Interaction In The Oral Proficiency Interview: Problems Of Validity

This article reports on the findings of a discourse analysis study whose purpose was to provide answers to the following research question: What kind of speech event is the OPI? Is it more like an everyday, friendly conversation, an interview, or something else? To obtain some answers to this research question, a discourse analysis of 35 OPIs was conducted. Frequency counts and chi-square inferential statistics were performed on the transcribed and coded OPI data. The results of the discourse analysis were then compared with the prototypical features of the two speech events selected for the study (i.e., conversation and interview) to determine and describe the most typical discourse and linguistic features of the OPI. The findings of the discourse analysis contradict the ETS claim that “a well structured OPI tests speaking ability in a real life context - conversation” (ETS 1989). The OPI does not test speaking ability in a real life context - conversation. It tests speaking ability in the context of an interview, or more precisely, in the context of a survey research interview, which is based on the behavioristic theory of stimulus and response (Mishler 1986). These findings raise a question about the validity of the OPI testing instrument.

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