Article published in:
The Language Testing Cycle: From inception to washbackEdited 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
Nikhat Shameem | University of Auckland
John Read | 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
https://doi.org/10.1075/aralss.13.05sha
References
Bachman, L.F.
Burgess, R.G.
Hakuta, K. and D. D’Andrea
Heller, M.
Holmes, J., M. Roberts, M. Verivaki and ‘A. ‘Aipolo
Kloss, H.
McNamara, T.F.
Porter, D.
Shameem, N.
Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
Loakes, Deborah, Karin Moses, Jane Simpson & Gillian Wigglesworth
Shameem, Nikhat
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