The present study was an attempt to demystify the role of paired task and test-taker speaking ability in assessing co-constructed discourse in paired oral assessment across Iranian EFL paired examinees with different ability combinations. To accomplish this aim, non-exp
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The present study was an attempt to demystify the role of paired task and test-taker speaking ability in assessing co-constructed discourse in paired oral assessment across Iranian EFL paired examinees with different ability combinations. To accomplish this aim, non-experimental qualitative research was devised in which 36 participants were purposely recruited from three distinct speaking competence levels; namely, upper-intermediate (High-Level), lower intermediate (Mid-Level), and elementary (Low-Level), with 12 learners in each. Participants with similar and different proficiency levels were randomly assigned to six different paired group combinations and were given a discussion task as a paired-test speaking task in which they were asked to discuss the topic of the conversation and attempt to develop the co-constructed discourse. The voices of each couple discussing the assigned topic were then record-ed. Following the transcription of the examinees' performances, the researcher analyzed the learners' conversations using Young's model of interactional competence, which deals with the speakers' ability to organize interactions in terms of turn-taking, break-down repair, and mutual understanding using ver-bal communication in relation to the situational context. The findings demonstrated that low-ability partners employed gestures and postures in turn-taking, as well as a lot of breakdown repairs while fail-ing in mutual comprehension, particularly in talks with more skilled interlocutors. Mid-ability pairs struggled to provide an adequate response in the second position to demonstrate understanding of an interlocutor's comment or statement but could advance the communication in terms of mutual under-standing and moderate success in proper breakdown repairs in their own similar and balanced pairs. However, they lost confidence in taking turns and relied heavily on fixes when conversing with more experienced interlocutors. Similarly, low-ability paired persons seldom tropicalized portions of other speakers' contributions in their own talk. High-ability speakers were more likely to demonstrate prior talk knowledge through contingent answers. These findings revealed that task direction and progress might have an impact on interactional behavior and how understanding is expressed. Additionally, the findings have some implications for teaching, learning, and testing L2 speaking through paired-test tasks for the purpose of improving EFL learners' speaking skills sub-skills.
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