Spoken English Proficiency Test TKBI

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4. Spoken English Proficiency Test TKBI

a. The definition of test Test is a way to gather inf ormation about people‟s language ability Hughes, 1989, p. 4; Brown, 2003, p. 3; Carr, 2011, p. 1. The result of the test reflects what the students are able and unable to do with the language. Test can be defined as an instrument to measure language ability Douglas 2000, p. 2; Bachman, 1990, p. 20; Brown, 2003, p. 3; Davidson, 2007, p. 7. This definition describes the test as a medium to measure the language performance of the students. The test result is in the form of measurable and numerical score. Therefore, it will be easier to determine the passing grade and criteria of success. Test is also defined as a method to measure a persons ability or knowledge in a given domain Brown, 2000, p. 384. Conducting a test is necessary to identify the student s‟ language competence based on the domain, such as reading, writing, listening, speaking, and lexico-grammatical competence. The result will show if the students can be characterized as proficient English users in each specific domain. Besides being used to make decision about people‟s language skills and competence, test is also used as a method to identify what competence still needs to be improved Fulcher, 2010, p. 4. The students‟ scores on the test will show what they still lack and what learning still need to be done in the classroom. b. English test at university level In Vietnam, there is a shift on the focus of speaking test. In order to make the test more beneficial for the students, it becomes more communicative and 28 links the test to students ‟ lives Utsumi Nam Hau, 2010. Students‟ English competence is expected to help students ‟ pass international exam, including the standardized test such as TOEFL and IELTS which will be useful for them when they apply a job in international company and study abroad. As university graduates are expected to be able to compete in world economy, university academic programs are to meet the economic growth demands of the country by encouraging the students to speak English in the campus, raising the importance of learning English, and conducting useful English test. Therefore, the university can create self-regulated learners. In Vietnam graduation rates also become the challenge in implementing English at university. In China, College English Test CET is designed to assess college students ‟ English ability Li, Zhong, Suen, 2012. This test becomes compulsory test for non-English-major students in China during their study. Established in 1987, this test aims to measure students ‟ proficiency and identify if the quality of the undergraduate students meet the national curriculum. In order to monitor their language proficiency during their years in the university, the test is implemented in two phases; Band 4 CET-4 and Band 6 CET-6. Students should take CET-4 on their second year in college and take CET-6 after passing Band 4. Each test consists of five sections and is administered in the form written and listening tests. In the test, the students will work on listening, reading, vocabulary and structure, cloze, and written tests. Based on the research, 81.7 universities in China require their students to pass the minimum score of CET-4 as the precondition to earn their bachelor degree. Some studies on the test even 29 shows that it brings influential impact on what students ‟ learn in the universities and their learning motivation. The exam-oriented students tend to put more effort to improve their English competence to pass the test. The same policy is also applied in most Mexican universities. English test, mostly TOEFL test, is required in most universities as a condition for the students to earn their degree Despagne, 2010. The demand of international education in Mexican universities is perceived as the underlying factor that urges the universities to set high standard of English proficiency in the test. It aims to prepare the students for labor market that they will be able to study abroad or compete to get well-paying jobs and achieve any positions, hence can improve their life and social status. Therefore, the undergraduate students are required to take the test to earn their degree, so they will be well-prepared and well-equipped with English competence. Andersen Cozart 2014 mentions that educational setting in Denmark conducts English test as summative assessment in the universities, not only at the end but during the course. This is to ensure their progress and help them reach their highest competence that will be useful for their future to find interesting and well-paying jobs. In the selection process to get the job, their level of knowledge, skills, and competence will be assessed. Therefore, the English test is conducted to improve their quality as future job-candidates. In most higher education, the examination should be conducted in the form of written or oral production, and oral examination has been largely conducted in most Danish schools and higher institutions. The test is considered to be authentic and resemble real situation or 30 working-life situation, hence can assess students ‟ ability to function in