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:: Volume 20, Issue 1 (4-2017) ::
IJAL 2017, 20(1): 113-150 Back to browse issues page
Investigating the Effect of the Training Program on Raters’ Oral Performance Assessment: A Mixed-Methods Study on Raters’ Think-Aloud Verbal Protocols
Houman Bijani , Mona Khabiri
Islamic Azad University, Central Branch
Abstract:   (5031 Views)
Although the use of verbal protocols is growing in oral assessment, research on the use of raters’ verbal protocols is rather rare. Moreover, those few studies did not use a mixed-methods design. Therefore, this study investigated the possible impacts of rater training on novice and experienced raters’ application of a specified set of standards in rating. To meet this objective, the study made use of verbal protocols produced by 20 raters who scored 300 test takers’ oral performances and analyzed the data both qualitatively and quantitatively. The outcomes demonstrated that through applying the training program, the raters were able to concentrate more on linguistic, discourse, and phonological features; therefore, the extent of their agreement increased specifically among the inexperienced raters. The analysis of verbal protocols also revealed that training how to apply a well-defined rating scale can foster its use for raters both validly and reliably. Various groups of raters approach the task of rating in different ways, which cannot be explored through pure statistical analysis. Thus, think-aloud verbal protocols can shed light on the vague sides of the issue and add to the validity of oral language assessment. Moreover, since the results of this study showed that inexperienced raters can produce protocols of higher quality and quantity in the use of macro and micro strategies to evaluate test takers’ performances, there is no evidence based on which decision makers should exclude inexperienced raters solely because of their lack of adequate experience.
Keywords: Bias, Oral performance assessment, Rater training, Think-aloud verbal protocols
Full-Text [PDF 1064 kb]   (1635 Downloads)    
Type of Study: Research | Subject: Special
Received: 2016/11/12 | Accepted: 2017/02/15 | Published: 2017/02/21
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Bijani H, Khabiri M. Investigating the Effect of the Training Program on Raters’ Oral Performance Assessment: A Mixed-Methods Study on Raters’ Think-Aloud Verbal Protocols. IJAL 2017; 20 (1) :113-150
URL: http://ijal.khu.ac.ir/article-1-2766-en.html


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Volume 20, Issue 1 (4-2017) Back to browse issues page
Iranian Journal of Applied Linguistics
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