Volume 3 Number 1 2004
ISSN 1475 - 8989
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Journal of Language and Linguistics Volume 3 Number 1 2004 ISSN 1475 - 8989 |
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Abstract The Guidelines of the traditional Oral Proficiency Interview speaking test have long neglected the nature of negotiation in the roleplay session. The promoter, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages has been severely criticized by the academia for the lack of empirical support for its claim. The roleplay session was merely used to confirm the rating established by the first three phases of the interview, in which the text type of a speaker's speech utterances was the main concern by the evaluators. This study used both quantitative and textual analyses to examine whether or not the current use of the roleplay performance is consistent with the criteria of the Guidelines, in distinguishing speakers of the Intermediate-High from the Advanced. The data involved two groups of American learners of Chinese: 18 at the Advanced level and 27 at the Intermediate-High level. As a result, the researcher found that only the roleplay session provided the specific circumstances to assess the skills required for an advanced rating, those of initiating, sustaining, and concluding a complicated communicative task. Both quantitative and qualitative results suggest that the roleplay performance should have occupied a more central role in the overall rating process. The roleplay is particularly important at the "major border" separating the Advanced and Intermediate-High levels. In conclusion, the researcher suggests that the Guidelines should be amended to focus particular attention on a speaker's ability to sustain negotiation during the roleplay session in the oral proficiency interview. |
About the Author
Dr H. Lin Domizio is Visitng Assistant Professor at Williams College, USA.
Email: h.lin.domizio@williams.edu