The effects of group members' personalities on a test taker's L2 group oral discussion test scores

Abstract

The second language group oral is a test of second language speaking proficiency, in which a group of three or more English language learners discuss an assigned topic without interaction with interlocutors. Concerns expressed about the extent to which test takers' personal characteristics affect the scores of others in the group have limited its attractiveness. This study investigates the degree to which assertive and non-assertive test takers' scores are affected by the levels of assertiveness of their group members. The sample of test takers was Japanese first year university students who were studying English in Japan. The students took the revised NEO-PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1992; Shimanoka et al., 2002), a group oral test, and PhonePass SET-10 (Ordinate, 2004). Two separate MANCOVA analyses were conducted, one designed to determine the extent to which assertive test takers' scores are affected by the levels of assertiveness of group members (N = 112), and one designed to determine the extent to which non-assertive test takers' scores are affected by the levels of assertiveness of group members (N = 113). The analyses indicated that assertive test takers were assigned higher scores than expected when grouped with only non-assertive test takers and lower scores than expected when grouped with only assertive test takers, while the study failed to find an effect for grouping based on assertiveness for non-assertive test takers' scores. The findings of the study suggest that when the group oral is used, rater-training sessions should include guidance on how to evaluate a test taker in the context of the group in which the test taker is assessed and assign scores that are not based on a comparison of proficiencies of group members.