2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
An Objective Test of Communicative English Proficiency
| Project/Area Number |
24652131
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Foreign language education
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| Research Institution | Keio University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
JEFFREY Stewart 九州産業大学, 語学教育研究センター, 講師 (40536306)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
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| Keywords | 学力検査 / 言語試験 / 英語教育 / スピーキング伝達能力 |
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| Research Abstract |
The researchers developed a new test of communicative speaking proficiency, called the Objective Communicative Speaking Test (OCST). The OCST is a timed information-gap task-based test delivered via tablet computers. The OCST measures the time required for a speaker to relate a piece of information unknown to the rater, on the assumption that more traditional components of oral proficiency will contribute to time to completion. The test was administered to a sample of 86 first- (L1s) and second-language (L2s) speakers of English, and their task completion times were assigned an L1-referenced score. The data were analyzed via many-facet Rasch analysis. As hypothesized, the objective design of the test reduced rater effects, and raters could be excluded from the model. An examinee reliability coefficient of 0.88 was observed, surpassing that of most subjective tests of speaking proficiency.
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