Assessing Speaking: Issues in School-Based Assessment and the Introduction of Speaking Tests into the Japanese Senior High School Entrance Examination

Abstract

This paper discusses ways of bridging a gap between teaching and assessment practice, focusing on the assessment of speaking skills in Japanese junior high school contexts. Through discussion of the assessment of speaking skills and based on a questionnaire survey, this paper identifies issues pertaining to the assessment methods of speaking skills employed by junior high school teachers. Based on the results of the survey, and on the concept of a task bank proposed by Brindley (2001), trial speaking tests were developed and piloted with 219 junior high school students. Results were analysed using Rasch techniques, and indicated that, although items across four speaking tests fit Rasch measurement, differences of task difficulty between combinations of tasks might have an impact on student performance. The paper argues for the need to build up the task bank with relatively consistent tasks and discusses issues of the introduction of a formal speaking test in the senior high school entrance examination.