The Faculty of Education is pleased to invite you to attend a presentation by visiting scholar Dr. Lynette May

Interactional competence in second language speaking assessment:
implications for task design and language proficiency tests 

1:30 - 3:00 pm
Thursday, Februrary 7, 2013
Vernon Ready Room (A115), Duncan McArthur Hall

Everyone is welcome
Please RSVP to erin.wicklam@queensu.ca 

Dr. May's visit is supported by the Queen's Principal's Development Fund

Download the Poster

Dr. Lynette May is a Senior Lecturer in TESOL at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia.   Her research interests include second language assessment and the linguistic demands of tertiary study.

Abstract.    The construct of interactional competence has emerged over recent years as a focal point for second language speaking test developers and researchers.  While the co-construction of discourse is central to successful communication (Jacoby and Ochs, 1995; Young, 2000, 2008), operationalising this aspect in speaking assessment tasks and rating scales has created concern over the separability of the performance (McNamara, 1997; May, 2011).  

In this presentation I will focus on the challenges that interactional competence has posed for the developers of oral proficiency interviews (Brown, 2005; Seedhouse & Harris, 2011), paired speaking tests (Brooks, 2009; Ducasse & Brown, 2009; Galaczi, 2008) and group speaking tests (He & Dai, 2006; Nakatsuhara, 2010). I will also discuss the implications for speaking tasks used in high-stakes English language proficiency tests, including  the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), taking into consideration recent findings on the oracy demands of tertiary study for international students (Doherty, Kettle, May & Caulkill, 2011; Ducasse & Brown, 2011). 

Brooks, L. (2009). Interacting in pairs in a test of oral proficiency: Co-constructing a better performance.  Language Testing, 26, 3, 341-366.

Brown, A. (2005). Interviewer variability in oral proficiency interviews. Frankfurt:  Peter Lang. 

Doherty, C., Kettle, M., May, L. & Caukill, E. (2011).  Talking the talk: oracy demands in first year university assessment tasks.  Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice, 18, 1, 27-39.

Ducasse, A. & Brown, A. (2009). Assessing paired orals: Rater’s orientation to interaction. Language Testing, 26(3), 423-443.

Ducasse, A. & Brown, A. (2011).  The role of interactive communication in IELTS Speaking and its relationship to candidates’ preparedness for study or training contexts.  IELTS Research Reports, Volume 12, 125-150.  

Galaczi, E. (2008). Peer-Peer Interaction in a Speaking Test: The Case of the First Certificate in English Examination. Language Assessment Quarterly, 2(2), 89-119.

He, L. & Dai, Y.  (2006).  A corpus-based investigation into the validity of the CET-SET group discussion.  Language Testing.  23, 3, 370-401.

Jacoby, S. & Ochs, E. (1995). Co-construction: an introduction. Research on Language and Social Interaction,28, 3, 171-183.

McNamara, T. F. (1997). ‘Interaction’ in second language performance assessment: whose performance? Applied Linguistics,18, 444-446.

May, L.  (2011). Interaction in a Paired Speaking Test: The Rater’s Perspective.  Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

Nakatsuhara, F.  (2010).  Interactional competence measured in group oral tests: how do test-taker characteristics, task types and group sizes affect co-constructed discourse in groups?  Paper presented at the Language Testing Research Colloquium, April, 2010, Cambridge.

Seedhouse, P. & Harris, A.  (2011). Topic development in the IELTS Speaking Test. IELTS Research Reports, Volume 12, 69 -124.

Young, R. F. ( 2000).  Interactional competence: challenges for validity. Paper presented at the American Association of Applied Linguistics, March, 2000, Vancouver. 

Young, R.F. (2008).  Language and Interaction.  New York: Routledge