oral ability tests to obtain a valid measure of a candidate's skills.

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Reziana Nazneen Rimi
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193 views2 pages

Oral Ability Testing Techniques

This document discusses testing oral ability and the challenges involved. It notes that oral ability tests should include a representative sample of possible oral tasks to elicit natural language use and assess comprehension and production validly. Several testing formats are described, including interviews, interactions between candidates, and responses to audio/video recordings, each with benefits and limitations. The document emphasizes the importance of carefully planning, structuring, and scoring oral ability tests to obtain a valid measure of a candidate's skills.

Uploaded by

Reziana Nazneen Rimi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Testing oral ability

1. 1. TESTING ORAL ABILITY Paola Enríquez D. 3.17.14


2. 2. ORAL ABILITY Interact successfully Comprehension Production
3. 3. PROBLEM IN TESTING ORAL ABILITY Representative sample of oral tasks Elicit
behavior which truly represents the candidate’s ability Score validly and reliably
4. 4. REPRESENTATIVE TASKS
5. 5. Specify all possible content Functions •Expressing, directing, describing, eliciting,
narration, reporting Skills • Informational, interactional, in managing interactions Types of text
Addressees Topics Dialect, Accent, Style Include a representative sample of the specified
content Content validity People will be better at some tasks than at others
6. 6. ELICIT A VALID SAMPLE OF ORAL ABILITY
7. 7. Choose the appropriate techniques Formats Interview Interaction with fellow candidates
Responses to audio/video recorded stimuli
8. 8. Format 1 - Interview Traditional form Relationship tester- candidate One style of speech is
elicited
9. 9. Questions and requests for information Try Avoid
10. 10. Pictures  Elicit descriptions
11. 11. Role play  Elicit other language functions Does it really elicit natural language?
12. 12. Interpreting  Test production and comprehension What do you think? Is it always
feasible?
13. 13. Prepared monologue  Should be used only when the candidate needs the ability to
make prepared presentations
14. 14. Reading aloud  Should be used only when the reading ability is a course objective
15. 15. Format 2 – Interaction with fellow candidates - Elicit language appropriate to exchanges
between equals - Better performance - More confidence The performance of one candidate
is likely to be affected by that of the others - Avoid more than groups of two people - Pairs
should be carefully matched
16. 16. Discussion Role play
17. 17. Format 3 – Responses to audio/video recordings - Uniformity of elicitation - Everybody
receives the same information Inflexible
18. 18. Described situations Remarks in isolation to respond to Simulated conversation You are
walking through town one day and you meet two friends who you were sure had gone to live
in the USA. What do you say? The candidate hears, ‘I’m afraid I haven’t managed to fix that
cassette player of your yet. Sorry’. The candidate is given information about a play which
they are supposed to want to see, but not by themselves. The candidate is told to talk to a
friend, Ann, on the telephone, and ask her to go to the theatre. The candidate hears a what
Ann would say in the conversation.
19. 19. Plan & structure the testing carefully Time of the test: as long as feasible Have a pattern
to follow Give as many “fresh starts” as possible Avoid reminding candidates they are in a
test Use second tester for interviews Set tasks & topics that cause no difficulty in the
candidates’ first language Carry out the test in a quiet room Put the candidates at their ease
so that the can show what they are capable of Collect enough relevant information Do not
talk too much Select interviewers carefully & train them
20. 20. ENSURE VALID AND RELIABLE SCORING
21. 21. Create appropriate scales for scoring Calibrate the scale to be used Trains scorers
Follow acceptable scoring procedures http://www.slideshare.net/rect/how-to-test-oral-
production
22. 22. American Foreign Service Institute
23. 23. References  Hughes, Arthur. Testing for Language Teachers.

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