-->
Testing Oral Ability
by:
Joko Supriyanto
In testing communicative
competence, speaking and listening tasks are commonly used. But we will focus only on testing speaking ability as
our concern in this topic. There is a possible problem that appear in testing
oral ability. The difficulty discussed here is that speaking and listening
skills are very much related to each other; it is difficult to separate them.
In most cases, there is an interchange between listening and speaking, and
speaking appropriately depends on comprehending spoken input. Therefore, this
has an impact on testing speaking because the testers will not know whether
they are testing purely speaking or speaking and listening together.
In testing oral
proficiency, or oral skills of second language learning, four components are
emphasised. These include: Vocabulary,
Grammar, Semantics, and Phonology.
Accurate assessment of limited-English speaking learners requires a total
description of the communication skills,
linguistic structures, and functional usage of the learner’s language
within all social domains (Silverman, Noa, & Russel, 1977).
To test student’s oral
ability, there three techniques can be used :
1.
Interview
This technique involves
some points below to get a good interview :
·
Questions
and request for information : it is intended that the performance of various
operations can be elicited. It is presented in some ways such as, Requests for
elaboration: “What exactly do you mean?”; appearing not to understand : The
interviewer may say, for example, “I’m
sorry, but I don’t quite follow you.”;
Invitation to ask questions: “Is
there anything you’d like to ask me?”; Interruption: To see how the
candidate deals with this; Abrupt change of topic: To see how the candidate
deals with this.
·
Pictures
: Single pictures are particularly useful for eliciting descriptions. Series of
pictures form a natural basis for narration.
·
Role
Play : Candidates can be asked to assume a role in a particular situation. This
allows the ready elicitation of other language functions.
·
Interpreting
: It is not intended that candidates should be able to act as interpreters
(unless that is specified). The native language speaker wants to invite a
foreign visitor to his or her home for a
meal. The candidate has to convey the invitation and act as an interpreter for
the subsequent exchange.
·
Prepared
monologue: it is intended to facilitate the candidates to show the performance
by presenting the monologue prepared. The ability to make presentations is an
objective of the course.
·
Reading
aloud
.
-->
2.
Interaction
with fellow candidates
An advantage of having
candidates interacting with each other is that it should elicit language that
is appropriate to exchanges between two candidates. The useful techniques are:
discussion and Role Play between two candidates while the tester become the
observer.
3.
responses
to audio- or video-recorded stimuli
Elicitation procedures
can be achieved through presenting all candidates with the same computer
generated or audio-/video-recorded stimuli (to which the candidates themselves
respond into a microphone).
Plan
and structure the testing carefully!
1.
Make
the oral test as long as possible. To get reliable information, it is better to
have 30 minutes long of the test.
2. Plan the test carefully by
procedures can be adapted in response to a candidate’s performance, the tester
should nevertheless have some pattern to follow.
3. Give the candidate as many ‘fresh
starts’ as possible
4.
Use
a second tester for interviews.
5. Set only tasks and topics that would
be expected to cause candidates no difficulty in their own language.
6. Carry out the interview in a quiet
room with good acoustics.
7. Put candidates at their ease so that
they can show what they are capable of.
8.
Collect
enough relevant information.
9. Do not talk too much. There is an
unfortunate tendency for interviewers to talk too much, not giving enough
talking time to candidates.
10. Select interviewers carefully and
train them.
Stages in conducting
interview
Stage 1 : Background and overview, trainees
are given background on the interview.
Stage 2 : Assigning candidates to
levels, trainees are asked to write down the levels to which they assign the
candidate according to the level descriptions
Stage 3 : Conducting interviews
Stage 4 : Assessment
Scoring
Accuracy : Pronunciation must
be clearly intelligible even if some influences from L1 remain.
Grammatical/lexical accuracy is high though grammatical errors which do not
impede communication are acceptable.
Appropriacy : The use of language must
be generally appropriate to function and to context. The intention of the speaker
must be clear and unambiguous.
Range : A wide range
of language must be available to the candidate. Any specific items which cause
difficulties can be smoothly substituted or avoided.
Flexibility : There must be
consistent evidence of the ability to ‘turn-take’ in a conversation and to
adapt to new topics or changes of direction.
Size : Must be
capable of making lengthy and complex contributions where appropriate. Should
be able to expand and develop ideas with minimal help from the Interlocutor.
.
-->
Testing for language teachers
Richards,
J. dan Renandya, W. 2002. Methodology in language teaching. Cambridge:
CUP
.JPG)
.jpg)
