The frequency of the turn-taking, keeping mutual understanding, and breakdown repair procedures in a discussion task across paired examinees with different (high-high, mid-mid, low-low, high-mid, mid-low, high-low) speaking proficiency levels

The present study was an attempt to improve learners’ interactional competence in oral assessment across Iranian EFL paired examinees. To do so, a non-experimental qualitative study was designed in which ۳۶ participants with three different speaking proficiency levels, each including ۱۲ learners were purposefully selected based on their performance on IELTS proficiency test. The participants were both male and female, with the age range of ۱۸ to ۲۵ in Jahad Daneshgahi Institute in Arak. The participants were randomly placed in six different pairs and received a discussion task type, and asked to co-construct a discourse about the given topic. Then, the voices of each pair was recorded. In the next step, ۵ learners from each level were randomly selected to take part in an interview presenting their perceptions about the test format they had received. Following the transcription of the examinees' performances, the researcher analyzed learners' conversations with respect to Young's (۲۰۰۰) model of interactional competence. The data collected were analyzed through employing open and axial coding to find the perspectives of EFL learners taking part in the study about the paired task and the way their speaking ability had been tested. Results indicated that Iranian EFL learners found the paired task interesting and less stressful than the routine speaking tests. The present findings can have implications for both teaching and assessing of inter-language pragmatics, interactional competence, and L۲ speaking.

Keywords:

Ability Combinations , Co-Constructed Discourse , Iranian EFL Learners , Paired Examinees , Paired Oral Assessment , Paired Task