What we can learn from questions : ESL question development and its implications for language assessment

This article sketches research into the developmental stages of question formation by English as a Second Language (ESL) learners and its application to language assessment. It focuses on one critique that claims that such research emphasises form at the expense of the interaction between form and meaning. To address this issue, this article outlines the lexicogrammatical approach to second-language speech processing in the most recent version of the stages paradigm. This approach is investigated through a study that followed two Chinese-speaking ESL learners during their first academic year in Australia. In addition to providing further evidence of stages in question formation, the study reveals how learners map meaning and form in their questions. While they initially rely on the meanings of base lexical items, fixed word order and intonation, they gradually add grammatical meaning by varying the order, form and argument structure of lexical items. The implications of these findings for assessment are explored, particularly the view that schedules of stages should supplement proficiency testing.12 page(s