international communication. Another reason why English competence is needed in higher institution is because most scientific publications are written in English. In Swedish universities, English is intensively taught to help students understand academic texts, including articles, theses, and textbooks of all disciplines Johansson Jonsson, 2006. Therefore, the students are required to take English courses during their years in the university. English test is summatively conducted to monitor students ‟ English competence and progress in learning English. By doing so, the students can make use of their English to learn other subjects. TKBI is conducted differently as end-program test. Different from entry test or in-program test, TKBI is conducted at the end of learning program in the university as a requirement to earn degree. Instead of paper-based test, TKBI is designed as speaking test. Students‟ abilities to participate in active communication are assessed during interview process. The result of the test is used for consideration whether the students have achieved the expected language proficiency level to compete in job seeking. c. Speaking test Speaking is interaction and social and situation-based activity Luoma, 2004, p. 9. In communicative task of speaking, speaking is illustrated as an interaction via spoken communication where the speakers exhange message Nunan, 1993, p. 59. The speakers should be able to comprehend and deliver message for meaningful interaction. Adopting the principle of speaking as 31 interaction, TKBI focuses on students‟ competence to maintain communication. In order to do so, the test should measure whether the students ‟ questions and answers are relevant and understandable to get message across Luoma, 2004, p. 23. In addition to the communicative competence, speaking test also measures students‟ accuracy and fluency. The test rubric provides discrete criteria to measure students‟ accuracy in terms of the grammatical structure, pronunciation, and diction. The test also tries to measure students‟ ability to communicate fluently without making many pauses which can distract the delivery of the message. TKBI is described as spoken proficiency test. The contents of the test are not related to what are learned in the courses, but based on the language competence that the students should have. The test contents are used to measure whether the students can perform certain communicative tasks. Since it is communicative test, the assessment standards should focus on the use of language as the tool for communication. Therefore, the Common European Framework of Reference is used to set the standards of success because it describes the qualities of proficient language users Nunan, 2015. The standards are suitable for communicative test because they focus on the active use of language. The students should meet the characteristics of proficient English users in C1 level. In this level, the students should perform good competence in communicating about personal information, familiar matters, routine tasks, as well as social, academic, and professional tasks by using good organizational patterns, cohesive devices, and connectors. The students should demonstrate good 32 vocabulary range and produce meaningful language where errors made by the students do not interfere with the meaning and pronunciation is intelligible. They are also expected to present well-organized ideas during their speech. Students who have this proficiency level can maintain meaningful interaction where they can answer and ask questions. Those standards are derived from CEFR and developed into speaking rubric used for assessment Appendix 5. Due to the different grading system between CEFR and university rubric, the descriptors in CEFR level are adapted to develop the assessment rubric for the test. In CEFR level, the highest grade for intermediate level is C1, while the grading system in the university considers A as the highest grade. Based on the policy, the students should earn B- to pass the test. The evaluation standards describes that students who deserve B- at least, should be able to communicate comprehensibly where the pauses for grammatical checking and lexical planning do not affect the intelligibility. They can communicate in variety of topics including familiar matters or subjects within their fields of interest and organize their ideas. The number of errors should be reasonable and rare. Hence, they do not alter the meaning. These descriptions correspond to the CEFR standard of C1 in particular and set the passing grade of TKBI test. Thus, intermediate level students should have those qualities. As a proficiency test, TKBI test is conducted to measure students ‟ level of language competence and determine if the students have achieved the expected level of language proficiency. Therefore, the test does not fail the students, but the policy of each department expects the students to reach the expected proficiency 33 before they graduate. It will ensure that all graduates of Sanata Dharma University have good mastery of English. Different from other universities, the English test in Sanata Dharma University is designed as speaking test. Although considered less practical than paper-based test, speaking test is