A Study of the PETS（Ⅲ）-SET Pair Discussion: A Conversation Analysis Approach

论文摘要

Since the implementation of the country’s policy of reform and opening to the outside world after the ending of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, there has appeared a mania in people from government officials to ordinary workers and students for learning English. As an international language, English is expected to bring them the hope of better employment opportunities, personal advancement, job mobility and a better future. The China Public English Test System （PETS） has been developed in response to this growing need throughout the country to improve communication in English and the increasing efforts in assessing this ability more effectively.The thesis1 is concerned with a study of the oral component of PETS Level 3 using a Conversation Analysis （CA） approach. To be specific, the study focuses on the Pair Discussion of Spoken English Test for PETS Level 3 （the PETS（III）-SET Pair Discussion） and it has two broad purposes. First, it adopts a CA approach to analyze the candidate’s oral performance in the Pair Discussion to see how well they are able to apply the three types of interactional organizations-turn taking organization, sequence organization and repair organization in spoken interaction under the test conditions. Second, the study further investigates whether the test facilitates conditions for eliciting legitimate samples of candidates’ oral performance in terms of the test’s construct validity. Although this study is preliminary in nature, it is data driven and significant in that it provides empirical evidences which help to reveal problems in candidates’ oral performance and underline the need for further improvement of the test. The research findings show that the candidates do not know how to appropriately take part in spoken interactions and their knowledge of turn taking, adjacency pairs, repair devices and turn taking strategies is far from satisfactory. The study also shows that poor administration and some test-method errors impair the construct validity of the test. The findings of the study have important implications for the improvement of the test design and the teaching and learning of oral English as well.

论文目录

• Acknowledgements
• Abstract
• Transcription Symbols
• Chapter I Introduction
• 1.1 Background of the Study
• 1.2 Introduction to the PETS（m）-SET
• 1.3 Data Sources
• 1.4 Organization of the Thesis
• Chapter II Conversation Analysis and Issues in Methodology
• 2.1 What is Conversation Analysis?
• 2.1.1 Developments of CA
• 2.1.2 Aims and Principles of CA
• 2.2 Types of Interactional Organizations
• 2.2.1 Turn taking
• 2.2.1.1 A Mechanism for the Organization of Turn Taking
• 2.2.1.2 Appropriate Projection and Use of Possible TRPs
• 2.2.2 Sequence Organization
• 2.2.2.1 Adjacency Pairs
• 2.2.2.2 Preference Sequence
• 2.2.2.3 Functions of Adjacency Pairs
• 2.2.3 Repair
• 2.2.4 Two Major Departures of Conversation
• 2.2.4.1 Overlap
• 2.2.4.2 Silence
• 2.2.5 Smooth Operation of the Three Types of Interactional Organizations
• 2.3 Interactional Competence and Communicative Competence
• 2.4 Methods of Doing CA
• Chapter III Features of the Three Types of Interactional Organizations in the PETS（III）-SET Pair Discussion
• 3.1 Data Description
• 3.2 Turn Taking Strategies in the PETS（III）-SET Pair Discussion
• 3.2.1 Use of Turn Taking Strategies in the Data
• 3.2.2 Discussion
• 3.3 Management of Repairable Items
• 3.3.1 Data Presentation and Analysis
• 3.3.2 Discussion
• 3.4 Types of Long Silence in the Data
• 3.4.1 Data Presentation and Analysis
• 3.4.2 Discussion
• 3.5 Overlaps in the Data
• 3.5.1 Data Presentation and Analysis
• 3.5.2 Discussion
• 3.6 Summary
• Chapter IV A Preliminary Investigation into Construct Validity of the PETS（m）-SET Pair Discussion
• 4.1 The Construct of the PETS（III）-SET Pair Discussion
• 4.2 How to Elicit More Reliable and Valid Performance in Oral Assessments
• 4.2.1 Construct Validity and Reliability
• 4.2.2 Bias for Best
• 4.3 Construct Validity of the PETS（m）-SET Pair Discussion
• 4.3.1 An Examination of Facilitation of Reliability
• 4.3.2 An Examination of Construct Validity
• 4.4 Summary
• Chapter V Implications and Conclusion
• 5.1 Conclusion
• 5.2 Implications
• 5.3 Suggestions for Further Research
• Bibliography
• Appendix I Sample Transcripts of the PETS（III）-SET Pair Discussion
• Appendix II Rating Scale of PETS（III）-SET