A Basic Study on the Development of a Grading Scale of Discourse Competence in Korean Speaking Assessment -Focusing on the Scale of 'REFUSAL' Task

한국어 말하기 평가에서 '담화 능력' 등급 기술을 위한 기초 연구 -'부탁'에 대한 '거절하기' 과제를 중심으로-

Most grading scales of Korean language proficiency tests are based on existing grading scales that are not empirically verified. The purpose of this study is to develop an empirically verified scale descriptor. The 'Performance data-driven approach' that is suggested by Fulcher (1987) was used to develop the detailed description of characteristics for each level of performance. This study is focused on the functional phase of speech samples analysis (coding data) to create explanatory categories of discourse skills into which individual observations of speech phenomena can be scored. The speech samples that were collected through this study demonstrated stages of speech that can be a foundation of a grading scale. The data used in the study was collected from 23 native speakers of Korean. Speech samples were recorded from simulated speaking tests using the 'REFUSAL' task, and transcribed for analysis. The transcript was analyzed using discourse analysis. The result showed that the 'REFUSAL' task needs to go through four functional phases in actual communication. Furthermore, this study found specific and detailed explanatory categories of discourse competence based on the actual native speaker's speech data. Such findings are expected to contribute to the development of more valid and reliable speaking assessment.