Interactional Competence across Proficiency Levels: How do Learners Manage Interaction in Paired Speaking Tests?

Abstract

Paired speaking tasks are now commonly used in both pedagogic and assessment contexts, as they elicit a wide range of interactional skills. The current study aims to offer an investigation of the interaction co-constructed by learners at different proficiency levels who are engaged in a paired speaking test, and to provide insights into the conceptualization of interactional competence and key distinguishing interactional features across levels. The findings suggest that our understanding of interactional competence both in the classroom and as a construct underlying tests and assessment scales needs to broaden to include not just interactional features such as topic development organization, but also listener support strategies and turn-taking management. A more comprehensive understanding of interactional competence has the potential to complement available descriptions of interactional skills in assessment scales of speaking and aid learners and teachers in communicative classrooms.