2019 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Interactional Engagement in EFL Oral Proficiency Testing
| Project/Area Number |
17K03011
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| Research Institution | Kobe University |
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Principal Investigator |
T・S Greer 神戸大学, 大学教育推進機構, 教授 (10320540)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
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| Keywords | Conversation Analysis / Interactional competence / Paired discussion test / Rater rubric / Engagement / EFL / 会話分析 / 会話能力評価 |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
While paired student discussion tests in EFL contexts are often graded using rubrics with broad descriptors, an alternative approach constructs the rubric via extensive written descriptions of video-recorded exemplary cases at each performance level. With its long history of deeply descriptive observation of interaction, Conversation Analysis (CA) is one apt tool for constructing such exemplar-based rubrics; but to what extent are non-CA specialist teacher-raters able to interpret a CA analysis in order to assess the test?
This study explores this issue by comparing two paired EFL discussion tests that use exemplar-based rubrics, one written by a CA specialist and the other by EFL test constructors not specialized in CA. The complete dataset consists of test recordings (university-level Japanese learners of English, and secondary-level Swedish learners of English) and recordings of teacher-raters’ interaction. Our analysis focuses on ways experienced language educators perceive engagement while discussing their ratings of the video-recorded test talk in relation to the exemplars and descriptive rubrics. The study highlights differences in the way teacher-raters display their understanding of the notion of engagement within the tests, and demonstrates how conversation analysis rubrics can facilitate a more emically grounded assessment.
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