The art of nonconversation : a reexamination of the validity of the oral proficiency interview / Marysia Johnson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Johnson, Marysia, 1958-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Language and languages--Ability testing.

Language and languages.

Oral communication--Ability testing.

Oral communication.

Communicative competence--Testing.

Communicative competence.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) is a widely accepted instrument for assessing second and foreign language ability. It is used by the Foreign Language Institute, the Defense Language Institute, Educational Testing Service, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, and at many universities in the United States. The Art of Non-Conversation examines the components of speaking ability and asks whether the OPI is a valid instrument for assessing them. Marysia Johnson applies the latest insights from discourse and conversational analysis to determine the nature of the OPI's communicative speech event and investigate its construct validity within Messick's definition of validity. She discusses models of speaking ability-several communicative competence models, an interactional competence model, and a model of spoken interaction based on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of learning. Finally she proposes a new model to test language proficiency drawn from sociocultural theory, one that considers language ability to be reflective of the sociocultural and institutional contexts in which the language has been acquired.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Chapter 1. Overview of the Book

Chapter 2. The Genesis and Evolution of the OPI System

Chapter 3. A Critical Appraisal of the OPI

Chapter 4. Theoretical Bases for Investigating the OPI Speech Event

Chapter 5. A Discourse Analysis Study of the OPI

Chapter 6. Native Speakers' Perceptions of the OPI Speech Event

Chapter 7. A Prototypical Model of the OPI Communicative Speech Event

Chapter 8. Communicative Competence versus Interactional Competence

Chapter 9. The Practical Oral Language Ability: The Application of Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory to Language Testing

Appendixes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [213]-226) and index.

ISBN:

9786611730253

9781281730251

1281730254

9780300129441

0300129440

OCLC:

952620033