Assessor Decision Making While Marking a Note-Taking Listening Test: The Case of the OET

Abstract

This article investigates assessor decision making when using and applying a marking guide for a note-taking task in a specific purpose English language listening test. In contexts where note-taking items are used, a marking guide is intended to stipulate what kind of response should be accepted as evidence of the ability under test. However, there remains some scope for assessors to apply their own interpretations of the construct in judging responses that fall outside the information provided in a marking guide. From a content analysis of data collected in a stimulated recall group discussion, a taxonomy of the types of decisions made by assessors is derived and the bases on which assessors make such decisions are discussed. The present study is therefore a departure point for further investigations into how assessor decision-making processes while marking open-ended items might be improved.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to acknowledge the cooperation of the OET Centre, and in particular the assistance provided by Gerrard Neve. We would also like to thank the English Language Institute at the University of Michigan for providing financial support for this project through the Spaan Fellowship program.