English and Non English major Teachers’ Assessment of Oral Proficiency: A case of Iranian Maritime English Learners

Abstract

Speaking assessment is still construed as a complicated, under-researched process from the vantage point of tasks and rater characteristics. The present study aimed at investigating if and how English Major and none English Major teachers differ in their perception of the construct of oral proficiency while assessing learners' L2 oral proficiency. To this end, 38 male and female non-native EFL teachers were asked to rate 10 monologs on a 4-point rating scale and provide concurrent verbal reports. Cronbach's alpha coefficient shows that the inter-rater reliability is relatively high, however; EM teaches are on the whole more reliable while doing the assessment task. On the other hand MANOVA reveals no significant difference in the teachers' holistic rating of the speech samples (F=1.44, ρ≥0.05), and the adopted approach while doing the assessment task in EM versus NEM teachers' modes of assessment.