1. Acknowledgement
This research was conducted with approval of the British Council’s Assessment Research Group (ARG)
Any opinions, findings or conclusions expressed in this presentation are those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ARG or the British Council wider network

2. Output register parallelism in direct and semi-direct speaking tests
Ethan Quaid
The Sino-British College / USST
The Second Annual Conference and Learning and Teaching Forum, Shanghai, 2017.

3. Concurrent validity – correlations r = >.80
Reliability – construct irrelevant facets
Practicality – cost, administration

4. Interchangeability and disparity
…there are few situations in the world in which what the learner says has absolutely no effect on what he hears next. (Underhill, 1987, p.35) …face-to-face talk is to be regarded as the unmarked form of interaction, and communicating by telephone or speaking into a microphone as marked forms. (Van Lier, 1989, p.493)

5. Summary of findings to date

6. Summary of findings to date
Research question: Can register parallelism be shown in test-taker
output in direct and semi-direct speaking tests?

7. Aptis General Speaking sub-test
Computer-based: pre-recorded and scripted task features
Online practice test version

8. Counterbalanced study design

9. Analyses and results Discourse rhetorical structure
direct interrogatives and declarative instructional prompts
Discourse markers and particles
[Elena: OPI, Part 3, Item 1, Response]
you can see a lot of people, .hhh (.) you know?
[Elena: CB-OPI, Part 2, Item 2, Response]
(*er*) it is free admission so you can go >whenever< you want
[Chloe: OPI, Part 3, Item 3, Response]
so (.2) um: basketball is more difficult. it’s (.8) ok?%
[Emily: CB-OPI, Part 1, Item 1, Response]
ok. (.) (*there a:re four*) members in my family. (.) .hhh! my

10. Analyses and results
Lexical density values

11. Analyses and results Syntactic Complexity AS-Units (measurement)
A single speaker’s utterance consisting of an independent clause, or sub-clausal unit, together with any subordinate
clause(s) associated with either (Foster, Tonkyn & Wigglesworth, 2000, p.365)

12. Analyses and results
Syntactic complexity continued…

13. Analyses and results
Syntactic complexity continued…

14. Self-report statements
Computer-based test
‘something is pushing me to speak without any stops’ (Elena)
‘There is more pressure to speak accurately’ (Chloe)
Face-to-face test
‘you feel like you’re talking to someone’ (Emily)
‘feels like interaction between two people’ (Elena)

15. Conclusion Slight register shift Contextualisation Lexical density
non-consequential or even a positive for the Password computer-based speaking test
Contextualisation
Lexical density
Syntactic complexity

16. Reference
Choi, I. (2014). The comparability of direct and semi-direct oral proficiency interviews in a foreign language context: A case study with advanced Korean learners of English. Language Research. 50.2, Foster, P., Tonkyn, A. & Wigglesworth, G. (2000). Measuring spoken language: A unit for all reasons. Applied Linguistics. 21.3, Kiddle, T. & Kormos, J. (2011). The effect of mode of response on a semi-direct test of oral proficiency. Language Assessment. Quarterly. 8.4, O’Loughlin, K. (2001). The equivalence of direct and semi-direct speaking tests. Studies in Language Testing 13. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Shohamy, E. (1994). The validity of direct versus semi-direct oral tests. Language Testing. 11.2, doi: / Underhill, N. (1987). Testing spoken language: A handbook of oral testing techniques. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Van Lier, L. (1989). Reeling, writhing, drawling, stretching and fainting in coils: Oral proficiency interviews as conversations. TESOL Quarterly. 23, doi: / Zhou, Y. J. (2008). A comparison of speech samples of monologic tasks in speaking tests between computer- delivered and face-to-face modes. Japan Language Testing Association Journal. 11, 189–208.

17. Lecturer in English for Academic Purposes The Sino-British College
Thank you!
Ethan Quaid
Lecturer in English for Academic Purposes The Sino-British College