Annie Brown

The role of interactive communication in IELTS speaking and its relationship to candidates' preparedness for study or training contexts

Ana María Ducasse et al. — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 17:11:01 PST

This study aims to provide evidence of the validity of the IELTS Speaking Test based on test content, that is, the extent to which it is representative of the knowledge and skills required to demonstrate English proficiency in undergraduate and graduate programs. This is investigated by comparing the oral interactive communication demands of the IELTS Test, through an analysis of a set of recorded interviews, with the demands identified in a university setting, through analysis of institutional documentation, interviews with staff, and observations of classroom interaction. In the first part, the literature relating to spoken interaction in a study context was reviewed to identify which features of interactive communication are described. The findings were then discussed in the light of research and developments in the testing of spoken language. This was followed by an analysis of institutional documents within an Australian university focusing on expected and explicit speaking outcomes in first year university study. The second part went on to explore the impact of those features of interactive communication, found in part 1, on students' preparedness for speaking in study or training contexts. It consisted of observations of first year classes within an Australian university and interviews with the lecturers. The third part consisted of the transcription and discourse analysis of taped IELTS interviews at Band 6 and above. The discourse analysis uncovered which interactional features, as identified in the literature, appeared in the candidate discourse. The findings highlighted the overlap and the gaps between features defined in the literature and their presence in the interview discourse. This enabled the researchers to report on the likely preparedness of the IELTS candidates for their study or training with regard to interactive communication.

Ethics in language testing and assessment

Annie Brown — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 22:40:49 PDT

The development and validation of an online rater training and marking system: promises and pitfalls

Annie Brown et al. — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 22:29:20 PDT

Interlocutor and rater training

Annie Brown — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 22:18:40 PDT

Dictionary of Language Testing

A Davies et al. — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:31:41 PST

Experimenting with uncertainty: essays in honour of Alan Davies

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 22:13:27 PST

An examination of rater orientations and test-taker performance on English for Academic Purposes speaking tasks

Annie Brown et al. — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:58:53 PST

This report documents two coordinated exploratory studies into the nature of oral English-foracademic- purposes (EAP) proficiency. Study I used verbal-report methodology to examine field experts. rating orientations, and Study II investigated the quality of test-taker discourse on two different Test of English as a Foreign Language. (TOEFL®) task types (independent and integrated) at different levels of proficiency. Study I showed that, with no guidance, domain experts distinguished and described qualitatively different performances using a common set of criteria very similar to those included in draft rating scales developed for the tasks at ETS. Study II provided empirical support for the criteria applied by the judges. The findings indicate that raters take a range of performance features into account within each conceptual category and that holistic ratings are driven by all of the assessment categories rather than, as has been suggested in earlier studies, predominantly by grammar.

Tasks and Criteria in Performance Assessment: Proceedings of the 28th Annual Language Testing Research Colloquium

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:49:02 PST

This volume includes selected papers from the 28th Language Testing Research Colloquium, held at the University of Melbourne (Australia) in July 2006. The papers selected for this volume share a common theme - that of 'performance'. Not only do they focus on performance assessments of second or foreign language speaking and writing, but they also focus on the performance of the participants - the candidate (or candidates) and the raters - and the construction of that performance through the tasks and the assessment criteria.

Interviewer Variability in Oral Proficiency Interviews

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:42:51 PST

The assessment of speaking skills is an important part of the language learning process, whether carried out by teachers in the classroom or through proficiency tests administered by testing agencies. However, the complex and subjective nature of speaking assessment raises a number of important questions about the validity, reliability and fairness of test procedures. This book, which is based on research into the speaking test of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), shows how the performance of learners in oral proficiency interviews cannot be taken unequivocally as an indication of their ability, as variation in interviewer behaviour can have an impact both on learner performance and on ratings outcomes.

Is learner progress in LOTE learning comparable across languages?

Annie Brown et al. — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:27:48 PST

This paper presents the findings of the first stage of a project designed to provide school systems with answers to fundamental questions related to learning languages other than English in schools. These include the length of time needed to learn a language at school, whether some languages are 'harder' to learn than others and the levels of language proficiency which students can be expected to achieve in school language programs.

Interviewer variation and the co-construction of speaking proficiency

Annie Brown — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:37:14 PST

'The devil is in the details’ : researching gender issues in language assessment

Annie Brown et al. — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:18:08 PST

Self-assessment of writing in independent language learning programs: the value of annotated samples

Annie Brown — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:12:56 PST

Assessed levels of second language speaking proficiency: How distinct?

N Awashita et al. — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:04:28 PST

Assessing paired orals: Raters’ orientation to interaction

A Ducasse et al. — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:01:35 PST