ORAL TESTING IN THE FORMATION OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS

УСТНОЕ ТЕСТИРОВАНИЕ В ФОРМИРОВАНИИ ИНОЯЗЫЧНОЙ КОММУНИКАТИВНОЙ КОМПЕТЕНЦИИ ОБУЧАЮЩИХСЯ ИНОСТРАННОМУ ЯЗЫКУ

Санкубаева Акерке Бурикызы

магистрант, кафедра теории и практики иностранных языков, Евразийский национальный университет,

РК, г. Нур-Султан

Ескиндирова Маншук Жумабаевна

Научный руководитель, канд. филол. наук, PhD д-р, доц., Евразийский национальный университет,

РК, г. Нур-Султан

ABSTRACT

The article is devoted to the problem of organizing and conducting oral testing in the formation of communicative competence. The concepts of "control", "communicative competence and test" and "competence" as applied to the process of teaching a foreign language are considered. The article describes the specifics of the organization of oral testing of foreign language communicative competence. The test task of oral form was analyzed, indicating the advantages and disadvantages of each task.

АННОТАЦИЯ

Статья посвящена проблеме организации и проведения устного тестирования при формировании коммуникативной компетенции. Рассмотрены понятия "контроль", "коммуникативная компетенция и тест" и "компетенция" применительно к процессу обучения иностранному языку. В статье описываются особенности организации устного тестирования иноязычной коммуникативной компетенции. Было проанализировано тестовое задание устной формы с указанием преимуществ и недостатков каждого задания.

Keywords: test task, communication competence, oral testing.

Ключевые слова: тестовое задание, коммуникативная компетентность, устное тестирование.

The problems of determining and evaluating the quality of teaching, the degree of formation of foreign language communicative competence, and the level of proficiency in types of speech activity are among the central ones in the methodology of teaching foreign languages. The key concept that reflects these aspects and combines various approaches to their solution is the concept of "control", interpreted as a component of the educational process aimed at "determining the level of knowledge, skills and abilities of the student and formulating on this basis an assessment for a certain section of the program, course or period of study".

By mastering a foreign language, students should acquire practical speech skills. At this point, testing helps to identify the level of communicative competence, which is especially important at the advanced stage of language learning, since it is at this stage that the teacher deals with students.

Competence is potential readiness to solve problems using knowledge: consists of semantic (knowledge) and procedural (skill) components and is based on the ability to solve the problem with its essence; continuous updating of knowledge, mastering new information for the use of this knowledge in specific situations, i.e. the acquisition of operational and mobile knowledge.

Communicativeness stimulates speech-thinking activity, it provides for ensuring individualization, taking into account functionality, creating situational learning, observing the principle of novelty of the educational process [1. p. 35]. To teach communication, you need to involve students in various activities by imitating real, real life situations. The learning process in this approach is based on the communication model.

The term "communicative competence" reflects the general purpose of Language Teaching, which determines the main goal of the educational process. The main components of communicative competence are: linguistic, conversational, socio-cultural, compensatory or strategic [2].

Communicative competence test is a measurement method, the procedure of which creates special, psychologically comfortable conditions for those who are tested in order to identify the level of formation of communicative competence by a set of tasks previously prepared and tested for performance characteristics, and the results of which are subject to a certain assessment according to previously established criteria.

Oral testing is a repetitive procedure in which the test taker speaks, and which is evaluated based on what they have said. Oral testing can be conducted separately or as part of a comprehensive communication test. Oral tests are qualitatively different from other types of tests. According to N. Underhill [3], it is advisable to separate them into a separate class and take their features into account when developing them. The most noticeable difference between conventional and oral tests is in the attitude towards the test taker.

The communicative approach to teaching a foreign language should be based on a control system that provides an opportunity to record the dynamics of competence formation in certain types of speech activity, as well as to give an objective assessment of the level of general language proficiency.

The problems of oral testing as ensuring the reliability and validity of tests of general skills in oral speech were first highlighted in a report by J. O. Roach for the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) in 1945. The first published report [4] contained only a brief description of the test. A more detailed discussion of the nature and principles on which the test was based was revealed in the 1970s, when the works of C. P. Wilds appeared [5].

