Testing Oral Communicative Skills

The language proficiency tests used for providing reliable feedback to both teacher and student are largely oriented toward establishing situations which require a rather mechanical and relatively passive phonological and morphological discrimination. The use of an interview to test the ability to communicate orally in the target language has been generally neglected. While there are inconsistencies and variables involved in such a testing procedure, it is possible to maximize the attention given to factors that lend themselves to more objective observation: fluency, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension. Based on a scale that takes into account minimum and maximum levels of acceptability for dealing effectively in specific professional and social situations, the test allows for various ranges of oral proficiency. Effective ways of eliciting the variety of responses that is needed for arriving at a linguistic diagnosis are suggested. Sample questions are included in Spanish. By testing oral communicative skills in this fashion, it is possible to make an assessment that will aid in providing accurate and meaningful comments on language evaluation forms, in planning the direction a grammar course will take, and in stimulating the further development of an individual's language skills

Communicative language teaching · Comprehension · Fluency · Grammar · Language assessment · Language education · Language proficiency · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Natural language processing · Pronunciation · Syntax · Test (biology · Variety (cybernetics · Vocabulary · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Literacy and Educational Practices · Psychology · Spanish Linguistics and Language Studies

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  Open Access•James W Brown•Foreign Language Annals•1985

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