Earticle

Assessing speaking skills of ESL/EFL learners has long been one of the critical issues in the field of language testing. How to measure learners' speaking skills effectively and successfully has always attracted keen interests from the teachers, learners, and others involved in teaching and learning English as a second/foreign language. The present study is an in-depth analysis of small group oral proficiency tests in terms of the ways in which the test-takers take turns and how they orient to the group discussions in oral proficiency tests. Close analysis of the talk in the discussion revealed some unique turn-taking patterns that are different from the ones of mundane discussions among peers. This paper raises an issue of the validity of the group discussion format as an assessment tool for language learners' speaking skills and suggests some pedagogical implications.

This paper tried to make clear the factors leading the classroom discourse with the continuous interaction between a teacher and learners focused on smooth communications through the analysis of classroom discourse in KFL(Korean as a Foreign Language) class. It was confirmed again that in order to lead smooth communications in KFL class, the role of the teacher is very important. Among others, it was found that the topic of the class schemed out by the teacher, the aspects of teacher’s response, teacher’s class operation etc affect significantly on the interactions among the participants of the class. It was cleared that regarding the topic of the class, the first important factor affecting the interaction, the selection of it attractive to the learners and the proper alteration of such a topic cause the smooth communication between the teacher and the learners. Next one is the aspect of teacher’s response against the learners’ response after teacher’s initiation to be identified that the teacher’s nonverbal response cause the positive feedback from learners to encourage their desire of speech to lead them to continuous interaction. In addition it was ascertained that the disconnection of the interaction was overcome by helping them in a verbal response with teacher’s provision of various scaffolding for the learners not only to find and correct the errors for themselves but to speak. Lastly the pattern of turn-allocation which is the essential factor for verbal discourse enabling all the learners to participate in the classroom discourse by turning equal allocation to the various learners and adjusting the order of speech with the consideration of learners’ character, was recognized as a way to promote the interaction.