164 / 2018-03-24 06:30:29

What's going on in the minds of test-takers during a simulated two-way discussion of the IELTS speaking test?

Test-taker strategies; simulated two-way discussion of the IELTS speaking test

全体主题 > Standards in validating language assessments

With the internationalisation of university education, students bound for English-speaking and or English as the medium of instruction countries require some proof of their English language proficiency. And as such, many Australian-bound international students take the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). Language testing experts have been concerned with how inferences about test-takers’ language ability are made on scores obtained in a particular test. Test-takers’ knowledge about the language is not the sole component of language ability. In fact, the cognitive processes enabling test-takers to manipulate and apply their language knowledge (and its components) in a communicative situation also plays an important role. Conscious efforts made by test-takers in using these cognitive processes are deemed as strategies. Much of what is known about the use of strategies or strategic competence (Bachman and Palmer, 2010) has come from studies on reading, listening and writing tests. Few studies have been on speaking tests and even fewer on direct speaking tests or one that involves interaction with a human examiner. It is this gap in knowledge that this qualitative study contributes to.
This presentation reports on a study exploring test-takers’ strategy use in a two-way discussion (or Part 3) of the IELTS speaking test. More specifically, it sought to answer questions about the strategies and their patterns of use, and how effective they were in helping test-takers successfully complete a speaking test of dialogic nature. Data was collected from 12 international university students in Sydney, Australia. The participants consented to a five-minute two-way discussion which was video-recorded. This was followed by a stimulated recall session of their speaking test experience. Both recordings were transcribed. Coding was only applied to the stimulated recall transcripts. Detailed qualitative analysis of strategies used and their impact on test-takers’ test response quality will be discussed. Some implications for test writers/developers and future research studies will also be highlighted.

Reference: Bachman, L. F. & Palmer, A. (2010). Developing language assessments and justifying their use in the real world. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.