The Impact of the Social Dimension on Assessing Oral Proficiency

Abstract

In contrast to the assessment of reading, listening, or writing skills, the assessment of oral proficiency has seen a growing preference for interactive task formats as the context in which to evaluate a learner's spoken ability. Tasks that require learners to engage in authentic, meaningful interactions with their peers or the teacher, however, deserve attention due to potential benefits as well as unintended consequences. This is because in interactive tasks a learner's performance is not the sole display of individual competence, as it is the case with writing or listening tests: The presence of an interlocutor introduces a social dimension, raising issues of test validity and reliability, and ultimately impacting test design and scoring systems. Therefore, the goal of this chapter is to discuss the challenges and implications of assessing oral proficiency when a social dimension is added to the picture and to contribute to a better understanding of how a joint construction of speaking performance can impact not only test development but also students' scores.