What scores from monologic speaking tests can(not) tell us about interactional competence

Abstract

The overarching aim of the study is to explore the extent to which test takers’ performances on monologic speaking tasks provide information about their interactional competence. This is an important concern from a test use perspective, as stakeholders tend to consider test scores as providing comprehensive information about all aspects of L2 competence. One hundred and fifty test takers completed a TOEFL iBT speaking section consisting of six monologic tasks, measuring speaking proficiency, followed by a test of interactional competence with three monologues and three dialogues, measuring pragmalinguistic skills, the ability to recipient design extended discourse, and interactional management skills. Quantitative analyses showed a medium to high correlation between TOEFL iBT speaking scores and interactional scores of r = .76, though with a much lower correlation of r = .57 for the subsample most similar to a typical TOEFL population. There was a large amount of variation in interactional scores for test takers at the same TOEFL iBT speaking score level, and qualitative analyses demonstrated that test takers’ ability to recipient design their talk and format social actions appropriate to social roles and relationships was not well captured by speaking scores. We suggest potential improvements.

Optimizing the Cultivation Path of College Students’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ability from the Perspective of the Internet

“…Innovation and entrepreneurship education is aimed at cultivating talents with basic entrepreneurial qualities and pioneering personality, aiming at cultivating students' innovative spirit and entrepreneurial awareness, and ultimately alleviating today's severe employment environment, driving employment through entrepreneurship, and solving the problem of job shortages [16]. Innovation and entrepreneurship are also aimed at cultivating innovative thinking and exercising innovation ability for those who have already started and successfully started a business, so that these groups have always been motivated to start a business and have a sense of innovation; let these groups continue to make progress, lead the development of the economy, and drive the development of emerging groups [17].…”

Assessing Second Language Speaking Proficiency

“…Either way, the language test constructer needs to consider the specific construct and design tasks accordingly. For instance, when interaction is part of the intended construct, using only monologues as tasks will not capture the full construct (Roever & Ikeda 2022). As another example, Van Batenburg et al (2018) targeted the measurement of strategic competence in interaction and therefore used scripted role-plays specifically eliciting these strategies.…”

The Effect of Instructed Intercultural Pragmatics on the Metapragmatic Awareness and Interactional Competence of Tertiary Indonesian EAL Learners

“…Kramsch's (1986) notion of IC challenged the concept of communicative competence that foregrounded grammatical accuracy and emphasised an "oversimplified view of human interactions" (p. 367). Since Kramsch's introduction, IC has been adopted in various disciplines, from pragmatics in institutional settings (Pekarek-Doehler et al, 2017), intercultural pragmatics (Kecskes et al, 2018), language learning classroom interactions (Walsh, 2012), to instruction and assessment on L2 pragmatics (Galaczi, 2014;Hall & Pekarek Doehler, 2011;Plough et al, 2018;Roever & Ikeda, 2021;Waring, 2018;Youn, 2020a;Young, 2014, September). The varied definitions of IC agree on the following two aspects: coconstruction of meaning and pragmatic knowledge.…”

“…Research has sought to identify and validate the features of IC and to understand how these features appear in interaction involving learners at different L2 proficiency levels (Roever & Ikeda, 2021). Youn (2013) and Ikeda ( , 2021 have both developed validated rubrics for this purpose.…”

“…Roleplays serve three main purposes. One purpose is to elicit participants' ability to use language in longer interactions and display behaviours according to one's social roles (Roever & Ikeda, 2021;Roever & Kasper, 2018). Another purpose is to simulate naturally occurring conversations.…”