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Comprehensibility in Language Assessment

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Comprehensibility is considered central to successful communication (Munro & Derwing, 1995a, 2007). Yet, despite the crucial role it plays in communication and the contribution it makes towards the assessment of spoken language ability, comprehensibility has occupied an ambiguous position in language testing. At times, it is feature-driven, taking a linguistically-atomistic approach with little reference to context or communicative purpose, treating comprehensibility as an abstract construct made up only of linguistic components. At other times, the assessment of comprehensibility is an intuitive action, relying on a holistic sense of understanding by the assessor and rarely going beyond the speaker’s utterances to include listener characteristics. The lack of a perspective that encompasses broader linguistic and socio-pragmatic factors that contribute to achieving meaning in spoken language has motivated us to propose the current manuscript as an approach to understanding, defining and assessing comprehensibility. In this monograph, we argue that conceptualising comprehensibility as a multidimensional construct and adopting a broader perspective to understanding and analysing it for communication purposes would benefit the fields of second language assessment and second language acquisition.

This work is licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
The ebook is free of charge and can be accessed from https://equinoxonlinelibrary.com/book/58244/comprehensibility-in-language-assessment
Open Access funded by University of Reading


Published: Feb 13, 2024

Series


Section Chapter Authors
Prelims
List of Figures Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
List of Tables Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
Acknowledgements Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
About the Authors Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
Chapter 1
Introduction Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
Chapter 2
Comprehensibility at a Phonological Level Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
Chapter 3
Comprehensibility at a Discourse / Text Level Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
Chapter 4
Comprehensibility at a Pragmatic Level Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
Chapter 5
Comprehensibility and Fluency Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
Chapter 6
Technology and Comprehensibility Parvaneh Tavakoli
Chapter 7
Teaching towards a Comprehensibility Goal Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
Chapter 8
Conclusion Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
References
References Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
Appendices
Appendix 1: Cambridge B2 First Speaking Task Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
Appendix 2: IELTS Descriptors Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
Appendix 3: Fluency Indicators Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
Appendix 4: Example of a Test Task Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke
End Matter
Index Parvaneh Tavakoli, Sheryl Cooke