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Methods of testing oral proficiency:
The assessment of performance-based tests of oral proficiency on the basis of
ACTFL levels :
In (Kenyon, 1998) the author claims that performance tasks are the foundation of
any performance-based assessment. The task he describes refers to the open-ended
stimulus serving to elicit the examinee’s performance to be evaluated. An example of that
is an oral response to an interviewer’s questions
or instructions to a role-play, or to the
physical response to instructions given to the examinee in the target language. His study
was based on the Speaking Proficiency Guidelines of
the American Council on the
Teaching of a Foreign Language. The framework of that study is that the determining
source of the examinees’ proficiency level lies in his/her ability to accomplish speaking
tasks that are associated with different levels of proficiency
that are defined by the
Guidelines. There are four levels of proficiency in the
Guidelines. They are: Novice level
which is characterized by the ability to communicate minimally in highly predictive
situations with previously learned words. Intermediate which is
related to the ability to
initiate, sustain and close basic communication tasks. Advanced that is characterized by
the ability to converse fluently in participatory fashion. Superior that is related to the
ability to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations on practical,
social,
professional, and abstract topics. Between these four main levels, there are
sublevels as well.
In
conducting that study, a number of students were tested by asking them to
perform some tasks that were designed in accordance with the ACTFLGuidelines. The
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examinees were allowed to demonstrate the characteristics of
speech at the main levels
from intermediate to superior. After analyzing the results, the author extracts the finding
that it is important to clearly construct unambiguous tasks on performance-based
assessments so that all salient features of the task are clear to the examinee.
Kenyon states that “When students are asked to give a linguistic performance in
response to
a task in a testing situation, it is paramount that the directions to the
performance-based task be absolutely clear.”
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