Assessing pragmatic competence in oral proficiency interviews at the C1 level with the new CEFR descriptors

Abstract

The study of pragmatic competence has gained increasing importance within second language assessment over the last three decades. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) establishes pragmatic competence as one of the communicative language competences. However, its study in L2 language testing is still scarce. Thus, the aim of this paper is to research the extent to which pragmatic competence has been accommodated in two of the most popular Oral Proficiency Interviews (OPIs) at a C1 level: Cambridge’s Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) and Trinity’s Integrated Skills in English (ISE) III. To carry this out, OPI characteristics are first defined highlighting their differences with L2 pragmatic tests. After pragmatic competence in the CEFR is analysed, focusing on the updates in the new descriptors, CAE and ISE III formats, structure, task descriptions and rating scales are systematically compared. While the formats are found to differ, the structures are sufficiently similar to allow comparison. Furthermore, the task characteristics show certain similarities regarding speech, interaction and language skills and some differences with respect to outcomes, goal-orientation and interlocutor status. Additionally, each OPI is seen to prioritise different aspects of pragmatic competence within their rating scale, with CAE focusing mostly on discourse competence and fluency and ISE III on functional competence. Our study concludes that both tests fail to accommodate all aspects of pragmatic competence and that there is a mismatch between the task competences and the rating scale competences. Finally, some research lines are proposed.