Performance in Multimodal Speaking Tests: Focusing on Strategic Competence and Task Complexity

This book explores the complex interplay between test-takers’ strategic competence, task complexity, and performance, focusing on Chinese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL).  It introduces and empirically validates the Strategic Competence Model of L2 Speaking (SCMLS), the first framework in second language research to clearly conceptualise strategic competence in speaking, designed primarily for Chinese EFL learners. It also provides a feasible solution to the long-standing challenge of designing and assessing task complexity and multimodality in L2 testing by using Robinson’s (2015) Triadic Componential Framework. Methodologically, the employment of quantitative hierarchical linear modelling and qualitative, ChatGPT‑assisted coding to investigate these relationships offers rigorous and efficient approaches to data analysis for future studies. The book provides pedagogical implications for metacognitive scaffolding and task development for EFL speaking instruction. This book serves as a useful reference for language assessment researchers, applied linguists, teacher educators, test developers, and graduate students interested in second language speaking performance and strategy use in assessment contexts.

Weiwei (Vivien) Zhang has studied and earned her Ph.D. in Education (Applied Linguistics) in the Faculty of Arts and Education (formerly the Faculty of Education and Social Work), University of Auckland, New Zealand. Currently, she is a full professor of applied linguistics at the School of Foreign Languages, Quzhou University, China. She also works as  a co-supervisor of the Doctor of Philosophy programme in the Department of Language Education, School of Education, Kathmandu University, Nepal. Vivien’s research and writings mainly focus on psycholinguistics, language assessment, and pedagogical instruction, with a focus on second language (L2) speaking. Her publications have appeared in Social Science Citation Indexed (SSCI) journals, including System, Applied Linguistics Review, Frontiers in Psychology, among others.

Lawrence Jun Zhang, Ph.D., is a professor of Applied Linguistics and Associate Dean for the Faculty of Arts and Education, University of Auckland, New Zealand. His major interests and over 200 publications are on the psychology of language learning and teaching, especially learner metacognition, second language (L2) reading-writing development, teacher assessment and AI literacy. His publications have appeared in top journals such as Applied Linguistics, Applied Linguistics Review, British Journal of Educational Psychology, Studies in Second Language Acquisition, Metacognition and Learning, Current Psychology, Discourse Processes, Journal of Second Language Writing, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, Language Awareness, Modern Language Journal, TESOL Quarterly, Perceptual and Motor Skills, Language Teaching Research, RELC Journal, System, Computers and Education, Computers in Human Behavior, Motivation and Learning, Learning and Instruction, and Learning and Individual Differences, among others. In the Elsevier-Stanford Rankings of scholars’ academic impact, he has been consecutively listed in the top 2% mostcited linguists in the World.