Transitioning between Task Prompts during EFL Oral Proficiency
Exams

k 2023

Transitioning between Task Prompts during EFL Oral Proficiency Exams

RYŠKA, David

Základní údaje

Originální název

Transitioning between Task Prompts during EFL Oral Proficiency Exams

Autoři

RYŠKA, David

Vydání

23rd International Congress of the Italian Association of Applied Linguistics, 24th–26th May 2023, University of Siena, Arezzo, 2023

Další údaje

Jazyk

angličtina

Typ výsledku

Prezentace na konferencích

Obor

50301 Education, general; including training, pedagogy, didactics [and education systems]

Stát vydavatele

Itálie

Utajení

není předmětem státního či obchodního tajemství

Odkazy

Poster

Organizační jednotka

Filozofická fakulta

Klíčová slova česky

konverzační analýza; interakce; testování; angličtina jako cizí jazyk

Klíčová slova anglicky

conversation analysis; interaction; testing; English as a foreign language

Příznaky

Mezinárodní význam, Recenzováno

Změněno: 5. 2. 2024 11:07, Mgr. Jana Pelclová, Ph.D.

Anotace

V originále

This presentation focuses on how university English as a foreign language (EFL) students orient to task prompts in a paired or grouped speaking task during an oral proficiency exam. Although students are supposed to cooperate during the task and arrive at a mutual decision, and although the rating criteria for exams such as those within the Cambridge English Qualifications include a category seemingly related to the concept of interactional competence (Hall and Pekarek Doehler 2011), the assessment is usually based primarily on the quality of a candidate’s monologue while dialogic and interactional abilities are overlooked (e.g. Galaczi and Taylor 2018). Recent years have therefore seen attempts to describe various manifestations of learners’ interactional competence in the oral assessment setting with the aim to distinguish interactional features across various levels of proficiency and thus contribute towards the creation of rating scales which would better reflect natural interaction. While there have been studies considering participants’ multimodal conduct, mainly in relation to gaze (e.g. Burch and Kley 2020; Lam 2021) or gestures (Gan and Davison 2011), there are so far no studies investigating the way material resources such as task prompts contribute to the complex multimodal gestalts (Mondada 2018) that underlie participants’ actions in this context. My analysis builds on the dataset of video-recordings featuring 44 paired or grouped interactions between Czech university EFL students who are taking an oral proficiency exam that follows the B2 First format. By employing the method of multimodal Conversation Analysis, I investigate various instances in which students orient to the task prompts and move from one discussion item to the next. A preliminary analysis of the data suggests differences in the ways transitions from one prompt to another are managed by higher- and lower-scoring students. The above analysed excerpt is demonstrative of less proficient students who have been found to 1) concentrate on the worksheet profusely, 2) frequently adopt the language of the prompts into their syntax, and 3) focus on progressivity, transitioning to new task prompts without properly addressing the ones raised by their colleagues (cf. Lam 2018). More proficient students, on the other hand, orient to the prompts much less frequently, transitioning to a new item only after discussing the previous one in more depth. The discussed findings expand our understanding of interactional competence and its development, particularly in relation to handling material objects in joint interactional projects such as paired or grouped speaking tasks based on lists and other forms of prompts.

Návaznosti

MUNI/A/1053/2022, interní kód MU

Název: Paradigms, strategies and developments - English linguistics and translation III

Investor: Masarykova univerzita, Paradigms, strategies and developments - English linguistics and translation III

Citovat

RYŠKA, David. Transitioning between Task Prompts during EFL Oral Proficiency Exams. In 23rd International Congress of the Italian Association of Applied Linguistics, 24th–26th May 2023, University of Siena, Arezzo. 2023.

@proceedings{2285798,
   author = {Ryška, David},
   booktitle = {23rd International Congress of the Italian Association of Applied Linguistics, 24th–26th May 2023, University of Siena, Arezzo},
   keywords = {conversation analysis; interaction; testing; English as a foreign language},
   language = {eng},
   title = {Transitioning between Task Prompts during EFL Oral Proficiency Exams},
   url = {https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370953011_Transitioning_between_Task_Prompts_during_EFL_Oral_Proficiency_Exams},
   year = {2023}
}

TY  - CONF
ID  - 2285798
AU  - Ryška, David
PY  - 2023
TI  - Transitioning between Task Prompts during EFL Oral Proficiency Exams
KW  - conversation analysis
KW  - interaction
KW  - testing
KW  - English as a foreign language
UR  - https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370953011_Transitioning_between_Task_Prompts_during_EFL_Oral_Proficiency_Exams
N2  - This presentation focuses on how university English as a foreign language (EFL) students orient to task prompts in a paired or grouped speaking task during an oral proficiency exam. Although students are supposed to cooperate during the task and arrive at a mutual decision, and although the rating criteria for exams such as those within the Cambridge English Qualifications include a category seemingly related to the concept of interactional competence (Hall and Pekarek Doehler 2011), the assessment is usually based primarily on the quality of a candidate’s monologue while dialogic and interactional abilities are overlooked (e.g. Galaczi and Taylor 2018). Recent years have therefore seen attempts to describe various manifestations of learners’ interactional competence in the oral assessment setting with the aim to distinguish interactional features across various levels of proficiency and thus contribute towards the creation of rating scales which would better reflect natural interaction. While there have been studies considering participants’ multimodal conduct, mainly in relation to gaze (e.g. Burch and Kley 2020; Lam 2021) or gestures (Gan and Davison 2011), there are so far no studies investigating the way material resources such as task prompts contribute to the complex multimodal gestalts (Mondada 2018) that underlie participants’ actions in this context. My analysis builds on the dataset of video-recordings featuring 44 paired or grouped interactions between Czech university EFL students who are taking an oral proficiency exam that follows the B2 First format. By employing the method of multimodal Conversation Analysis, I investigate various instances in which students orient to the task prompts and move from one discussion item to the next. A preliminary analysis of the data suggests differences in the ways transitions from one prompt to another are managed by higher- and lower-scoring students. The above analysed excerpt is demonstrative of less proficient students who have been found to 1) concentrate on the worksheet profusely, 2) frequently adopt the language of the prompts into their syntax, and 3) focus on progressivity, transitioning to new task prompts without properly addressing the ones raised by their colleagues (cf. Lam 2018). More proficient students, on the other hand, orient to the prompts much less frequently, transitioning to a new item only after discussing the previous one in more depth. The discussed findings expand our understanding of interactional competence and its development, particularly in relation to handling material objects in joint interactional projects such as paired or grouped speaking tasks based on lists and other forms of prompts.
ER  -

RYŠKA, David. Transitioning between Task Prompts during EFL Oral Proficiency Exams. In \textit{23rd International Congress of the Italian Association of Applied Linguistics, 24th–26th May 2023, University of Siena, Arezzo}. 2023.

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