How to Test Speaking Skills in Japan

26 Part 1: Why should we bother with speaking tests? come at the expense of another For example, you could give your oral communication students a written multiple choice test because you’re really busy and don’t have much time for marking and feed back There is, after all, a strong tendency in teaching to test what is easiest to test rather than what is most important (Hughes, 1989) However, you would take a big hit to reliability and validity if you did Conversely, you could go the other way by trying to assess all 45 of your students in one period via individual interviews Obvi ously, that won’t work either—you’ll never have enough time to get through everyone adequately, and you will end up exhausted

Validity

Reliability

Practicality

In the end, there will be trade-offs you’ll have to make given the limits of your time and energy. No test is perfect, after all. Testing often becomes the art of doing the best you can. Nation (2013) suggests a good rule of thumb to follow along these lines: When push comes to shove, it is better to emphasize reliability and validity over practicality to the highest degree you are able Learning to conduct speaking tests will, at first, require more effort from you However, if you stick with it, it does get easier Try to ap proach it as an investment of energy that will pay off down the line Make these core principles a part of your testing practice, and you will gradually feel like you really know what you are doing You’ll be teaching with more confidence because you know your assessment efforts are in line with your class goals and objectives This, in the end, is one of the most powerful things you can do to promote pos itive washback and productive learning in your classes