Rethinking the Second Language Listening Test; From Theory to Practice; John Field

John Field [+–]

University of Bedfordshire

John Field is Reader in Cognitive Approaches to Language Learning at the CRELLA Research Institute, University of Bedfordshire. He previously taught at the University of Reading, UK. He has a long-term interest in second language listening, on which he has written and researched widely; his Listening in the Language Classroom (CUP, 2008) has become a standard work in the field. His thinking is very much formed by his background in psycholinguistics, on which he has published a reference work. He has given consultancy advice on the testing of listening to several international test providers; and has fostered a new area of study evaluating the extent to which tests of second language skills elicit the kind of processes that candidates use in the real world. Recent research projects include advising on listening standards in Rwandan schools and investigating the effects of double play upon scores and candidate behaviour in listening tests. In an earlier life, John was an ELT teacher trainer, schools inspector and materials writer. Besides listening materials, he wrote national coursebooks for Saudi Arabia, radio programmes for the BBC World Service and TV programmes for the Open University of China.

Rethinking the Second Language Listening Test argues that the key to more valid testing of second language listening lies in a better understanding of the nature of the skill and of the signal that listeners have to decode. Using this information as a point of departure, it takes a critical look at many of the myths and conventions behind listening tests and provides practical suggestions as to the ways in which they might be rethought.

The book begins with an account of the various processes that contribute to listening in order to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by second language learners. The information feeds in to a new set of descriptors of listening behaviour across proficiency levels and informs much of the discussion in later chapters. The main body of the book critically examines the various components of a listening test, challenging some of the false assumptions behind them and proposing practical alternatives. The discussion covers: the recording-as-text, the recording-as-speech, conventions of test delivery, standard task formats and item design. Major themes are the critical role played by the recorded material and the degree to which tests impose demands that go beyond those of real-world listening. The following section focuses on two types of listener with different needs from the general candidate: those aiming to demonstrate academic or professional proficiency in English and young language learners, where level of cognitive development is an issue for test design. There is a brief reflection on the extent to which integrated listening tests reflect the reality of listening events. The book concludes with a report of a study into how feasible it is to identify the information load of a listening text, a factor potentially contributing to difficulty.

Series: British Council Monographs on Modern Language Testing

Preliminaries

Lists of Figures and Tables [+–] viii

Rethinking the Second Language Listening Test argues that the key to more valid testing of second language listening lies in a better understanding of the nature of the skill and of the signal that listeners have to decode. Using this information as a point of departure, it takes a critical look at many of the myths and conventions behind listening tests and provides practical suggestions as to the ways in which they might be rethought. The book begins with an account of the various processes that contribute to listening in order to raise awareness of the difficulties faced by second language learners. The information feeds in to a new set of descriptors of listening behaviour across proficiency levels and informs much of the discussion in later chapters. The main body of the book critically examines the various components of a listening test, challenging some of the false assumptions behind them and proposing practical alternatives. The discussion covers: the recording-as-text, the recording-as-speech, conventions of test delivery, standard task formats and item design. Major themes are the critical role played by the recorded material and the degree to which tests impose demands that go beyond those of real-world listening. The following section focuses on two types of listener with different needs from the general candidate: those aiming to demonstrate academic or professional proficiency in English and young language learners, where level of cognitive development is an issue for test design. There is a brief reflection on the extent to which integrated listening tests reflect the reality of listening events. The book concludes with a report of a study into how feasible it is to identify the information load of a listening text, a factor potentially contributing to difficulty.

Acknowledgements [+–] ix

Introduction

Introduction [+–] 1-4

A Cognitive Model for Testing Listening

1. What Does Expert Listening Consist Of? [+–] 7-13

Chapter 1 presents an account of the processes that contribute to the listening skill in order to clearly define a set of goals for second language listening instruction and thus a set of targets for the testing of second language listening.

2. The Second Language Listener [+–] 14-19

Chapter 2 explores the obstacles faced by a second language learner when in the process of acquiring listening proficiency. They include the need for various types of language-related and cultural knowledge. They include the need to acquire expertise in the skill, so that certain basic processes are achieved in ways that are automatic and leave spare memory capacity for addressing wider issues. They also include a level of strategic competence that enables the listener to overcome early gaps in understanding.

3. Performance at different proficiency levels [+–] 20-31

Chapter 3 applies some of the principles identified in Chapter to produce a set of descriptors that profile the likely listening behaviour of test takers at six different levels of proficiency. A distinction is made between perceptual processing and the processing of meaning.

Recorded Content

4. Recording as Text [+–] 35-54

Chapter 4 focuses on characteristics of the recording as a script, including language, length, topic and discourse type; and considers the way in which different factors within that content contribute to listening difficulty.

5. Recording as Speech [+–] 55-70

Chapter 5 focuses on the recording as an auditory phenomenon. It draws attention to factors contributing to difficulty that are sometimes neglected. They include the authenticity of the source, the mode of interaction and aspects of the voice of the speaker such as familiarity, speech rate and accent.

Task Characteristics

6. Listening Test Conventions [+–] 73-78

Chapter 6 explores a number of widely accepted conventions which determine the way in which the material that makes up a test of listening (question sheet, recording, items, rubric) is delivered to the candidature.

7. Task Formats [+–] 79-86

Chapter 7 critically examines six formats widely used in tests of listening, and discusses the extent to which they can be said to elicit processes which resemble those of real-world listening events. Their advantages in terms of ‘objective’ scoring are recognised; but questions are raised about the predictive validity of the scores obtained.

8. Items [+–] 87-95

Chapter 8 examines some of the considerations which should inform the writing of items. A recommendation is then made that items should be designed in such a way as to elicit specific cognitive processes that are critical to the listening skill.

Listener Roles

9. Special Cases [+–] 99-111

Chapter 9 examines two types of test taker whose listening needs are distinct from those of the general listener. It first considers the nature of academic listening and the ways in which it can be adequately represented in the content and formats of a test. It then discusses how much can be expected of the L2 listening behaviour of young learners.

10. Listening Plus Other Skills [+–] 112-116

Chapter 10 examines the role of listening in interactive tests of speaking. It then goes on to consider recent ‘integrated skills’ initiatives which associate listening with one of the other language skills.

Postscript

11. Information Load: An Investigative Study [+–] 119-129

Chapter 11 reports on a small-scale study investigating the density of information in a recording script as a potential measure of likely difficulty. It explores whether two raters can agree on what constitutes an information unit within a script; and how in practice test writers grade information density across proficiency levels.

12. Final Remarks [+–] 130-134

Chapter 12 reviews major issues that have arisen during the course of the book, and lays down pointers as to possible future developments in the testing of L2 listening.

Appendices

A. Examples of Processes Contributing to Listening [+–] 135-138

B. Sample Scripts [+–] 139-141

End Matter

References [+–] 142-151

Index [+–] 152-156

Reviews

This book is a useful and timely contribution to the relatively sparse literature on listening test design. Field draws together various elements of his recent empirical and theoretical work to present to the reader his well-known listening process model, and to elaborate on the implications of this model for listening test design. This book will provide a welcome bridge between the more scholarly aspects of Field’s work, and the very practical needs of those working in test development, whether in testing organisations or in the language classroom.
Dr. Luke Harding, Dept of Applied Linguistics and English Language, Lancaster University

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Rethinking the Second Language Listening Test

From Theory to Practice

John Field [+–]

University of Bedfordshire

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