Constructing a Scale to Assess L2 Written Speech Act Performance: WDCT and E-mail Tasks

ABSTRACT

This study reports the development of a scale to evaluate the speech act performance by intermediate-level Chinese learners of English. A qualitative analysis of the American raters’ comments was conducted on learner scripts in response to a total of 16 apology and request written discourse completion task (WDCT) situations. The results showed that in content, these raters attended to features, including amount of information, politeness, clarity, and relevance. For form, they focused on grammar, phrasing, and word choice. These features were then incorporated into the scale design, resulting in a scoring rubric consisting of two 10-point subscales, each of which contains five levels with descriptors for each performance level. For scale validation, seven experienced American writing teachers in Taiwan evaluated 84 e-mail requests written by the Chinese learners to their professors. Reliability and validity of the rating scale were explored through the FACETS analysis. The results showed that the scale can be used in a reliable and valid way. The study concludes with a discussion of the usefulness of this rating scale and proposes directions for future research.

Acknowledgments

The second author acknowledges the support by the MOE Project of the Center for Linguistics and Applied Linguistics of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

Funding

The first author acknowledges the Ministry of Science and Technology (formerly the National Science Council) of Taiwan for providing financial support for this study (NSC 100-2410-H-167-009). She also wishes to express her deepest appreciation to Prof. Der-Hwa Victoria Rau for her kind assistance for this study.

Notes

¹ An earlier version of this scoring grid was presented by the first author and C.Y. Huang at the 2011 International Conference on Language, Literature, and Teaching held by National Chin-Yi University of Technology and the 2012 International Conference and Workshop on TEFL and Applied Linguistics held by Ming Chuan University in Taiwan.

Additional information

Funding

The first author acknowledges the Ministry of Science and Technology (formerly the National Science Council) of Taiwan for providing financial support for this study (NSC 100-2410-H-167-009). She also wishes to express her deepest appreciation to Prof. Der-Hwa Victoria Rau for her kind assistance for this study.