Topical Knowledge in Speaking Performances

Table Of Contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Abbreviations
• CHAPTER 1 Introduction
• 1. Background to the study
• 2. Purpose of the study
• 3. Research questions
• 3.1 Preliminary research questions
• 3.2 Main research question
• 3.3 Additional research questions
• 4. Significance of the study
• 5. Limitations of the study
• 6. Summary
• CHAPTER 2 Literature Review
• 1. Models of language ability
• 1.1 The intuitive model of language ability
• 1.2 Lado (1961) – Model of L2 Proficiency
• 1.3 Chomsky (1965) – Definition of Language Competence
• 1.4 Hymes (1972) – Notion of Language Competence
• 1.5 Oller (1979) – Integrative Model
• 1.6 Canale and Swain (1980) – Communicative Competence Model
• 1.7 Bachman (1990) – Theoretical Framework of Communicative Language Ability
• 1.8 Celce-Murcia, Dornyei, & Thurrell (1995) – Pedagogically Motivated Model of Communicative Competence
• 1.9 Chapelle (1998) – Interactionist Approach to Construct Definition
• 1.10 Douglas (2000) – Language for Specific Purposes
• 1.11 CEFR (2001) – Communicative Language Competence
• 1.12 Long and Norris (2000) and Norris et al. (2002) Task-based Approach to Construct Definition
• 1.13 Purpura (2016) – Meaning-Oriented Conceptualisation of Language Knowledge
• 2. Speaking ability
• 2.1 What are the main characteristics of speaking?
• 2.2 How has speaking been conceptualised as a construct over the years?
• 2.3 How can speaking be assessed?
• 2.4 L2 Italian – speaking ability
• 3. Exploring academic Italian
• 4. Topical knowledge
• 4.1 Topical knowledge and second language proficiency
• 4.2 Topical knowledge and assessment
• 4.3 Topical knowledge in the Italian context
• 5. Assessing speaking through Scenario-Based Assessment
• 5.1 Learning-Oriented Assessment
• 5.1.1 The contextual dimension
• 5.1.2 Performance indicators
• 5.1.2.1 The elicitation dimension
• 5.1.2.2 The proficiency dimension
• 5.1.3 Performance moderators
• 5.1.3.1 The instructional dimension
• 5.1.3.2 The socio-cognitive dimension
• 5.1.3.3 The affective dimension
• 5.1.3.4 The social-interactional dimension
• 5.1.3.5 The technological dimension
• 5.2 Scenario-Based Assessment
• 6. Summary
• CHAPTER 3 Methodology
• 1. Context of the study
• 2. Study participants
• 3. Instruments
• 3.1 The grammar-screening test
• 3.1.1 The grammar-screening test development process
• 3.1.2 The piloting stage of the grammar-screening test
• 3.1.3 The taxonomy of the grammar-screening test
• 3.2 The Scenario-Based Language Assessment for L2 Italian
• 3.2.1 Theoretical framework of the SBA
• 3.2.2 Description of the SBA
• 3.2.2.1 Italian SBA performance moderators
• 3.2.2.2 The reading comprehension task
• 3.2.2.3 The listening comprehension task
• 3.2.2.4 The categorisation tasks
• 3.2.2.5 The summary writing tasks
• 3.2.2.6 The speaking tasks
• 3.2.2.7 The topical knowledge tasks
• 3.3 The SBA post-test experience survey
• 3.4 The SBA scoring rubrics
• 4. Data collection procedures
• 4.1 Data protection and security
• 4.2 Test administration
• 4.3 Scoring procedures
• 5. Data analysis procedures
• 5.1 Descriptive statistics
• 5.1.1 Central tendency
• 5.1.2 Dispersion
• 5.1.3 Distribution
• 5.1.3.1 Skewness
• 5.1.3.2 Kurtosis
• 5.2 Reliability
• 5.2.1 Internal consistency
• 5.2.2 Inter-rater reliability
• 5.3 Item analysis
• 5.3.1 Facility value
• 5.3.2 Frequency
• 5.3.3 Discrimination
• 5.3.4 Internal consistency
• 5.3.5 Distractor analysis
• 5.4 Analysis of participants’ experience in the Italian SBA
• 5.5 Correlation analyses for the research question
• 5.5.1 Topical knowledge and speaking performance
• 5.5.2 Speaking performance and L2 proficiency level
• 6. Summary
• CHAPTER 4 Findings and Discussion
• 1. Analyses of the grammar knowledge task
• 1.1 Descriptive statistics – grammar knowledge task
• 1.2 Reliability – grammar knowledge task
• 1.3 Item analysis – grammar knowledge task
• 1.3.1 Frequency – grammar knowledge task
• 1.3.2 Item discrimination – grammar knowledge task
• 2. Topical knowledge tasks
• 2.1 Descriptive statistics – topical knowledge tasks
• 2.2 Reliability – topical knowledge tasks
• 2.3 Item analysis – topical knowledge tasks
• 3. Speaking tasks
• 3.1 Descriptive statistics – speaking tasks
• 3.2 Reliability – speaking tasks
• 3.2.1 Inter-rater reliability – speaking tasks
• 3.2.2 Internal consistency – speaking tasks
• 4. The Italian SBA post-test experience survey
• 4.1 Reliability
• 4.2 Participants’ perceptions
• 4.2.1 Technological dimension
• 4.2.2 Contextual dimension
• 4.2.3 Affective dimension
• 4.2.4 Proficiency dimension
• 4.2.4.1 Background knowledge – what the participant knew before taking the Italian SBA (PD_1 – PD_6)
• 4.2.4.2 The participant’s opinion about the pitch to the committee (PD_23 – PD_29)
• 4.2.4.3 The participant’s overall opinion on the performance on the Italian SBA (PD_30 – PD_36)
• 4.2.5 Socio-cognitive dimension
• 4.2.6 Instructional dimension
• 4.2.7 Socio-interactional dimension
• 5. The relationships between topical knowledge and speaking performance
• 6. Speaking performance and L2 proficiency level
• 7. Summary
• CHAPTER 5 Conclusions
• 1. Summary and interpretation of the Results
• 1.1 PRQ: To what extent do items and tasks perform well in the Italian SBA grammatical knowledge task and topical knowledge tasks?
• 1.2 RQ: What is the relationship between L2 learners’ topical knowledge and their L2 speaking performance in the Italian SBA?
• 1.3 ARQ1: Is there a correlation between the learners’ self-declared L2 Italian level of proficiency and their speaking performance in the Italian SBA?
• 1.4 ARQ2: What are the perceptions of the participants in the Italian SBA?
• 2. Implications
• 3. Suggestions for future research
• Bibliography
• APPENDICES
• Appendix A – Additional Tables & Figures
• Appendix B – The Italian SBA post-test experience survey
• Appendix C – Italian SBA rating scale

