Gazing into Cognition: Eye Behavior in Online L2 Speaking Tests

ABSTRACT

The effects of question or task complexity on second language speaking have traditionally been investigated using complexity, accuracy, and fluency measures. Response processes in speaking tests, however, may manifest in other ways, such as through nonverbal behavior. Eye behavior, in the form of averted gaze or blinking frequency, has been found to play an important role in regulating information in studies on human cognition, and it may therefore be an important subconscious signal of test question difficulty in language testing. In this study, 15 CEFR B2/C1-level-English learners took a Zoom-based English test with ten questions spanning six CEFR complexity levels. The participants’ eye behaviors were recorded and analyzed between the moment the test question ended and the beginning of their response. The participants additionally provided self-report data on their perceptions of test-question difficulty. Results indicated that as test questions increased in difficulty, participants were more likely to avert their gaze from the interlocutor. They did not, however, blink more frequently as difficulty changed. These results have methodological implications for research on test validation and the study of nonverbal behavior in speaking tests.

Data availability statement

Materials, data, and analysis code are available in the Open Science Framework at

https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/F2JXK.

Acknowledgments

The research described in this study was conducted as a qualifying review paper in the Second Language Studies PhD program at Michigan State University. I would like to thank my readers, Dr. India Plough and Professor Paula Winke, for their insightful comments during qualifying review, Dr. Aline Godfroid for her guidance at the planning stage, and the anonymous reviewers of this manuscript at LAQ for their critical commentary. I would also like to thank the Midwest Association of Language Testers for awarding this paper the Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Language Assessment Research in 2021.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).