This paper reviews the International English Language Testing System's speaking sub-test in the East Asia region with reference to theoretical and practice-based perspectives and identifies future research opportunities to enhance the measures of test qualities found. The test's construct validity was seen to accurately measure the abilities defined in the IELTS speaking construct; however, high reliability was revealed to the detriment of other test qualities. Conclusions drawn indicate three primary facets of test qualities that could be addressed to increase the IELTS speaking sub-test's usefulness and therefore effectiveness in the East Asian regional context, although these test quality improvements could also be considered as beneficial when applied on a global scale. Firstly, content developers and item writers could provide a greater degree of test item content relevancy to the characteristics of a changing testtaker population. Secondly, multiple future research collaborations between the IELTS partners and institutional test score users seeking to provide better evidence of predictive validity would be beneficial to counteract the lower degree of authenticity shown. And finally, a re-intensification of efforts enhancing positive washback for test takers and exam preparation course providers within the East Asian region is essential.
This short paper reports the findings of a study exploring English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students’ behavioral intention to use a high-immersion Virtual Reality (VR) system for learning paragraph structure. The study measured relationships between variables that may lead to learners’ intention to use the high-immersion VR Reality system through leveraging a hypothesized theoretical framework based upon a widely used technology acceptance model. Quantitative data were collected from 134 Sino-British English as a medium of instruction by university undergraduate students enrolled in EAP classes by means of a post-participation questionnaire. A Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) exploratory analysis was executed. Results suggested that students’ intention to use the high-immersion VR learning environment was primarily determined by its usefulness for learning and not how easy it was to use. Furthermore, the degree to which the learners felt confident in their ability to operate the system had a large impact on how easy they perceived it was to use. And finally, the antecedent conditions of learners had little impact on the students’ perceived usefulness of the VR system.
The present trend in developing and using semi-direct speaking tests has been supported by test developers and researchers' claim of their increased practicality, higher reliability and concurrent validity with test scores in direct oral proficiency interviews. However, it is universally agreed within the language testing and assessment community that interchangeability must be investigated from multiple perspectives. This study compared test taker output from a computer-based Aptis General speaking test and a purposively developed identical face-to-face direct oral proficiency interview using a counterbalanced research design. Within subject analyses of salient output features identified in prior related research were completed. Results showed that test taker output in the computer-based test was less contextualised, with minimally higher lexical density and syntactic complexity. Given these findings, the indicated slight register shift in output may be viewed as non-consequential, or even as advantageous, for semi-direct speaking tests.
Semi-direct speaking tests have become an increasingly favored method of assessing spoken performance in recent years. Underpinning evidence for their continued development and use has been largely contingent on language testing and assessment researchers' claim of their interchangeability with more traditional, direct face-to-face oral proficiency interviews through theoretical and empirical investigations from multiple perspectives. This chapter initially provides background and research synopses of four significant test facets that have formed the bases for semi-direct and direct speaking test comparison studies. These are followed by the inclusion of a recent case study comparing test taker output from a computer-based Aptis speaking test and a purposively developed identical face-to-face oral proficiency interview that found a slight register shift which may be viewed as advantageous for semi-direct speaking tests. Finally, future research directions are proposed in light of the recent developments in the semi-direct speaking testing research presented throughout this chapter.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.