INTO EUROPE The Speaking Handbook - Lancaster University

Chapter 2: What May Influence Candidates’ Oral Performance? 33
exams of Cambridge ESOL, which introduced the paired format in the early
1990s because it seemed to have several advantages over the one-to-one interview
format. For example, interaction in the paired format was found to be more varied
than in the individual mode since the candidate’s partner was not only the
examiner but another candidate as well.
Testing candidates in pairs and small groups is motivated by five main reasons:
dissatisfaction with the oral interview as the only test format to assess oral proficiency,
search for new tasks that can elicit different patterns of interaction from those
elicited by the interview format,
desire to generate positive washback on teaching by encouraging more interaction
between learners,
to mirror good language teaching practice,
time saving and cost reduction, as it seems to be less expensive to test candidates
in groups.
However, several potential problems have been discussed in relation to the paired
format. Pairing up candidates may entail potential problems of mismatch between
them with respect to their proficiency levels and/or personality. If the personalities
are markedly different, this may affect both the performance and the assessment of
the candidates. When a candidate has to work with an incomprehensible or
uncomprehending partner, this may negatively influence the candidate’s
performance. Moreover, in the belief that they are helping their partners, more
proficient candidates might not perform at their best. Some have argued that it is
impossible to make a valid assessment of the same candidate’s abilities when s/he is
clearly disadvantaged by a mismatching partner. Substituting the assessor’s real
impressions of the candidate’s performance with hypotheses concerning how s/he
would have performed with a different partner has to be ruled out for obvious
reasons. Therefore, it is vital for language testers to understand the impact of
mismatch between candidates’ proficiency levels and/or personality on test
performance in order to eliminate harmful effects or unwanted variation.
In contrast to such negative views of the paired format, some have expressed
positive views with regard to the beneficial impact and positive features of the
peer-to-peer examination. For example, intermediate-level university students in
Italy were found to show noticeable willingness to communicate and collaborate
with each other when they took a classroom oral test in pairs. The role-play tasks
used in the exam managed to elicit a large sample of language, showing a high
level of student involvement. Students felt that they had control, which in turn
gave them greater confidence. Paired orals were more likely to make students feel
at ease and use language in a more natural and purposeful way than in the oral
interview, where they would always have to address the teacher as a superior.
Experience of pilot oral examinations conducted within the Hungarian
Examinations Reform Teacher Support Project shows that the paired format
supports good teaching and is greatly appreciated by students. Students’