The effect of interlocutor and assessment mode variables in overseas assessments of speaking skills in occupational settings

The increasing demand for performance assessment of speaking skills in second languages has led to logistic complications, for example, the delivery of tests in overseas locations. One solution to the problem has been to train native interlocutors to carry out a series of oral interactions with the candidate, with assessment from audiorecordings of the test session postponed and conducted centrally by a small team of trained raters. But these procedures raise questions about the effect of such facets of the assessment situation as interlocutor variables and the quality of the audiotape recording. This article examines these issues in the context of the Occupational English Test.