L. V. Shipitso notes that the formation of communicative competence is carried out in foreign language lessons throughout the entire learning process, while control is traditionally carried out in a specially designated time [6]. To test the level of formation of communicative competence within the framework of the communicative-activity approach, E. I. Passov proposed the necessary provisions:

• the process of determining the level of formation of foreign language speech skills occurs during the implementation of foreign language speech activity during the performance of tasks by students;
• the test of speaking skills is carried out by implementing this type of speech activity in artificially created conditions, as close as possible to real communication situations;
• the object of test control is speech skills;
• testing the level of formation of communicative competence should be focused on the personality of students as users of the English language [7].

Based on these parameters, there are the most optimal variants of test tasks that allow you to control the level of formation of foreign language communication skills in teaching English orally.

Let's consider the test tasks "Answers to questions", that is, as an interview involving the active participation of two or more test subjects or a test subject and an examiner and testing, first of all, the skills of dialogic speech.

The test of oral competence with the help of the interview test involves two interrelated processes-obtaining a representative sample of the test subject's speech and evaluating this sample.

A test interview is a conversation that takes place entirely in a foreign language and can last from 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the level of training of the test subject. The purpose of the conversation is to get a sample of speech, on the basis of which it is possible to evaluate and form the communicative competence of the subject. The conversation can be recorded on a tape recorder and then evaluated.

Objects of control: the ability to provide actual personal information, express your preferences, answer questions, the ability to replicate and initiate a conversation, the ability to express agreement or disagreement, express your point of view, describe and tell.

Verbal stimulus delivery channel: visual and / or auditory.

Preparation: from 1.5 to 5 minutes.

Advantages: authentic reception; tasks are easy to develop and administer.

Disadvantages: It is difficult to discriminate against the responses of the test takers, since only those who have a hig h level of foreign language proficiency show initiative in communication.    In this test, extroverts get the best results because of their openness, their desire to make contact.

The test task involves a direct exchange of information between the test taker and the examiner: the test taker answers pre-prepared (recorded or studied) questions or statements of the examiner. Although the examiner controls the overall course of the conversation, the test taker has the opportunity to express their own opinion. The purpose of the examiner is to find out certain information, to get answers to some questions in order to evaluate the answer on this basis, he should not correct the mistakes of the test taker, fill in pauses or interrupt the candidate's answer, impose his own opinion. One of the conditions for successful completion of the task is to create a friendly atmosphere.

The content of the test-interview largely depends on the answers of the test taker, it is necessary to take into account not only the linguistic level, but also the topic that may be of interest to the student. For example, if the test subject is interested in sports, then it is better to conduct a conversation on a sports topic. Therefore, for the interview test, materials are prepared on various topics: work, study, business, entertainment, music, etc. The logical sequence and naturalness of the conversation are based on the teacher's ability to extract topics for the conversation from the answers of the test subject.

In the structure of the interview test, there are usually four mandatory phrases: introductory, establishing, verifying, and final. This is necessary to ensure the correlation of the scores and the stability of the test.

In the introductory phrase, the teacher introduces the test subject, exchanges greetings with him and asks him simple, routine questions to make a preliminary impression on the level of his language training, as well as to give the test subject the opportunity to get used to this situation. The test taker is then asked a series of questions to establish the level at which they communicate easily. When the examiner is satisfied that the level is set, he gives the test taker more complex tasks to set an upper limit on his speech competence.  After that, the test taker is offered a role-playing task of the corresponding difficulty. If the student speaks the language at a professional level, more complex situations are offered, requiring detailed explanations and the ability to convince or convince the interlocutor. In the final part of the interview, it is advisable to ask a number of questions at the level at which he communicates without difficulty, in order to finish the test in a positive tone and allow the test taker to feel confident in their ability to use the language. Next, the test taker is given a score corresponding to a certain level, which most accurately reflects his speech skills.

When assessing the communicative competence, the correctness of the test subject's speech is also taken into account: compliance with the phonetic, lexical, morphological, syntactic, sociolinguistic and pragmatic norms of the studied language. Moreover, sociolinguistic norms and pragmatic skills play an important role.

Test tasks have their own advantages and disadvantages, which does not allow us to talk about any one, universal test task. The complexity, form and content of tasks for English language learners to check the level of formation of foreign language communicative competencies must correspond to the levels of foreign language proficiency specified in the specification. It is necessary to develop objective criteria for evaluating the final result of oral testing of foreign language communication skills and familiarize English language learners with them.

An increasing number of students are aware of the need to speak foreign languages for the successful realization of their professional, creative, and socio-cultural aspirations. The process of teaching foreign languages acquires a functional orientation and includes the formation of foreign language communicative competencies.

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