Talking to score: Impression management in L2 oral assessment and the co-construction of a test discourse genre

Talking to score: Impression management in L2 oral assessment and the co-construction of a test discourse genre

• Luk, Jasmine University of Hong Kong

Language Assessment Quarterly, 7(1), 25-53, 2010

Routledge

2010

• G Curriculum, Teaching & Learning: Specific Disciplines
  • GB English Language
    • GBC Teaching Methods of Listening, Conversation, Speech & Their Outcomes
• L Educational Measurement & Evaluation
  • LD School Examinations

Proficiency Interviews Conversation Language Psychology, Educational Linguistics Language & Linguistics

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Secondary Education

In recent years, the emphasis in second language (L2) oral proficiency assessment has shifted from linguistic accuracy to discourse strategies such as the ability to initiate, respond, and negotiate meaning. This has resulted in a growing interest in the discourse analysis of students' performance in different oral proficiency assessment formats. The study reported in this article represents an attempt to investigate students' discourse performance in L2 oral proficiency assessments conducted in the form of peer group interactions in Hong Kong. Forty-three female Hong Kong secondary students were involved. Findings from a qualitative discourse analysis of the students' interaction data supplemented with data from interviews and a questionnaire reveal the emergence of a test-task specific genre featuring recurrent frames of talk for task management, content delivery, and response giving. These frames were characterized by discourse features that seem to be ritualized, contrived, and colluded. Such interaction practices suggest a strong desire on the part of the students to maintain the impression of being effective interlocutors for scoring purposes rather than for authentic communication. Implications for test construct validity and the impact on the students' L2 oral proficiency development are discussed.
[Copyright of Language Assessment Quarterly is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15434300903473997]

• English

Journal Articles

• 15434303

• 10.1080/15434300903473997

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/en/bibs/967b0b33

2010-11-28