TY - CHAP
T1 - Video-conferencing speaking tests: an investigation of context validity related to test administration
AU - Inoue, Chihiro
AU - Nakatsuhara, Fumiyo
AU - Berry, V.
AU - Galaczi, Evelina D.
PY - 2024/10/31
Y1 - 2024/10/31
N2 - Face-to-face speaking assessment provides the benefit of eliciting a broad interactional construct, but at the cost of being logistically complex, resource-intensive and difficult to manage. Advances in video-conferencing (VC) technology now make it possible to engage in online interaction more successfully than previously, thus reducing dependence upon physical proximity between the examiner-interlocutor and the candidate(s). It is therefore not surprising that such technology is seen as a valuable assessment tool in geographically remote and politically unstable areas of the world, or indeed in contexts affected by the social distancing required during the recent Covid-19 pandemic. However, the administrative conditions under which the test takes place, one of the key contextual parameters of the VC-delivered test, , is often overlooked, despite its potentially significant influence on candidates’ performance and therefore overall test validity (Weir 2005).
In this chapter, we report on investigations into administrative features of a VC-delivered high-stakes speaking test, including aspects of examiner behaviour and the effectiveness of examiner training for the VC test delivery. The chapter ends with a discussion of how administrative settings and the management of speaking tests play a key role in ensuring the context validity of VC speaking tests. It also offers suggestions for the operationalisation of a VC IELTS Speaking test, as well as broader implications for test administration and examiner training in other VC tests.
AB - Face-to-face speaking assessment provides the benefit of eliciting a broad interactional construct, but at the cost of being logistically complex, resource-intensive and difficult to manage. Advances in video-conferencing (VC) technology now make it possible to engage in online interaction more successfully than previously, thus reducing dependence upon physical proximity between the examiner-interlocutor and the candidate(s). It is therefore not surprising that such technology is seen as a valuable assessment tool in geographically remote and politically unstable areas of the world, or indeed in contexts affected by the social distancing required during the recent Covid-19 pandemic. However, the administrative conditions under which the test takes place, one of the key contextual parameters of the VC-delivered test, , is often overlooked, despite its potentially significant influence on candidates’ performance and therefore overall test validity (Weir 2005).
In this chapter, we report on investigations into administrative features of a VC-delivered high-stakes speaking test, including aspects of examiner behaviour and the effectiveness of examiner training for the VC test delivery. The chapter ends with a discussion of how administrative settings and the management of speaking tests play a key role in ensuring the context validity of VC speaking tests. It also offers suggestions for the operationalisation of a VC IELTS Speaking test, as well as broader implications for test administration and examiner training in other VC tests.
KW - English language testing
KW - International English Language Testing System
KW - speaking
UR - https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/Images/735163-studies-in-language-testing-volume-52.pdf
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9781108931908
VL - 52
T3 - Studies in Language Testing
SP - 229
EP - 250
BT - Language testing and validation in a digital age
PB - Cambridge University Press and Assessment
CY - Cambridge, UK
ER -