What is it about?
The foreign language section of the Spanish university entrance examination had changed little in twenty years, and a deeper revision with new types of tasks was expected. To inform these decisions, this article reports quantitative and qualitative analyses of a pilot oral test with 772 recorded student performances. It looked at the main variables of foreign language learning in Spanish secondary schools, the relationship between students' oral competence and their marks in the entrance examination (which does not test speaking), and aspects of teaching that may improve oral performance.
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Why is it important?
The results provide detailed information on students' foreign language learning context, show a strong correlation between written and oral competence, and point to three variables that should receive attention to foster the development of oral skills in secondary school classrooms.
Perspectives
Working with Jesús García Laborda, María Belén Díez-Bedmar and Elena Martín Monje on this study was a great opportunity to contribute evidence to the debate on including speaking in the Spanish university entrance examination, a topic I have followed since my doctoral thesis.
Dr. Miguel Fernández Álvarez
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Differences and Similarities between Oral and Written Competence in Spanish Pre-University Students: A Correlational Study, December 2018, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile,
DOI: 10.7764/onomazein.42.05.
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