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The Place of Direct and Indirect Tests in the Assessment of Speaking Skills: A Case Study

The Place of Direct and Indirect Tests in the Assessment of Speaking Skills: A Case Study. Dr. Hale Kızılcık May 30, 2012. OUTLINE. ENG 211 Academic Speaking Skills The development of the midterm exam A closer look at the exam: «Discussion skills» Exam results

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The Place of Direct and Indirect Tests in the Assessment of Speaking Skills: A Case Study

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  1. The Place of Direct and Indirect Tests in the Assessment of Speaking Skills:A Case Study Dr. Hale Kızılcık May 30, 2012

  2. OUTLINE • ENG 211 Academic Speaking Skills • The development of the midterm exam • A closer look at the exam: «Discussion skills» • Exam results • Interpreting the exam results

  3. ENG 211 Academic Speaking Skills • Revised in 2009-2010 • Not only to focus on «speaking as performance» (presentation) • But also to focus on «speaking as transaction» (Richards, 2007)

  4. Assessment

  5. Preparing a written test for a speaking course • Valid • Reliable • Authentic • Practical • Backwash (Hughes, 1998)

  6. Course objectives • Cooperation with the course coordinators • Face validity

  7. Parts of the Midterm Exam • Listening for specific information and main ideas (podcast) 6 pts. • Synthesizing & expressing opinions (6 pts.) *Listeningfornote-taking • Organizing a speech (4 pts.) • Discussion skills (4 pts.)

  8. Discussing testing «discussion skills» • «They already do it in the class (a lot of times!)»  «Is it a good idea to test spoken language in written discourse?» • «It may have benefical backwash effect. It can encourage students to pay attention to signposts»  «They already do it... But let’s see if they can integrate sources and use appropriate strategies»  «In this way, we can also test their critical thinking skills»

  9. Part IV: Discussion Skills (4 pts.) The following excerpts are taken from discussions. Participate in each discussion as instructed. Express your views in 3-4 sentences. (2 pts. each) A: Read the transcript of a discussion on graffiti. Interrupt the last speaker appropriately, agree with Victoria, and support your stance by giving your own reasons. Victoria: I think one should consider graffiti from a broader angle. Graffiti is not limited to painted large letters on walls. Think of a graffiti artist like Banksy. I would love to have one of his paintings on my wall. Sadi: I do not think graffiti can be justified on any grounds. It is a form of vandalism and personally I would sue anybody, Banksy or Picasso, who would paint graffiti on the walls of my house. You: ______________________________________________________________

  10. Sample answer: I am sorry but I’d like to make a point here. I think Victoria is right and we have to distinguish between different forms of graffiti. Besides, I’d also really appreciate a Banksy on my wall. First, his graffiti is full of important political and social messages which are worth spreading. Second, they cost a fortune. One of his graffiti works can make me a rich man. Criteria for marking: Signpost and stance: 0.5 pt. Support: 1.5 pts.

  11. Testing Discussion Skills Directly Sample speaking task & Debate& discussionrubric

  12. Criteria • Quality of arguments (5 pts.) • Style (5 pts.) • Delivery (5 pts) • Language (3 pts.) • Team work (2 pts.)

  13. Interpreting the Midterm Results

  14. Success Rate in Different Sections of the Exam Part I (listening): 61% Part II-A (synthesizing): 72% Part II-B: (expressing opinions): 77% Part III: (organizing a speech): 78% Part IV-A: (discussion skills): 49.5% Part IV-B: (discussion skills): 49.5%

  15. CHART DISPLAYING ST. GRADES IN PART IV AND IN-CLASS DISCUSSIONS

  16. So? What does this mean? Is there a problem with the reliability of in-class speaking tests? Is there grade inflation on the part of the teacher? Is there a problem with the discussion grading rubric? Is there a problem with the validity of the written test? Are the two tests testing different skills?

  17. A closer look at the extreme cases • Grammar becomes more important in the indirect test. • Repetitions & digressions may be overlooked in the direct test. • Quality of ideas are scrutinized more in the indirect test. • The criteria for the direct test is broader in scope. • There are personality issues.

  18. Conclusions • On testing speaking indirectly • On testing speaking as performance • On structures speaking tasks & automatic scoring of tests (Luoma, 2004) • On teaching discussion skills

  19. Thank you

  20. REFERENCES Hughes, A. (1989). Testing for languageteachers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Luoma, S. (2004). Asessing speaking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J., C. (2007). Developing Classroom Speaking Activities: From Theory to Practice: Summary article. From http://www.professorjackrichards.com/pdfs/developing- classroom-speaking-activities.pdf

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