Volume 3, 2000, Paper 1
Paper 1: The impact of gender in the IELTS oral interview
Kieran O'Loughlin
This paper reports on a study into the impact of gender on the
IELTS oral interview. This is a relatively under investigated
issue in the assessment of oral proficiency. The study
examines the issue of gender on two levels: firstly, its impact on
the discourse of the interview and secondly, its effect on the
rating process.
There is a large body of research which suggest that male and
female speakers have distinctive communicative styles.
Therefore, it might be anticipated that such differences would be
reflected in the discourse of interviewers in the oral test
interview, possibly affecting the quantity and quality of the
candidate's output. Furthermore, candidates' output may vary in
relation to their own gender and whether their interviewer is of
the same or opposite sex. It is also possible that the gender
of the rater and/or candidate may significantly influence
assessment of the oral interview. In the case of tests like
the IELTS interview where the interlocutor also acts as the rater
this poses the question of whether gender bias, where it exists,
stems from the interview itself, the rating decision or a
combination of both these 'events'.
The study is based on interviews undertaken with sixteen
candidates (eight female and eight male) who were each interviewed
by a female and male interviewer. This yielded a total of 32
interviews. Each interview was rated by the interviewer and
audiotaped. Four other raters (two females and two males),
drawn from a pool of eight females and eight males, subsequently
assessed each of the interviews using the audio-recording.
The audio-recordings were then transcribed and several features of
language use which have been identified in previous research as key
markers of gendered communication were examined, specifically the
use of overlaps, interruptions and minimal responses by both
interviewers and candidates. The test score data was analysed
using a facility of the multi-faceted Rasch computer program FACETS
(Linacre, 1989-1995) known as bias analysis.
In the disclosure analysis of the interviews it was found that
there were some gender differences between female and male
interviewers and candidates, but these did not form a consistent
gender pattern. In general, most interviewers and candidates
adopted a supportive and collaborative speech style irrespective of
their own interlocutor. Furthermore, the analysis of test
scores indicated there was no evidence of significant bias in the
rating process in relation to the gender of raters or
candidates. Both sets of findings therefore suggest that
gender does not have a significant impact on the IELTS
interview.
