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By Linda Forrest, CASLS Research Director

Effective communication is more than simply organizing words into grammatical sequences. It involves choosing the right words at the right time for a specific context. Speakers must calculate the right words based on a number of situational factors, such as the social distance and power relationship between themselves and their interlocutor. And while some words are clearly wrong, there are often several effective options in any particular situation, such as making a request, refusing an invitation, or making an apology. Navigating these complexities is difficult enough in a student’s first language, but learning a new language involves adding more layers of complexity. Confusingly, direct translations from the student’s L1 often do not have the same communicative impact in the L2. Additionally, immense variation among social or regional groups, as well as differing individual preferences, lead to enormous challenges for learners.

These layers of complexity also challenge language practitioners seeking to assess their students’ learning outcomes. Familiar paper and pencil tests with questions having only one right answer do not probe learners’ ability to act effectively in real world situations. Assessments which set up role play situations are a step in the right direction, as students can actually demonstrate their abilities rather imagine what they might to do. Still, challenges remain. Although norms and patterns of behavior exist in the real world, there is usually no set method of handling any particular situation. Thus any role play-based assessment must be carefully observed and rated, an extremely time-consuming process.

Today these challenges are being ameliorated by emergent technological tools which make the delivery of  life-like simulations affordable and attainable for most test developers. Immersive digital environments allow learners to interact in simulated, yet realistic, spaces. They offer some particular advantages for those constructing assessments of intercultural communicative competence. For example, items can include extended sequences of conversational turns, situational contexts can be established non-linguistically, ‘standardized interlocutors’ (avatars) can provide systematic variation of features such as power relationships and social distance, situations can be ‘replayed’ with different interlocutors, learners can successfully complete a task using multiple interactional pathways, and data about the interaction can be continuously and effortlessly collected and partially rated (Sykes, 2010; Taguchi & Sykes, 2013). Although such assessments are still visionary, they are currently under development by several organizations. Look for them in the not too distant future.

References

Sykes, J. ( 2010). Multi-user virtual environments: User-driven design and implementation for language learning. In G. Vicenti & J. Braman, Teaching Through Multi-user Virtual Environments: Applying Dynamic Elements to the Modern Classroom, (pp. 283-305). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Taguchi, N., & Sykes, J. ( Eds.). (2013). Technology in Interlanguage Pragmatics Research and Teaching. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: John Benjamins.