Original scientific paper
Testing Foreign Language Proficiency – What Verbal Protocols Reveal
Marta Medved Krajnović
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Renata Šamo
; Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Pula, Croatia
Abstract
The paper deals with several issues related to testing second language learners’
1 communicative language competence. It concentrates on verbal protocols as a
means of gaining insight into learners’ test taking strategies and cognitive processes,
and as one of the ways of checking test validity and reliability. The research part of
the paper presents results of the application of the verbal protocol technique with
primary school children who were faced with three different cloze-test tasks. The
research proved that verbal protocols can be used with learners of this age group,
and that the application of verbal protocols is very important for a more reliable
interpretation of learners’ test results.
Keywords
testing; communicative language competence; second/ foreign language learners; verbal protocols; test-taking strategies
Hrčak ID:
23121
URI
Publication date:
17.4.2008.
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