This study conducts a comprehensive quantitative evaluation of OpenAI's language model, ChatGPT 4, for grading Task 2 writing of the IELTS exam. The objective is to assess the alignment between ChatGPT's grading and that of official human raters. The analysis encompassed a multifaceted approach, including a comparison of means and reliability…

The main objective of this Methods Showcase Article is to show how the technique of adaptive comparative judgment, coupled with a crowdsourcing approach, can offer practical solutions to reliability issues as well as to address the time and cost difficulties associated with a text-based approach to proficiency assessment in L2 research. We…

This study explores the effectiveness of using ChatGPT, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) language model, as an Automated Essay Scoring (AES) tool for grading English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' essays. The corpus consists of 50 essays representing various types including analysis, compare and contrast, descriptive, narrative, and opinion…

The quality of writing in a second language (L2) is one of the indicators of the level of proficiency for many college students to be eligible for departmental studies. Although certain software programs, such as Intelligent Essay Assessor or IntelliMetric, have been introduced to evaluate second-language writing quality, an overall assessment of…

Purpose: This study builds a new system for automatically assessing learners' speech elicited from an oral discourse completion task (DCT), and evaluates the prediction capability of the system with a view to better understanding factors deemed influential in predicting speaking proficiency scores and the pedagogical implications of the system.…

This mixed methods study compared IELTS examiners' scores when assessing spoken performances under live and two 'non-live' testing conditions using audio and video recordings. Six IELTS examiners assessed 36 test-takers' performances under the live, audio, and video rating conditions. Scores in the three rating modes were calibrated using the…

Nonverbal behavior is essential in human interaction (Gullberg, de Bot, & Volterra, 2008; McNeill, 1992, 2005). For second language speakers, nonverbal features can be helpful for successful and efficient communication (e.g., Dahl & Ludvigsen, 2014). However, due to the complexity of nonverbal features, language testing institutions have…

Recent advances in machine learning have made automated scoring of learner speech widespread, and yet validation research that provides support for applying automated scoring technology to assessment is still in its infancy. Both the educational measurement and language assessment communities have called for greater transparency in describing…

This dissertation explored whether unnecessary linguistic complexity (LC) in mathematics and biology assessment items changes the direction and significance of differential item functioning (DIF) between subgroups emergent bilinguals (EBs) and English proficient students (EPs). Due to inconsistencies in measuring LC in items, Study One adapted a…

In the present study, I examined the effects of rater characteristics, in particular, raters' familiarity with a foreign accent, on the assessment of second language (L2) pronunciation. Forty-three native English-speaking teachers were divided into three groups according to their reported types of familiarity with Korean accents: heritage,…

This study applied a Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) model to explore how 27 first-year university students in two different English proficiency groups improved their lexicogrammatical choices and metafunctions for writing analytical exposition essays during a 15-week course. To explore how "the teaching learning cycle" influences…

This study compares the language proficiency gains of two groups of students taking a business English course module in a bilingual university in Catalonia (Spain). Whereas one of these groups followed a 'translanguaging' or 'plurilingual' pedagogy, the other followed a strictly monolingual approach. Participants were 54 mostly Catalan/Spanish…

Background: Although teachers of English are required to assess students' speaking proficiency in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), their ability to rate is seldom evaluated. The application of descriptors in the assessment of English speaking on CEFR in the context of English as a foreign language has not often been…

As a result of the fact that judgments of non-native speech are closely tied to social biases, oral proficiency ratings are susceptible to error because of rater background and social attitudes. In the present study we seek first to estimate the variance attributable to rater background and attitudinal variables on novice raters' assessments of L2…

In language testing programs, different test forms are often used to administer the same test. Demonstrating the comparability of these forms is essential to avoid criticisms of potential test unfairness. However, studies with this objective are scarce. This study aims to investigate the extent to which the picture-prompt writing tasks of three…