Choosing a speaking test in English as a foreign language for the university entrance exam

Abstract

Language assessments are valuable tools to provide information such as whether individual students are ready to move on to another unit of instruction, in this case the university. In the research outlined in this article, our main aim was to develop a suitable speaking exam. We began by studying and designing three different types of tests, combining different formats and resources: one-to-one interview based on a photo, one-to-one interview based on a comic strip and a dialogue in pairs. After piloting two examples for each type of test, we chose the most suitable using the level of difficulty and discrimination power of each item. Then we implemented the three types of test to a statistical significant sample (603 subjects) of the population of students in their final year of secondary education in the Canary Islands. Finally we used the Testfact 4.0 program to analyze the reliability and level of difficulty of each test, as well as the level of difficulty and discrimination power of each item. This study allowed us to establish the strengths and weaknesses of the different types of tasks used.