The Effects of Different Assessment Methods on EFL-Students’ Speaking Performance. A Literature Review

Abstract

Nowadays, it can be argued that it is becoming increasingly more important to be proficient in speaking the English language due to globalization. Examining teaching and assessment of oral proficiency is therefore important for establishing how EFL-learners’ speaking skills are most effectively taught and assessed. All assessment methods can be categorized as either holistic or analytic, where the teacher either focuses on the overall impression of a student’s performance, or evaluates the student in depth through analyzing their performance in relation to different linguistic dimensions. Due to the dominance of the communicative approach in recent years, interactional assessment methods have emerged. Dynamic assessment and peer-assessment involve an active engagement from teachers and students. This literature review explores the benefits and drawbacks of holistic assessment and analytic assessment, and reviews dynamic and peer-assessment as assessment methods for speaking, and what impact they can have on EFL-learners’ speaking performances. A total of 15 experimental studies are reviewed and the results show that the holistic approach offers a less time-consuming assessment, while the analytic demands more time. However, the analytic assessment illustrates what areas of development the students have more clearly than the holistic assessment. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that utilizing dynamic assessment and peer-assessment enabled the students to engage in peer-interaction, self reflection and become more independent in their learning process. It is therefore implied that dynamic assessment and peer assessment improved the participants’ speaking performances.