In the assessment of speaking, a psycholinguistically based speaking construct has predominated. In this paper, we argue for the integration of the construct of interactional competence (IC) in speaking assessments to broaden the range of defensible inferences from speaking tests. IC emphasizes the co-constructed nature of interaction and enables…

This study investigates how five non-heritage language learners manage themselves in a heritage learner dominant classroom. It looks at mainly the interactions among the students from a sociocultural perspective in terms of their attitude, socialization, and using strategies. The results indicate that most of subject students struggle but…

In school, deaf and hard of hearing students (d/hh) are often exposed to American Sign Language (ASL) while also developing literacy skills in English. ASL does not have a written form, but is a fully accessible language to the d/hh through which it is possible to mediate understanding, draw on prior experiences, and engage critical thinking and…

This paper reports a follow-up study that explored the relationship between EFL learners' critical literacy practices and the English language proficiency. It investigated four focal EFL learners' critical literacy practices in their dialogic interaction and also analyzed 39 students' views on their critical literacy learning. The four focal…

The purpose of this study was to explore the first-year academic experiences and achievement of Chinese international undergraduate students in American higher education. To do so, I tracked a cohort of Chinese international undergraduates through their first-year at a public research university in the United States. Both qualitative and…

This article presents and analyzes qualitative ethnographic data from research investigating intensive reading in an English Second Language high school class. It focuses on selected teacher-student interactions and considers the effect of these interactions in terms of the processes and products of students' intensive study of a fiction text. The…

Research Findings: This study investigated the effects of full- and half-day kindergarten programs on classroom instructional quality and children's academic achievement. Considerations were given for how the length of the school day, language status (English language learner [ELL] and non-ELL), and children's attendance patterns influenced…

Speaking tasks involving peer-to-peer candidate interaction are increasingly being incorporated into language proficiency assessments, in both large-scale international testing contexts, and in smaller-scale, for example course-related, ones. This growth in the popularity and use of paired and group orals has stimulated research, particularly into…

This paper presents some findings from an ethnographic study of international postgraduate students at a university in the South of England, which involved interviews and participant observation over a 12-month academic year. One of the major themes that emerged from this research was students' anxiety over their level of English language.…

Presents a qualitative analysis of one aspect of interviewer-candidate interaction, i.e., the types of linguistic and interfactional support that the native speaker interlocutor provides to the nonnative speaker candidate in a one-on-one interview. Results indicate there are eight types of interlocutor support, a positive finding. (63 references)…

Analyzes second language oral proficiency interviews, including a case study and a contrastive discourse analysis. Findings indicate that the case study interviews are conducted according to a procedural script and that oral proficiency questions formulated for the other interviews are based on the interactional discourse characteristic of…

This report discusses a study on the use of modern media techniques in long-distance oral testing that preserve the possibility of interaction by using video teleconferencing. Two test administration modes, face-to-face and screen-to-screen, are compared in an experimental design. (10 references) (VWL)

Investigated the influence of nonverbal behavior in the context of interactive talk during the assessment of an oral proficiency interview test. Participants were Spanish- and Chinese-speaking international teaching assistants. Found interviewees who employed nonverbal behavior considered appropriate by North American evaluators and who negotiated…

This study investigates the role of social interaction in language gain among study abroad students in France. Using the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI), the Can-Do self-assessment scale (Clark, 1981), a revised version of the Language Contact Profile (LCP; Freed, Dewey, Segalowitz, & Halter, 2001), and pre- and postdeparture…

One common procedure for oral performance testing of Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) learners is one-on-one interviewing wherein the interviewer asks questions and the child candidate responds to them. While existing research has focused primarily on outcomes elicited by such procedures, this study examines the processes…