Capturing the human dimension of performance assessment: an investigation of decision making in academic oral presentation assessment tasks on English for academic purposes courses at UK universities

Abstract

With renewed attention on graduate attributes and active learning in UK Higher Education (HE), academic oral presentation (AOP) tasks have become popular learning and assessment tools on degree programmes at UK universities. On English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programmes, AOPs often function as gateway assessments, which may grant or deny students access to university study. This thesis reports an investigation of decision making in such high-stakes assessment tasks on EAP programmes. Due to a paucity of research on AOP assessment practice in HE, I conducted The Survey Study. This survey yielded data, primarily through document analysis and questionnaires, on subject module and EAP module AOP assessment tasks and practice. The Fieldwork Study was then conducted, which involved accessing teacher and student AOP assessment practices in two EAP settings. To capture data on the AOP assessment processes, I used ethnographic data-gathering techniques including document analysis, observation, interviews, and field notes. Both phases of the project draw on the inquiry traditions of constructivist grounded theory (CGT) and ethnography and use CGT as an analytic framework. The Survey Study findings paint a picture of diverse applications of AOP tasks on subject modules and EAP modules. The findings indicate that delivery, as well as content, is often key to successful AOP performances. From The Fieldwork Study data, I developed a theory which represents the complex mix of processes EAP teacher assessors enact in their practice linked to an AOP assessment task. The EAP practitioners are Inheriting and Influencing AOP Assessment, Constructing AOP Task Representations, Communicating AOP Task Representations, Gathering and Selecting Assessment Evidence and Critically Reflecting on AOP Assessment Practice. When reaching score-decisions, teacher assessors employ a zoom function, a number of lenses (Judging, Marking, Describing, Evaluating, Technical, Aesthetic), and filters (Criteria, Ranking, Social, and Interpersonal) to the performances. The findings demonstrate that the social context, which includes practitioners’ histories and values, influence teachers’ practice in particular. Through an investigation of student perspectives on AOP tasks, I demonstrate that a range of factors (Personal, Content, Language, Assemblage, Engagement, Affective, Formative and Summative) shape students’ thinking and action. Importantly, students devote energies to showcasing content-related skills, rather than to linguistic performance in AOP assessments. Furthermore, a number of students downplay the importance of spoken language in AOPs which seems to be due to the ability to draw on a range of semiotic resources to achieve a successful performance in their contexts. The Survey Study and The Fieldwork Study findings provide a nuanced conception of what AOP tasks may involve and support the case for intensified research into the communicative characteristics and demands of such tasks. The processes and strategies illuminated in The Fieldwork Study critique the notion that there is an assessment format which operates independently of input from teacher assessors and student test takers. The assessment is instead realised and constructed in its implementation. The teacher assessors’ and students’ substantive processes in AOP assessment have ramifications for how validity is conceptualised and enhanced in AOP assessments in EAP contexts.

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