Assessing Students’ Performance in Oral English Tasks: Learners’ Age in Focus

Systematic research on how teachers assess their students’ oral skills in an EFL context of Iran seems lacking. The present study, therefore, aimed at finding the most frequent methods of assessing adult and young adult learners’ performance in oral English tasks among 150 Iranian teachers who completed two questionnaires: one for background information and the other for measuring assessment methods. Results revealed that the teachers were more inclined toward using interactive tasks (e.g., dialogues and discussions) and selective tasks (e.g., preparing summaries of what is heard) to assess students’ speaking and listening skills, respectively. Moreover, methods of assessing speaking were significantly different from teachers of adult and young adult learners; however, methods of assessing listening did not significantly differ. Furthermore, serious lack of interest was observed in using alternative assessment methods as around 70% of teachers in both groups reported that they never or rarely employed self/peer assessment and none of them used conferences to assess speaking or listening. These findings indicate the need for modifications in teacher training courses and call for further research into possible reasons behind lack of interest in using alternative assessment methods.