favored because it ensures that the successful students have active English competence which means that they can function in interactive communication using English. Test of speaking proficiency should engage the examiner and examinee in a communicative interaction Huei-Chun, 2000. Therefore, TKBI test is designed to maintain interaction between the examiners and test takers. The face to face interview follows good speaking test format to promote communication Khamkien, 2010. The test format will be effective to measure the students‟ oral competence in the real target language use. Speaking test is conducted in the form of interview to provide real information about students‟ strengths and weaknesses in understanding and using language. Their competence can be assessed from the way they answer and ask questions. However, the examiners should consider the weakness and the strength when they conduct individual interview. The weakness of conducting individual interview is that it takes more time and effort. On the other hand, individual interview is preferred because it is reliable and valid to measure the intended proficiency level and the test takers‟ actual proficiency. Talking about the assessment criteria for speaking test, there are some elements that should be assessed to measure speakers‟ proficiency level. Koizumi and In‟nami 2014 mention complexity, accuracy, and fluency as some aspects to assess in speaking test. This means that the speakers should perform wide range of 34 vocabulary, grammatical accuracy, and smooth production during speaking. In addition to grammatical accuracy, fluency, and vocabulary, the examiners should measure students‟ proficiency on the pronunciation, organization, coherence, content, and turn taking skill if referring the C1level of CEFR Khamkien, 2010, p. 186; Pajupuu et al, 2010, p. 131. Therefore, the students should communicate using good pronunciation, well-organized ideas, meaningful and relevant content, and good interactional skill. CEFR also provides the criteria of proficiency that the students should have including the range, accuracy, fluency, interaction, and coherence Council of Europe, 2014, p. 28. The range of communication that the proficient language users should master requires them to have broad range and unrestricted language that allows the individuals to express their ideas clearly in a wide range of general, academic, professional, and leisure topics. While doing so, the speakers should perform good grammatical knowledge and pronunciation. Errors in these elements should be rare and difficult to spot. The speakers should vary intonation and place sentence stress correctly. They should also be able to communicate effortlessly, with spontaneous, fluent, natural, and smooth production. The interaction is built smoothly through the effective turn-taking strategies performed by the speakers. Last, the proficient language users should clear and well-structured speech by using organizational patterns, connectors, and cohesive devices. In addition, CEFR also includes paralinguistic competence, such as gesture, facial expression, and eye contact in the standard of communicative competence. Thus, CEFR provides descriptors to design assessment rubrics for the examiners. 35 Table 2.4 Common Reference Levels of CEFR Council of Europe, 2014, p. 24 Based on the policy Appendix 6, the students should achieve active English competence in intermediate level. When taking the test, the students 36 should be able to describe personal experience, personal ability, and future plan, negotiate, analyze problem, and give solution. The students should pass job interview which is simulated in TKBI test. For the test procedure, the students should register themselves to Testing Center in Language Institute of Sanata Dharma University and the test is also conducted there on the last week of the month. The score can be checked one week after the test. If they do not pass the test, they will retake it until they succeed. Usefulness of speaking test can be seen from its reliability, construct validity, authenticity, interactiveness, impact, and practicability Akiyama, 2003. The speaking test should be reliable to give information and inferences about the students‟ proficiency Douglas‟ 2009, p. 10. Fulcher mentions that construct validity of a test measures what the test is supposed to measure 2003, p. 117. Test should be designed based on its construct, its purpose, and its intended participants. The test designers should consider the test purpose or the test function. In order to make the test valid, it can be designed based on the test blueprint and the test content which should be covered in the test. Although there is no formal study conducted on the test validity, the test can be considered as a valid test. The contents and the descriptors are defined from the standard that should be achieved in CEFR. Therefore, the questions that are asked to the students reflect what the students should be able to perform in communication. The test contains twelve questions. Questions one to four are designed to gather information about how well they talk about their personal information. The rest of the questions invite the students to give opinions, solve 37 problems, state preferences, and