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Chapter 16. The role of grammatical development in oral assessment

  • Maria Eklund Heinonen
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Widening Contexts for Processability Theory
This chapter is in the book Widening Contexts for Processability Theory

Abstract

Tests today are usually based on a communicative view of language, with less focus on grammar. In this chapter, a study is presented that investigates whether there is a difference in terms of grammatical development between a group of test-takers who passed and a group who failed an oral language test. The study addresses theories of SLA and language testing, i.e., Processability Theory and the model of Communicative Language Ability, the construct of the test. Data from learners’ test performances were analysed using PT in order to see whether there was a consistent relationship between the PT stage analysis and the results derived from the test. The comparison shows a clear difference between the test-takers who passed and those who failed in terms of grammatical development. This implies a correlation between grammatical development and communicative competence in general which may indicate that PT constitutes a useful basis for oral assessment.

Abstract

Tests today are usually based on a communicative view of language, with less focus on grammar. In this chapter, a study is presented that investigates whether there is a difference in terms of grammatical development between a group of test-takers who passed and a group who failed an oral language test. The study addresses theories of SLA and language testing, i.e., Processability Theory and the model of Communicative Language Ability, the construct of the test. Data from learners’ test performances were analysed using PT in order to see whether there was a consistent relationship between the PT stage analysis and the results derived from the test. The comparison shows a clear difference between the test-takers who passed and those who failed in terms of grammatical development. This implies a correlation between grammatical development and communicative competence in general which may indicate that PT constitutes a useful basis for oral assessment.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Chapter 1. Contextualising issues in Processability Theory 1
  5. Section 1. Language production and comprehension processes
  6. Chapter 2. Towards an integrated model of grammatical encoding and decoding in SLA 13
  7. Chapter 3. Productive and receptive processes in PT 49
  8. Chapter 4. Is morpho-syntactic decoding governed by Processability Theory? 73
  9. Section 2. Language acquisition features across typological boundaries
  10. Chapter 5. Case within the phrasal procedure stage 105
  11. Chapter 6. Developing morpho-syntax in non-configurational languages 131
  12. Section 3. Language use and developmental trajectories
  13. Chapter 7. Using the Multiplicity framework to reposition and reframe the Hypothesis Space 157
  14. Chapter 8. Processability Theory as a tool in the study of a heritage speaker of Norwegian 185
  15. Chapter 9. Discourse-pragmatic conditions for Object topicalisation structures in early L2 Chinese 207
  16. Chapter 10. Modelling relative clauses in Processability Theory and Lexical-Functional Grammar 231
  17. Chapter 11. Early development and relative clause constructions in English as a second language 255
  18. Section 4. Language learning and teaching issues in relation to classroom and assessment contexts
  19. Chapter 12. Exploiting the potential of tasks for targeted language learning in the EFL classroom 285
  20. Chapter 13. Teaching the German case system 301
  21. Chapter 14. Development of English question formation in the EFL context of China 327
  22. Chapter 15. Can print literacy impact upon learning to speak Standard Australian English? 349
  23. Chapter 16. The role of grammatical development in oral assessment 371
  24. Chapter 17. How does PT’s view of acquisition relate to the challenge of widening perspectives on SLA? 391
  25. Index 399
https://doi.org/10.1075/palart.7.16hei

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements ix
  4. Chapter 1. Contextualising issues in Processability Theory 1
  5. Section 1. Language production and comprehension processes
  6. Chapter 2. Towards an integrated model of grammatical encoding and decoding in SLA 13
  7. Chapter 3. Productive and receptive processes in PT 49
  8. Chapter 4. Is morpho-syntactic decoding governed by Processability Theory? 73
  9. Section 2. Language acquisition features across typological boundaries
  10. Chapter 5. Case within the phrasal procedure stage 105
  11. Chapter 6. Developing morpho-syntax in non-configurational languages 131
  12. Section 3. Language use and developmental trajectories
  13. Chapter 7. Using the Multiplicity framework to reposition and reframe the Hypothesis Space 157
  14. Chapter 8. Processability Theory as a tool in the study of a heritage speaker of Norwegian 185
  15. Chapter 9. Discourse-pragmatic conditions for Object topicalisation structures in early L2 Chinese 207
  16. Chapter 10. Modelling relative clauses in Processability Theory and Lexical-Functional Grammar 231
  17. Chapter 11. Early development and relative clause constructions in English as a second language 255
  18. Section 4. Language learning and teaching issues in relation to classroom and assessment contexts
  19. Chapter 12. Exploiting the potential of tasks for targeted language learning in the EFL classroom 285
  20. Chapter 13. Teaching the German case system 301
  21. Chapter 14. Development of English question formation in the EFL context of China 327
  22. Chapter 15. Can print literacy impact upon learning to speak Standard Australian English? 349
  23. Chapter 16. The role of grammatical development in oral assessment 371
  24. Chapter 17. How does PT’s view of acquisition relate to the challenge of widening perspectives on SLA? 391
  25. Index 399
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