Article published in:
The Language Testing Cycle: From inception to washback
Edited by Gillian Wigglesworth and Catherine Elder
[Australian Review of Applied Linguistics. Series S 13] 1996
► pp. 80–104

Administering a performance test in Fiji Hindi

| University of Auckland
| Victoria University of Wellington
As part of a research study on language maintenance and shift in the Indo-Fijian community in Wellington, New Zealand, a performance test was developed to assess the speaking and listening skills in Fiji Hindi of a sample of the Indo-Fijian teenagers. The design of the test needed to take account of the fact that Fiji Hindi is a preliterate vernacular language with no role in education and an ambivalent status within its own speech community. The test consisted of three main parts: a naturalistic conversation, two structured speaking tasks and a structured listening task. This paper focuses on some facets of the test administration, including the decision to administer it in the test-takers’ homes; the influence of various personal attributes of the interviewer; the ways of dealing with the lack of a script for Fiji Hindi; and the issue of live versus tape-based assessment of the test-takers’ performance. Both the test-takers and an independent rater provided feedback on the test that was generally very positive. The paper concludes with a discussion of various factors that may have influenced the reliability and validity of this somewhat unconventional language test.
Published online: 01 January 1996
https://doi.org/10.1075/aralss.13.05sha
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Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Loakes, Deborah, Karin Moses, Jane Simpson & Gillian Wigglesworth
2012. Developing Tests for the Assessment of Traditional Language Skill: A Case Study in an Indigenous Australian Community. Language Assessment Quarterly 9:4 ► pp. 311 ff. Crossref logo
Shameem, Nikhat
1998. Validating self-reported language proficiency by testing performance in an immigrant community: the Wellington Indo-Fijians. Language Testing 15:1 ► pp. 86 ff. Crossref logo

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