THE TEST OF SPOKEN ENGLISH AS A MEASURE OF COMMUNICATIVE ABILITY IN ENGLISH‐MEDIUM INSTRUCTIONAL SETTINGS

Abstract

ABSTRACT The two major purposes of this study were (1) to conduct a concurrent validation analysis of the recently developed Test of Spoken English (TSE), using as an external criterion the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) direct proficiency interviewing procedure; and (2) to obtain use‐related validation data for the TSE as a predictor of the “communicative effectiveness” in English of non‐native English speaking teaching assistants assigned to course lecturing or other instructional roles in U.S. colleges and universities. For the concurrent validation analysis, the TSE and FSI tests were administered to 134 foreign teaching assistants at nine participating institutions. High interrater correlations were obtained for both TSE and FSI global scores and for the available diagnostic (pronunciation, fluency, etc.) subscores on each instrument. The TSE subscores were somewhat more reliable than those of the FSI, and exhibited a greater degree of discriminant validity. In the use‐validation phase of the study, FSI and TSE scores of 60 non‐native English speaking teaching assistants'were entered as predictor variables in multiple regression analyses using as criterion variables student ratings of the instructor on a number of dimensions of the instructor's spoken language use in the classroom and other instructional contexts. Both TSE and FSI scores were very effective predictors of student ratings of the instructor's speaking proficiency, with standardized beta weights of up to .63 for the TSE and .80 for the FSI. Somewhat lower but properly directed weightings were found for the prediction of more global aspects of teaching performance (e.g., overall “effectiveness” of the instructor), as measured by student responses to relevant questions and question groupings on the Student Instructional Report, a standardized instructor/course rating instrument. Study results are considered to support the appropriateness of both the TSE and FSI testing procedures as predictors of the probable communicative facility in spoken English of non‐native teaching assistants in the classroom and other typical instructional settings.

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