The primary purpose of the interview-type of language proficiency evaluation is to get a rough idea of the language learner's ability at oral communicative exchange. However, interview examinations are often structured in such a way that true exchange is unlikely. Questions elicit obvious answers in a way unlike everyday conversation. Potential…

Discusses the role of gender in speaking tests and suggests that in oral interviews it is possible that both interviewing and rating may be highly gendered processes. Audiotaped female and male test-takers who undertook practice IELTS interviews, one with a female interviewer and once with a male interviewer. Results from discourse and test score…

Discusses the development and production of TOPIC (Training for Oral Proficiency Interviewing Competence), an interactive video refresher training program that teaches interviewing and evaluation skills to German oral proficiency testers. The program can be used as a prototype for the development of refresher training programs in other languages.…

Focuses on the increase in discourse-based studies of oral proficiency assessment techniques. Discusses research carried out on a number of factors in the assessment setting, including the role of interlocutor, candidate, and rater, and the impact of tasks, task performance conditions, and rating criteria. (Author/VWL)

Over the past fifteen years or so examiner input in oral proficiency interviews has provided a constant topic of discussion within language assessment quarters. Despite the attention received, the precise nature of such input remains largely elusive, as does its relationship to test-taker performance and its assessment. The aim of this paper is to…

Inclusion of oral exams as a regular part of the school-based testing program has the advantages of providing motivation to learn oral skills, oral testing experience, additional opportunities for students to perform well, and improved relationships with students. However, logistical problems can be substantial. Adequate time for and efficient…

This interview took place at the Language Testing Research Colloquium in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (at the Chateau Laurier Hotel on July 21, 2005), at which Professor Bernard Spolsky was presented with the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate/International Language Testing Association Lifetime Achievement Award. The conference…

This article describes a study that emerged as a result of the severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis that struck Hong Kong in 2003. One outcome of the severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis was that all personnel in all educational institutions in Hong Kong were compelled to wear face masks for the period April-August 2003. Consequently, the…

A federally funded project was undertaken at the University of New Hampshire to: (1) determine the feasibility of incorporating specific techniques of oral proficiency evaluation in college-level foreign language courses, (2) create a network of foreign language professors in northern New England colleges and universities trained in the use of…