Critical Thinking in the Context of Speaking Assessment

Abstract

This literature review explores the critical intersection between oral communicative competence and critical thinking (CT) within academic settings. Traditional English language placement tests often overlook the analytical and strategic skills necessary for effective university-level communication. To address this gap, this review synthesizes scholarship across five key areas: performance assessment in ESL, oral communicative competence, the role of CT in performance evaluation, computer-based testing, and the integration of speaking and CT as a unified construct. Grounded in an interactionalist approach to defining second language speaking ability, the review argues that speaking assessments must reflect the “focused thinking” required in purposeful academic discourse. Finally, the review proposes a working definition of the construct, “Critical-Thinking-to-Interact” in speaking assessment. Using the Evidence-Centered Design (ECD) framework, the review concludes by discussing the development of current assessments of academic speaking ability that include this construct.