Sunday, October 21, 2007

oral testing in pairs1

Topic: Assignment 2 discussion and queries Date: 4 January 2007 4:20 PM
Subject:oral testing in pairs Author: Mondy, Steven

I guess I'm talking about practicality here. Pairing up students and using criterion referenced type tests (both discreet and integrated) in the form of mini role-plays and distinct short conversations (both authentic and non). As for the level, I think that anything but true beginner can handle this kind of testing. As for the true beginner, then I would consider straight out student to teacher interviews (even though there may be a problem with performance anxiety in front of a native speaker in the TLU). Oral interviews for speaking type classes are essential to maintain face validity as Hughes points out on page 33. However, the true beginner may not have enough yet to work with to be able to handle true mini-conversation scenarios. Therefore, one may need to balance in favor of less authentic material to make sure validity is maintained…
Does this at all answer your question?
Steven Mondy

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