The purpose of this test is to evaluate a non-native speaking student's speaking knowledge of the basic structures of English, using the most frequently used words in the English Language. The test does not attempt to determine vocabulary level or student's ability to learn vocabulary effectively, rather the test focuses exclusively on aural/oral…

The oral proficiency interview should be administered infrequently, but there are other measures than can be used between interviews to maintain oral proficiency and achievement as the organizing principles of instruction while placing fewer demands on the teacher/tester. One such measure is a semi-direct procedure that has two steps. First,…

The oral interaction examination used by Britain's Royal Society of Arts for testing communicative use of English as a foreign language is described. The underlying principles of the test, its structure, administration, issues of reliability and validity, and scoring are outlined. Three components of the test itself are included. One component is…

This handbook resulted from a project to develop a tape-based alternative test of language proficiency in less commonly taught languages. The objective was to produce a test that is modeled on and readily interpretable by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages/Interagency Language Roundtable (ACTFL/ILR) proficiency guidelines…

Issues in testing proficiency in languages for special purposes (LSP) are examined in the context of the development of an advanced oral test in Japanese for tour guides. The test, designed at an Australian university for use in the Australian tourism industry, was to be designed to evaluate both language proficiency and skills in appropriate…

A discussion of teaching and testing oral skills in a second language looks at issues in the testing of speaking ability in general, the effect that testing can have on teaching, and the kinds of communicative activities that can be built into a foreign language program with oral proficiency as a goal. The issues addressed include the differential…

The British Columbia French Speaking Test, administered to grade 3 immersion students, measured their speaking skills through a story- retelling and group discussion task. When 110 immersion children were compared to 25 Francophone children, results indicated that the immersion children were comparable to the francophones in communicative skills…

This review of research on second-language oral testing outlines the nature of early research in interview-format proficiency testing, then reports on new directions in investigation of construct validity of interview-format and other oral skills tests through examination of examinee, interviewer, and rater performance. Research on empirically…

An examination of the principles and techniques of oral testing in British university-level final examinations in modern languages discusses: (1) the shortcomings of present oral testing procedures; (2) the theoretical controversy surrounding the design and value of oral proficiency tests, arising from research in English as a second language…