describe people or objects related to their academic and future professional lives. In the end of the conversation, the students should ask questions to the examiners. The rubric also describes the level of proficiency, such as the grammatical knowledge, pronunciation, vocabulary, fluency, clarity and organization based on the proficiency level of CEFR. Speaking test can be useful if it is authentic. Test authenticity can be maintained through its focus to carry out genuine and real language use Akiyama, 2003. Owing to the nature of communication, the speaking test should provide interactive communication between the examiners and test takers. Useful test should also consider its impacts to the test takers, both positive and negative. Test should be reliable, so when the test is administered at different time, the result will be the same with the previous result. Although the test is not practical, but it is effective to measure students ‟ speaking competence. Fulcher also mentions that good test should provide both freedom and control to the test takers 2003, p. 135. The test should invite more answers from the students. They should be given freedom to explore their ideas but controlled in terms of the acceptable and relevant answers. Nevertheless, the ideas should be coherent and well organized Czaplak, 2014. In order to produce coherent and well-organized ideas, the speakers can use connectors and cohesive devices. McNamara 2007, p. 38 explains that test should be effective to measure language competence and actual performance. Therefore, the questions from the examiners should invite more responses as natural as possible from the test takers. Speaking test is also preferred because it is useful to provide opportunities for the 38 students to demonstrate their competence on linguistic form and meaning Sato, 2007. d. The purpose of testing According to Douglas, the purpose of language testing is to assess whether the students have achieved certain level of competence in the target language 2010, p. 1. Hughes elaborates the purpose of the test into some objectives 1989, p.8. First, the test tr ies to measure students‟ language proficiency. It seeks what the students are competent or lack at. Second, test aims to discover how successful students have been in achieving the course objectives. This test is usually conducted in the end of the course or learning program to identify whether the objectives are successfully achieved. Third, test tries to diagnose students strengths and weaknesses. This kind of diagnostic test aims to identify what the students still lack and need to improve. Last, test aims to assist placement of students based on their initial proficiency level. This test is conducted before the learning program to put the students based on their level, so they will start learning based on their level of competence. These tests serve one main purpose, which is to make inferences or decisions about one‟s competence. Being specific, the purpose of speaking test is to identify students‟ communicative proficiency Luoma, 1999. The test aims to identify if the students can function in communication. Therefore, the speaking test should involve activities that engage the test takers to use the target language for the purpose of achieving a particular goal or objective in particular speaking situation. 39 Generally, the purpose of TKBI itself is similar with the purpose of speaking test in common. However, since it is conducted at the end of the study program and taken before undergraduate thesis defense, TKBI aims to improve the quality of the university graduates who are able to compete in working world. It will ensure that all graduates of Sanata Dharma University have the ability to speak in English for professional purpose. The implementation of TKBI is expected to equip students with attitudes and soft skills which become very important for working world. This purpose has been established in Surat Keputusan Rektor Nomor 049I2009 about Sistem Poin Kegiatan Kemahasiswaan Appendix 6. Before finishing their study, each student is required to fulfill 10 points, and one of the points is valued from active communication skills in English. For non-English-department students, this point can be earned from TKBI test. e. Effects of test on students Sanata Dharma University conducts Spoken English Competence Test TKBI as an effort to improve the quality of the graduates. This speaking test is used as the requirement to take their thesis defense. Therefore, this test brings serious consequences on students‟ academic life. Fulcher mentions that this kind of test belongs to high stake test which has serious consequences on the test takers and bring unintended results to the students 2010, p. 6. One form of unintended result is the attitude of the students, such as studying the test, negative learning strategies, and feeling depressed. 