Studies on automatic scoring systems in writing assessments have also evaluated the relationship between human and machine scores for the reliability of automated essay scoring systems. This study investigated the magnitudes of indices for inter-rater agreement and discrepancy, especially regarding human and machine scoring, in writing assessment.…

This study explored two assessment approaches to oral performances: analytical complexity, accuracy, and fluency (CAF) indices and human raters' evaluations. CAF indices are frequently used in second-language speaking (L2) research; however, because tasks are communicative and goal-oriented, the degree to which students achieve such communicative…

Whereas many scholars have emphasized the relative importance of "comprehensibility" as an ecologically valid goal for L2 speech training, testing, and development, eliciting listeners' judgments is time-consuming. Following calls for research on more efficient L2 speech rating methods in applied linguistics, and growing attention toward…

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…

This large-scale study used a survey to collect data on K-12 world language program leadership and instructional practices in Massachusetts public schools, investigating associations between the presence of a program leader or primary evaluator who is a world language specialist and instructional practices, curriculum, and assessment. The study…

Drawing on Glenn Fulcher's extensive work in performance-based language assessment of speaking, this paper explores the assessment of L2 speaking ability in local language testing contexts. For that purpose, I review Fulcher's influential work that highlights the relationship between the speaking construct, the task, the performance, and the…

This study explicates the nature of second language (L2) pragmatic interaction focusing on the quantitative function of interactional features. A relationship between the fine-grained interactional features elicited from learners' role-play performances at varying levels and trained raters' scores was investigated. The corpus of 102 learners'…

This study compared holistic and analytic marking methods for their effects on parameter estimation (of examinees, raters, and items) and rater cognition in assessing speech act production in L2 Chinese. Seventy American learners of Chinese completed an oral Discourse Completion Test assessing requests and refusals. Four first-language (L1)…

This study examined the use of a popular Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), Google Voice Typing (GVT), to automatically assess English as second language pronunciation. It aimed to answer the following question: What is the relationship between GVT-rated scores and human-rated scores? To answer this question, we compared audio recordings of 56…

The use of translation and interpreting (T&I) in the language learning classroom is commonplace, serving various pedagogical and assessment purposes. Previous utilization of T&I exercises is driven largely by their potential to enhance language learning, whereas the latest trend has begun to underscore T&I as a crucial skill to be…

The study investigated the alignment process of the International English Language Competency Assessment (IELCA) suite examinations' four levels, B1, B2, C1 and C2, onto the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) by explaining and discussing the five linking stages (Council of Europe (CoE 2009). Unlike previous studies, this study used the…

This study searched for open-source semantic similarity tools and evaluated their effectiveness in automated content scoring of fact-based essays written by English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) learners. Fifty writing samples under a fact-based writing task from an academic English course in a Japanese university were collected and a gold standard…

Assessing writing is a demanding task. If a lecturer of writing is not prepared with a reliable scoring rubric, the students' real performance might not be known. One of the well-known English as a second language (ESL) writing rubric is the Jacobs ESL Composition Profile which was developed by Jacobs, Zingraf, Wormuth, Hartfiel, & Hughey in…

The present study aims to reveal the effects of test type, pronunciation and proficiency levels of the students on speaking test scores. A total of 147 Turkish EFL students consisting of 38 beginner, 36 elementary, 37 pre-intermediate and 36 intermediate levels participated in the study. Presentation as planned, and paired speaking test as…

Assessing language skills in an integrative form has drawn the attention of assessment experts in recent years. While some research data exists on integrative listening/reading-to-write assessment, there is comparatively little research literature on listening-to-speak integrated assessment. Also, little attention has been devoted to the role of…