Designing oral-based rubrics for oral language testing with undergraduate Spanish students in ESP contexts

Abstract

During several decades, considerable attention has been paid to speaking assessment procedures. Probably, the reason for this relevance lies in the difficulties in dealing with oral assessment and in determining the adequate type of assessment (Campbell et al., 2001; Stoynoff, 2013; Schwartz & Arena, 2013).The main aim of this article is to analyze to what extent students’ oral competences (such as their English competence and fluency) affect their peers’English oral production. More precisely, we intend to study effective procedures to assess oral production in ESP contexts.In order to assess our students, we have designed a speaking-based rubric as the main instrument (called ‘Speaking Diagnostic Test’), based on previous research (Wilson, 2006; Spandel, 2006).The results obtained from both questionnaires will help us identify to what extent students’ preferences in working with other classmates influence their English oral production and therefore to what extent these results could lead to the reformulation and modification of the assessment methods.

Keywords

• ESP contexts, rubric, ‘Speaking Diagnostic Test’, oral production.