Japanese Speaking Placement Test

Validation of a Task and an Evaluation Tool

Abstract

Ideally, a placement speaking test should be administered to as many examinees as possible within a short period of time; the evaluation procedure should be simple and convenient, with highly reliable and valid results. To accomplish this, a Japanese speaking test task with an evaluation tool consisting of rubric and voice samples was developed. Test reliability and validity were verified with the implementation of an experiment involving four Japanese teachers (raters) assessing the test results using the evaluation tool. The test task situation "refusal" was employed with 32 students from beginner to the advanced level participating. A high correlation between this speaking test and the writing placement test was observed, with a corresponding high correlation with the Simple Performance- Oriented Test (SPOT) which requires aural skills. In contrast, there was a low correlation with written receptive skills; regardless, the criterion-related validity of this test was reasonably and conclusively satisfied. The task and evaluation tools are well suited to evaluate the learnersʼ speaking ability, ensuring excellent reliability; assessing each learnerʼs level required only one to two minutes with high consistency and correlation among raters. Although intermediate level assessments appear to be more challenging, this test task and evaluation tool can be very valuable as a Japanese speaking test.