ACCESS Speaking Skills 3

Question 1

On the ACCESS Speaking test, what linguistic feature is evaluated under 'linguistic complexity'?

Accepted Answer

The length and variety of oral sentences and discourse

Answer

Linguistic complexity on ACCESS Speaking refers to the length, variety, and organization of sentences and discourse produced by the student.

Question 2

A student consistently uses present tense when discussing past events on the ACCESS Speaking test. Which domain of language is affected?

Accepted Answer

Grammar

Answer

Using incorrect verb tense is a grammatical error, which falls under the grammar domain of language proficiency.

Question 3

Which of the following is an example of an academic language function tested in ACCESS Speaking?

Accepted Answer

Explaining the cause and effect of a scientific phenomenon

Answer

Explaining cause and effect is an academic language function that ACCESS Speaking assesses at higher proficiency levels.

Question 4

Why is the ACCESS Speaking test administered by a trained teacher rather than a computer scoring system?

Accepted Answer

Spoken language requires human judgment to assess nuanced proficiency

Answer

Scoring spoken language requires human raters to evaluate nuanced features like fluency, intonation, and contextual appropriateness.

Question 5

A student says 'I go to the store yesterday' during an ACCESS Speaking task. Which error type is this?

Accepted Answer

Morphosyntactic error

Answer

Using 'go' instead of 'went' is a morphosyntactic error because it involves incorrect verb morphology for past tense.

(ACCESS) Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State for English Language Learners Practice Test