40 The impact that tests have on teaching and learning is called as washback Shohamy, 2007. Messick 1996, p. 241 mentions that washback refers to the extent to which the introduction and use of a test influences language teachers and learners to do things that they would not otherwise do that promote or inhibit language learning. There are some effects of test on the students. Test can affect teaching and learning process, the materials that the teachers teach and the students learn, the rate and depth of learning, and the attitudes towards the test. Alderson and Wall 1993 as cited in Bailey, 1999, p. 6 describe the nature of the washback hypothesis as important consequence that appears in the test. They mention that tests which have important consequences will have washback; and conversely, tests that do not have important consequences will have no washback effects pp. 120-121. When the students think that the test is important for their lives, it will affect their learning process, attitudes, and learning approach. Bailey mentions that the impact of a test should be evaluated with reference to the contextual variables of societys goals and values, the educational system in which the test is used, and the potential outcomes of its use to understand and manage the presumed influence of tests 2009. Therefore, the test should be evaluated in terms of its goal and the way the school society value the test. By involving the students as the test takers in the evaluation process, it will promote the potential for positive impact, inc rease students‟ motivation, and lead to positive performance Bachman and Palmer, 1996, p. 133. Douglas also mentions the significance of observing students‟ attitudes towards the test, so the language 41 testers can respect humanity and dignity, and consider the potential short or long term effects of test on the students‟ attitudes 2010, p. 12. Motivation is one effect of test on students‟ attitudes. Test which brings high consequence raises students motivation to learn. Having great desires for learning the language is considered to be one of the main components of language learning motivation Gardner, 2006. The students will be highly motivated to learn because they want to pass the test. However, this motivation is temporary and immediate. The students will stop learning when they have passed the test. Whereas, other students may be unmotivated to learn. These students find themselves unmotivated because they have no chance to study, no experience of interacting in the target language, no need to use the target language in the future, and no confidence to communicate in the target language Watanabe, 2013. Research by Yashima, Zenuk-Nishide, and Shimizu shows that students who are more satisfied with their skills are more motivated and willing to communicate in the target language 2004. Test can raise students‟ anxiety during the test preparation and test taking process. Anxiety can be defined as subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry Horwitz, 1986, p. 125; Goh Burns, 2012, p. 26. It presents as the feeling of worry and nervousness because of communication apprehension, fear of negative social evaluation, and test apprehension. Students are anxious because they feel that they have lack of communicative skills and low performance on test. Anxiety mostly presents among low proficiency students who feel insecure to speak because of their low linguistic competence and lack of 42 speaking ability Stawiarska, 2015, p. 104. Anxiety itself diminishes as someone becomes more proficient. The effect of anxiety can be debilitative and facilitative on learning process Alpert Haber, 1960 as cited in Stawiarska, 2015. Anxious students can feel demotivated to learn because they feel that they do not have the competence and ability, as a result, it will impair the learning quality. Anxiety can be facilitative when it can motivate the students to improve themselves through learning. Young 1991 mentions six sources of anxiety. First, anxiety comes from students‟ personal and interpersonal beliefs. The beliefs include their fear of failure, communication apprehension, and negative social evaluation. When the students are afraid of making mistakes and making not understandable sentences which will result in negative evaluation, they will be very anxious. Second, anxiety comes as a result of students‟ beliefs about language learning. It depends on how the students perceive mistakes and view instructional activities. Making mistakes can raise students‟ anxiety because they think that they will be unsuccessful. If they often find difficulties in accomplishing the learning activities or learning tasks, they will be anxious as well, because they think that the tasks are difficult to do. Third, anxiety can be the result of instructor beliefs about language learning. In learning process, the role of instructors and relationship with the learners play a very important role in shaping students‟ feelings. If the instructors dominate the class and maintain social distance from the students that hinder them f rom building the relationship, this condition leads to students‟ learning anxiety. Fourth, instructor-learner interactions can raise anxiety. The 43 students tend to consider their teachers or instructors as evaluators. As a result, they are reluctant to speak because they are afraid of making mistakes and receiving bad evaluation. Fifth, anxiety can be the result of classroom procedures. Consciously or unconsciously, types of learning activities or learning procedures can raise learning anxiety. Students who are incapable in doing certain types of tasks tend to feel