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In:Learner Corpora in Language Testing and Assessment
Edited by Marcus Callies and Sandra Götz
[Studies in Corpus Linguistics 70] 2015
► pp. 191–216

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Tense and aspect errors in spoken learner English

Implications for language testing and assessment

Published online: 9 April 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.70.08got
Language testing guidelines like the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) have been very influential for language testing and assessment, yet the way they define proficiency levels using ‘can-do-statements’ has often been criticized as being too vague. In the present chapter, I will take a corpus-based approach towards spoken accuracy in advanced German learner English and report on the findings of an error analysis of the most error-prone category in the German component of the Louvain International Database of Spoken English Interlanguage (LINDSEI). Focusing on verb-tense related errors, the present study not only reveals what is especially error-prone in the case of advanced German learners of English in this category (e.g. reported speech, conditionals), but it also shows that even at an advanced level, learners appear to form a fairly heterogeneous group with regard to the number of errors. However, the types of errors committed at this proficiency level are quite systematic, and this allows for a thorough description of advanced learners’ error profiles. In the final section of this chapter, I will take these findings to suggest a text-centred description of different proficiency levels in advanced German learners’ speech at the university level and sketch out some avenues for future research.
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