Investigating the validity of an integrated listening-speaking task: A discourse-based analysis of test takers' oral performances

Abstract

Performance on integrated tasks requires candidates to engage skills and strategies beyond language proficiency alone, in ways that can be difficult to define and measure for testing purposes. While it has been widely recognized that stimulus materials impact test performance, our understanding of the way in which test takers make use of these materials in their responses, particularly in the context of listening-speaking tasks, remains predominantly intuitive. Recent studies have highlighted the problems associated with content-related aspects of task fulfilment on integrated tasks, but little attempt has been made to operationalize the way in which content from the input material is integr..