worried of failing in the those particular tasks. Last, language testing is considered as the most anxiety-provoking. Test format usually affects students‟ anxiety. The students are more anxious to accomplish test which needs complex thinking process, including speaking test where they need to express their ideas spontaneously and meaningfully, with full of attention on the language at the same time. To some extent, anxiety can impair the quality of performance. Debilitative anxiety can result in errors because it diminishes students‟ capacity, confidence, and motivation. The more anxious the students are, the more errors they make. Among all kinds of test, speaking test is most anxiety provoking Stawiarska, 2015, pp. 104-105. The test takers feel that their competence is directly observed and measured by the examiners. They are more anxious to make mistakes and fail on the test. There are some factors that raise students‟ anxiety during test, including vocabulary, grammar, fluency, pronunciation, and intelligibility. Most students are anxious about their vocabulary mastery, grammar accuracy and pronunciation. They are also anxious if they cannot speak smoothly in natural speed. In addition, the students become more anxious in communicating using the target language if they are unable to understand what the other speakers say or to 44 deliver the message they intend to communicate. Errors due to anxiety are common to occur in early learning phase. When test takers talk with more competent speakers or native speakers, communication breakdowns mostly occur, because they try to reach mutual understanding and negotiate meaning with their initial language competence Sato, 2007. Figure 2.4 The Relation between Test Scores, Self-Efficacy, and Learning Performance Bandura, 1993, p. 129 This condition is similar with the structure of performance theory proposed by Bandura 1993, p. 130. Bandura relates past performance, learning goal, self- efficacy, and learning strategies as interrelated parts that affect future test performance 1993, p. 132. Past performance on the test affects students‟ attitudes towards their future orientation. Past performance on the test can strengthen as well as weaken stud ents‟ self-efficacy. Bad test performance can impair students‟ self confidence about their competence and ability. This belief can be reproduced when the students take similar tests. This form of self-efficacy will affect their learning goals and learning strategies either positively or negatively. As a result, their self-efficacy will bring effect on their future test performance, whether it improves, stays the same level, or degrades. 45 Test can bring undesirable washback effect. Cumming 2015 mentions that test can bring exam culture in the learning process. The students might be motivated to learn because they want to pass the test instead of improving proficiency. This kind of high-stake test tends to force the students to study for the test due to the high consequence it bears. If the students fail, it will affect their lives. Therefore, in English test at higher institutions, exam culture learning is often unavoidable. f. Challenges in speaking test There are some challenges that the examiners should consider in conducting the speaking test. First of all, speaking skill is a skill that cannot be taught Luoma, 1999. It is acquired through practice and exposure to real language use. Second, speaking test is considered as a complex cognitive process Brown, 2000, p. 395; Robinson Norris, 2005. Most students mention that speaking test requires complex cognitive process where they should process information in their minds as well as consider the language accuracy before they can utter the sentences. Sometimes, the tasks in speaking tests are also complex, such as giving opinion, stating agreement or disagreement, reporting, and narrating Brown, 2000. Third, the students find difficulty when they are not familiar with the task. This problem often appears in language proficiency test because the tasks or test contents are not taught or learned in the classroom. The tasks themselves are designed based on the proficiency standard which determines what abilities that the students should perform. To some extent, this principle is effective to measure students‟ real language competence. Fourth, Foster and 46 Skehan mention that planning time can be one obstacle that is faced by the students during the speaking test 1997. Most students find that they need more time to plan what they want to say in the test, so that they can produce more accurate language. Last, interlocutor effects should be considered as one challenge for speaking test Berry, Brown, Lumley, 2009. These interlocutor effects are highly related to wh at are called students‟ attitudes. They relate to what the students think, feel, and act during test preparation and test taking processes. Another challenge of speaking test is anxisety. Anxiety can obstruct learning process because learners tend to focus narrowly on their performance accuracy and evaluate themselves excessively that hinder them from speaking using the target language Goh Burns, 2012, p. 26. Anxiety is unavoidable in learning process. It normally presents during the process and affects the way the