Introducing a New Assessment of Spoken Proficiency: Interact

Abstract

This chapter opens with a brief account of the events that precipitated the introduction of New Zealand’s high-stakes assessment system, the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). In particular, and building on the work of the UK’s Assessment Reform Group, the perceived value of assessment for learning, in contrast to the assessment of learning, is articulated. The chapter goes on to present a detailed account of changes to assessment practices in light of the assessment for/of learning debates, and how these changes have influenced FL assessments. The chapter then describes in some detail the processes involved in the most recent reforms and the implications of those reforms for the current assessment of FL students’ spoken communicative proficiency (the move from a static single teacher-led interview test, called converse, to on-going peer-to-peer paired assessments, known as interact). The chapter provides a thorough contextual background for the study into teachers’ and students’ perspectives on the reform reported in subsequent chapters.