Journal article
Does a rater’s familiarity with a candidate’s pronunciation affect the rating in oral proficiency interviews?
Language Testing, Vol.28(2), pp.201-219
2011
Abstract
This study investigated factors that could affect inter-examiner reliability in the pronunciation assessment component of speaking tests. We hypothesized that the rating of pronunciation is susceptible to variation in assessment due to the amount of exposure examiners have to non-native English accents. An inter-rater variability analysis was conducted on the English pronunciation ratings of three test candidate interlanguages: Chinese, Korean, and Indian English. Pronunciation was rated by 99 International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examiners across five geographically dispersed test centres. The examiners had either prolonged exposure, or no, or little exposure to the interlanguage of the candidates. A significant proportion of examiners rated pronunciation higher when they had prolonged exposure, and lower when they had no, or little, exposure to the candidates' interlanguage. The location of the test centre also had a significant effect on the pronunciation rating, independent of the familiarity variable, with a significant proportion of NNS raters scoring candidates from their home country higher than those who were not. It is recommended that interlanguage phonology familiarity should be considered in the design of speaking tests and rater training and that research is required into test centre bias and the phonological judgements and awareness of OPI raters.
Details
- Title
- Does a rater’s familiarity with a candidate’s pronunciation affect the rating in oral proficiency interviews?
- Authors
- Michael D Carey (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health and EducationR H Mannell (Author) - Macquarie UniversityPeter K Dunn (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Science, Health and Education
- Publication details
- Language Testing, Vol.28(2), pp.201-219
- Publisher
- Sage Publications Ltd.
- Date published
- 2011
- DOI
- 10.1177/0265532210393704
- ISSN
- 0265-5322; 0265-5322
- Copyright note
- Copyright © 2011 The Author. The author's accepted version is reproduced here in accordance with the publisher's copyright policy. The definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0265532210393704
- Organisation Unit
- School of Education - Legacy; Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; School of Education and Tertiary Access; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Health and Sport Sciences - Legacy; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Engage Research Lab
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99449792502621
- Output Type
- Journal article
- Research Statement
- false
Metrics
389 File views/ downloads
1202 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Language & Linguistics
- Linguistics