Abstract：
Abstract: This study investigates the opinions and the actual assessment concerning the holistic scoring in terms of definition of pronunciation and intonation, rating dimensions, scoring methods and task types among 106 raters of standardized oral tests in China. Some major findings are: (1) although phonological proficiency is an important component of assessment criteria in holistic scoring, the raters do not have a consistent interpretation of assessment criteria and thus mainly take segmental features into consideration or even ignore all the phonological factors in the actual assessment; (2) there is significant rater-variability concerning interpretation of rating dimensions; (3) raters tend to choose the holistic scoring method; and (4) raters approve of topic-based dialogue and reading-aloud as the suitable task types in the assessment. These findings show that phonological assessment is not actually carried out though it has been written into the assessment criteria of English oral tests. Therefore, in order to ensure the objectivity of the evaluation of examinees’ phonological proficiency, it is of much necessity to refine the phonological assessment criteria in the standardized oral tests in China and intensify the training of phonological knowledge among test raters.
Key words: English phonological assessment; assessment criteria; rating dimensions; scoring methods; task types
