ASSESSING SPEAKING IN ENGLISH: GRADING AS AN EXPRESSION OF TEACHERS’ SUBJECTIVITY

Abstract

Taking into account the significant literature in Language Teaching Assessment, this article aims at understanding and discussing, based on studies about reliability (BROWN; BAILEY, 1984; BROWN, 2004; SCHOFFEN, 2009) and speaking assessment (BACHMAN, 1990; SCARAMUCCI, 2000; BORGES-ALMEIDA, 2009; QUEVEDO-CAMARGO, 2014), how English language teachers working in a language institute grade their students’ oral performance, considering the adoption (or not) of previously established criteria. A qualitative-interpretivist study was conducted and the data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews with five teachers. In face of the discrepancies among the students’ oral assessment grades, what are the factors that influence and reinforce such discrepancies? To what extent speaking assessment grading mirrors students’ real performance? Where there are different groups and different teachers, how to ensure speaking assessment reliability of students at the same reference level? The findings indicate the need to adopt previously established criteria as, due to excessive subjectivity, oral tests do not seem to measure the students’ expected level of oral performance, nor mirror language use reality.

Keywords

• Speaking assessment
• Subjectivity
• Grading