Assessing Oracy in Young Adults Vocational Training

Abstract

In university education, modern instruction aims at developing the most vital skills of the 21stcentury, key-centered for employability and successful work. Oracy as a skill, takes an essential place among basic communication skills for employability and teaching. Assessing it requires careful and responsible handling. Many researchers paid enough attention to oracy and its development mechanisms with young students. However, still little is known about how oracy is built within the vocational context with university students. That is, vocational oracy teaching and assessment process with university students may differ from the process involved in developing oracy for other categories of learners. The consequential validity of this research unfolds in a more profound and explicit role of vocational context in assessing oracy as a significant component for a future professional in the work market. Consistent with recent research advocating the definition of oracy, our findings indicate that oracy is vital in educating professionals for employability market complying with the highest standards of the 21st century essential skills. This research may help build or test the theoretical framework for assessing any special oracy. Also, it can help develop a different theory with new or other components regarding assessment oracy in the specific context.