Giulia Peri

Topical Knowledge in Speaking Performances

A Scenario-Based Language Assessment for L2 Italian

Berlin · Bruxelles · Chennai · Lausanne · New York · Oxford

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2025037310

Volume stampato con il contributo dell'Università per Stranieri di Siena per il Dottorato in Linguistica storica, linguistica educativa e italianistica.

ISSN 1612-815X

ISBN 978-3-631-92775-5 (Print)

ISBN 978-3-631-92776-2 (eBook)

ISBN 978-3-631-92777-9 (ePUB)

DOI 10.3726/b23146

© 2026 Peter Lang Group AG, Lausanne (Switzerland)

Published by Peter Lang GmbH, Berlin (Germany)

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Table of Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

List of Abbreviations

CHAPTER 1 Introduction

1. Background to the study

2. Purpose of the study

3. Research questions

3.1 Preliminary research questions

3.2 Main research question

3.3 Additional research questions

4. Significance of the study

5. Limitations of the study

6. Summary

CHAPTER 2 Literature Review

1. Models of language ability

1.1 The intuitive model of language ability

1.2 Lado (1961) – Model of L2 Proficiency

1.3 Chomsky (1965) – Definition of Language Competence

1.4 Hymes (1972) – Notion of Language Competence

1.5 Oller (1979) – Integrative Model

1.6 Canale and Swain (1980) – Communicative Competence Model

1.7 Bachman (1990) – Theoretical Framework of Communicative Language Ability

1.8 Celce-Murcia, Dornyei, & Thurrell (1995) – Pedagogically Motivated Model of Communicative Competence

1.9 Chapelle (1998) – Interactionist Approach to Construct Definition

1.10 Douglas (2000) – Language for Specific Purposes

1.11 CEFR (2001) – Communicative Language Competence

1.12 Long and Norris (2000) and Norris et al. (2002) Task-based Approach to Construct Definition

1.13 Purpura (2016) – Meaning-Oriented Conceptualisation of Language Knowledge

2. Speaking ability

2.1 What are the main characteristics of speaking?

2.2 How has speaking been conceptualised as a construct over the years?

2.3 How can speaking be assessed?

2.4 L2 Italian – speaking ability

3. Exploring academic Italian

4. Topical knowledge

4.1 Topical knowledge and second language proficiency

4.2 Topical knowledge and assessment

4.3 Topical knowledge in the Italian context

5. Assessing speaking through Scenario-Based Assessment

5.1 Learning-Oriented Assessment

5.1.1 The contextual dimension

5.1.2 Performance indicators

5.1.2.1 The elicitation dimension

5.1.2.2 The proficiency dimension

5.1.3 Performance moderators

5.1.3.1 The instructional dimension

5.1.3.2 The socio-cognitive dimension

5.1.3.3 The affective dimension

5.1.3.4 The social-interactional dimension

5.1.3.5 The technological dimension

5.2 Scenario-Based Assessment

6. Summary

CHAPTER 3 Methodology

1. Context of the study

2. Study participants

3. Instruments

3.1 The grammar-screening test

3.1.1 The grammar-screening test development process

3.1.2 The piloting stage of the grammar-screening test

3.1.3 The taxonomy of the grammar-screening test

3.2 The Scenario-Based Language Assessment for L2 Italian

3.2.1 Theoretical framework of the SBA

3.2.2 Description of the SBA

3.2.2.1 Italian SBA performance moderators

3.2.2.2 The reading comprehension task

3.2.2.3 The listening comprehension task

3.2.2.4 The categorisation tasks

3.2.2.5 The summary writing tasks

3.2.2.6 The speaking tasks

3.2.2.7 The topical knowledge tasks

3.3 The SBA post-test experience survey

3.4 The SBA scoring rubrics

4. Data collection procedures

4.1 Data protection and security

4.2 Test administration

4.3 Scoring procedures

5. Data analysis procedures

5.1 Descriptive statistics

5.1.1 Central tendency

5.1.2 Dispersion

5.1.3 Distribution

5.1.3.1 Skewness

5.1.3.2 Kurtosis

5.2 Reliability

5.2.1 Internal consistency

5.2.2 Inter-rater reliability

5.3 Item analysis

5.3.1 Facility value

5.3.2 Frequency

5.3.3 Discrimination

5.3.4 Internal consistency

5.3.5 Distractor analysis

5.4 Analysis of participants’ experience in the Italian SBA

5.5 Correlation analyses for the research question

5.5.1 Topical knowledge and speaking performance

5.5.2 Speaking performance and L2 proficiency level

6. Summary

CHAPTER 4 Findings and Discussion

1. Analyses of the grammar knowledge task

1.1 Descriptive statistics – grammar knowledge task

1.2 Reliability – grammar knowledge task