students behave and act. Research by MacIntyre Gardner 1991 shows that test takers are worried about failing in the test and not willing to speak, take risks, and experiment as cited in Goh Burns, 2012, p. 27. Test takers mostly feel uncomfortable and experience high-pressure event during the test. Research by Zhang 2001 also illustrates how anxiety affects language performance among Chinese students. Fear of negative evaluation can impair their thinking process and slow their speaking pace. A study by Cheng, Horwitz, and Schallert 1999 among Taiwanese learners shows that students who have low level of self- efficacy tend to have high anxiety level as cited in Goh Burns, 2012, p. 27. When the students feel unconfident with their competence, they tend to feel anxious or worried about their learning success. 47 The nature of speaking as meaningful interaction can be the challenge of speaking test. Unplanned speech results in inaccurate language during the test Luoma, 2004, p. 12. Beginner students or students who have lower proficiency level tend to speak less accurately when they should speak spontaneously. Spontaneous communication especially in a form of interactive speaking test will be full of hesitations, false starts, grammatical inaccuracies and limited vocabularies due to short language processing Hughes, 2002, p. 77. The situation and relationship between the speakers and hearers as test takers and examiners can make the students become anxious in speaking test as well Luoma, 2004, p. 24. They feel that during the interaction, they are observed and assessed by the teachers. As a result, they become anxious and worried about their performance. Beginner students, who rarely expose themselves to the target language tend to speak less compared to the proficient ones. Students who do not speak English as the dominant language tend to initiate fewer conversations, make fewer requests, listen less actively which cause them become less effective in communication Brice Montgomery, 1996, as cited in Goh Burns, 2012, p. 22. This condition answers the question why less proficient students speak less in the speaking test. They tend to be quiet because they are not ready to speak due to less language exposure they receive so far. This condition is normal because as they receive more language exposure, they will be more eloquent. Another challenge to speaking test is that language proficiency is less likely to be a significant factor in influencing test performance Feast, 2001. 48 Language skill is only one of the variables motivation of the students should be considered as one one of the most important factors influencing their success or failure in learning the language. There are also some other factors that interfere students‟ performance during the test. Some previous studies show how motivation and attitudes have great contribution in students‟ language performance. In this condition, motivation cannot be separated from attitudes because students‟ motivation in language learning is affected by their attitudes towards learning the language Shuib, 2009 Communication errors also become one challenge in speaking test. According to Kuchiel, communication errors occur because people want to carry out actions in a proficient and effective manner while maintaining effective interaction between the interlocutors 2015. As a result, this condition will lead to communication apprehension or anxiety, tension, unwillingness to communicate, shyness and unreadiness to talk. The feeling of anxiety and tension will impair students‟ competence because they become unconfident with their ability and diminish their belief on their self-efficacy. In severe condition, the students will be unwilling, shy, and unready to initiate and participate in a communicative setting which then make them avoid social interaction with others. Kuchiel further explains that these challenges occur due to social, cognitive, and cultural dimension of language, that language is a product of cognitive process used to serve social interaction and carried out under particular culture 2015. Communication breakdowns mostly occur because of the greater difference of L2 learners‟ competence and that of the L1 speakers which makes the L2 learners feel 49 more insecure with their language competence. They will feel that their language competence is not sufficient to maintain effective, meaningful, and acceptable communication. Communication breakdown often becomes a challenge in turn-taking process of communication. Khamkien mentions that misunderstanding and mispronunciation can hinder effective communication 2010. Beginner students are worried if they fail to understand what they are saying and ask questions that cannot be understood by the listeners. As a consequence, they lower their self- esteem because they feel to be judged to have failed Lyons, 2015. Another challenge faced by teachers and students is the presence of exam culture learning when the students study merely to pass the test. Both teachers and students should move from exam culture into learning culture. In learning culture, the students learn to develop their proficiency, so they learn because of their needs and interests Lyons, 2015.

B. REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES