The implications of a newly developed oral test in Business English: Are we heading in the right direction?
Roč.5,č.2(2016)
The paper presents an overview of the testing and assessment standardization process at the Language Centre of Masaryk University. It exemplifies the process by analysing a two-year development of the C1 Business English oral test administered to students at the Faculty of Economics and Administration (FEA), which resulted in the formation of a completely new testing procedure. The transition from the original teacher–student interview format to a monological discourse and a peer-to-peer discussion, with the roles of the interlocutor and rater split between two teachers using analytic rating scales to evaluate performance, is described, along with its implications on the validity and reliability of assessment. Students’ perception of the test importance is also examined. The second part deals with the analysis of a questionnaire on feedback collected from students taking the test in Spring 2014. The preliminary look into the merit of the efforts exerted indicates a noticeable enhancement in quality, reliability, validity and prestige of the oral test.
reliability; validity; speaking test; peer-to-peer discussion; students’ feedback
BACHMAN, Lyle F., PALMER, Adrian S. Language Testing in Practice: Designing and Developing Useful Language Tests (Oxford Applied Linguistics). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996, 377 p. ISBN 0-19-437148-4
Brown, James D., Hudson, Thom. The Alternatives in Language Assessment. In: TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Winter, 1998), pp. 653-675. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL) [28-07-2015]. Available online at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3587999
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment [online]. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, Language Policy Unit [10-07-2015]. Available online at: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/Framework_EN.pdf
Coombe, Christine, Davidson, Peter, O'Sullivan, Barry, Stoynoff, Stephen. The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012, 321 p. ISBN 9781107677074
Davies, Alan. Ethics, professionals, rights and codes. In E. Shohamy& N.H. Hornberger (Eds) (2nd Ed.) Encyclopedia of language and education; Volume 7: Language testing and Assessment, pp. 429 -443. New York, Springer, 2008.
Fulcher, Glenn. Assessment Literacy for the Language Classroom. In: Language Assessment Quarterly, Volume 9, Issue 2, 2012, pp. 113-132. Routledge [28-07-2015]. Available online at: https://lra.le.ac.uk/bitstream/2381/27338/1/AssessmentLiteracy.pdf
Hughes, Arthur. Testing for Language Teachers. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2002, 251 p. ISBN 978-0-521-48495
Manual for relating Language Examinations to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) [online]. Strasbourg: Council of Europe, Language Policy Division, January 2009 [10-07-2015]. Available online at: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Source/ManualRevision-proofread-FINAL_en.pdf
Copyright © 2022 Jiřina Hrbáčková, Milan Boháček