What Happens When There’s No One to Talk to? Spanish Foreign Language Discourse in Simulated Oral Proficiency Interviews

Author(s):  
Dale A. Koike
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-121
Author(s):  
Bárbara Eizaga-Rebollar ◽  
Cristina Heras-Ramírez

AbstractThe study of pragmatic competence has gained increasing importance within second language assessment over the last three decades. However, its study in L2 language testing is still scarce. The aim of this paper is to research the extent to which pragmatic competence as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) has been accommodated in the task descriptions and rating scales of two of the most popular Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPIs) at a C1 level: Cambridge’s Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) and Trinity’s Integrated Skills in English (ISE) III. To carry out this research, OPI tests are first defined, highlighting their differences from L2 pragmatic tests. After pragmatic competence in the CEFR is examined, focusing on the updates in the new descriptors, CAE and ISE III formats, structure and task characteristics are compared, showing that, while the formats and some characteristics are found to differ, the structures and task types are comparable. Finally, we systematically analyse CEFR pragmatic competence in the task skills and rating scale descriptors of both OPIs. The findings show that the task descriptions incorporate mostly aspects of discourse and design competence. Additionally, we find that each OPI is seen to prioritise different aspects of pragmatic competence within their rating scale, with CAE focusing mostly on discourse competence and fluency, and ISE III on functional competence. Our study shows that the tests fail to fully accommodate all aspects of pragmatic competence in the task skills and rating scales, although the aspects they do incorporate follow the CEFR descriptors on pragmatic competence. It also reveals a mismatch between the task competences being tested and the rating scale. To conclude, some research lines are proposed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Zahra Banitalebi ◽  
Ali Akbar Jabbari ◽  
Shouket Ahmad Tilwani ◽  
Mohammad Hasan Razmi

Fluency is one of the most important components of oral proficiency, which can be affected by a number of variables including frequency, duration, and place of pause phenomena. The present study aimed at investigating the effect of bilingualism on learning a foreign language from the angle of fluency and pausing patterns by comparing the pausing patterns of monolingual (Persian speakers) and bilingual (Iranian Turkish speakers; L1: Turkish and L2: Persian) EFL learners. To this end, a sample of 40 male and female advanced EFL learners were selected from Yazd University and several English-language institutes. An English reading passage test was used to measure students’ fluency in terms of their pausing patterns in prepared mode of speech. As learners started to read the passage, their speeches were recorded. The collected data were analyzed by Praat software. The statistical analyses revealed a significant difference between monolingual and bilingual learners in the frequency, duration, and placement of the pauses they had produced while they were reading the English passage. The results showed that bilingual learners outperformed monolingual participants, suggesting the superiority of bilinguals in their pausing patterns. The implications are discussed.


Author(s):  
Nataliia Horodniuk ◽  

The relevance of the monograph is determined, first of all, by the fact that contemporary national literatures are increasingly interacting with each other through translation, and thus the need to consider translated works in comparison with the originals is increasing. Studying the features and patterns of the literary translation is an important area of modern comparative studies. The work focuses on ways of preserving the national and cultural component of the translated text. The works of M. Gogol, Lesia Ukrainka, I. Franko, F. Dostoievskyi, R. Kipling, and J. Conrad were analyzed according to this aspect. A comparative idea of a dialogue is proposed. It is noted that translation is a broad dialogic process between the author and the reader through the interpreter, which includes reception and interpretation. Literary translation is interpreted as the basis for establishing a dialogue between the text and the interpreter, as an expression of the meaning that flows through the prism of the translating consciousness and enriches it, as a co-creation of the writer and interpreter, the purpose of which is mutual understanding, and the result of this understanding is the text-translation. Attention is paid to the issue of intertextuality as a translation problem. Despite the understanding of intertextuality as the interaction between the texts by different authors (text in text) and the interrelation between different works of one author, the thesis proposes to expand the scope of interpretation of this term, adding to it also different interpretations of one work in the same language. In the monograph the problem of reception and interpretation of literary text is considered in the imagological aspect. In particular, the study of reception and interpretation of other national character in a foreign language discourse plays an important role. Foreign language reception and interpretation of laughter culture in general and «Gogol laughter» in particular are thoroughly investigated. A deep analysis of the works of M. Gogol and F. Dostoevsky made it possible to conclude that the carnival colour of Gogol's «pure, folk-festive» laughter and the parody and comic intonation of F. Dostoevsky during translation give rise to certain problems of preserving their identity. It is noted that the perception of colour in a literary work is a peculiar way of interpreting it, and the semantic nuances of colour markings in one language or another require the problem of the reception adequacy and the interpretation of colour when translating from language to language. The practical importance of the monograph is determined by the possibility of using its basic provisions and results as an additional source of information for further comprehension of the translational paradigm in the comparative dimension.


Author(s):  
Elena Shulgina

The chapter “Teaching Professional Foreign Language Discourse via IT Tools: Through the Example of WebQuest Technology” is devoted to the description of the didactic tools development based on the Internet technologies (IT) and the integration of the problem-based learning into the educational process for the formation of professional foreign language discourse in non-linguistic students. The author presents the experience of using IT, in particular the web-quest technology, in practice for the purpose of creating a professional foreign language discourse that allows students to master professional knowledge and develop relevant skills in the field of professional communication. In the chapter the web-quest technology is considered to be one of the most appropriate IT tools for the successful formation of professional foreign language discourse in students with non-linguistic major, since the format of the technology allows the teacher to manage the student work at all stages. In addition, the integration of the web-quest technology into the educational process solves one of the key tasks of modern education, i.e. the increase in the volume of students' independent work, due to which the process of metacognition develops the self-regulation of the personality. The chapter pays great attention to the historiography of problem-based learning from the very origins to modern times, its transformation and types, which depend on the didactic goals being set during the learning process. At the end of the chapter, the author presents the experience of technology integration in the pedagogical process and the results of the experiment.


2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Parviz Birjandi ◽  
Marzieh Bagherkazemi

The pressing need for English oral communication skills in multifarious contexts today is compelling impetus behind the large number of studies done on oral proficiency interviewing. Moreover, given the recently articulated concerns with the fairness and social dimension of such interviews, parallel concerns have been raised as to how most fairly to assess the oral communication skills of examinees, and what factors contribute to more skilled performance. This article sketches theory and practice on two rather competing formats of oral proficiency interviewing: face-to-face and paired. In the first place, it reviews the related literature on the alleged disadvantages of the individual format. Then, the pros and cons of the paired format are enumerated. It is discussed that the paired format has indeed met some of the criticisms leveled at individual oral proficiency interviewing. However, exploitation of the paired format as an undisputable alternative to the face-to-face format begs the question.


2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 2045-2070 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Kasper ◽  
Steven J. Ross

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