Predictability of OPIc Levels Based on Oral Proficiency in Textual Coherence, Cohesion and Genre-specific Discourse Features

This study attempted to investigate how Korean EFL learners oral proficiency in textual coherence, cohesion and genre-specific features in their discourse production would predict the correct reflection of Oral Proficiency Interview-computer (OPIc) levels. More specifically, its goal was to examine what factor or factors would predict OPIc performance, which is rated according to seven levels. The levels range from Novice-Low to Advanced-Low, according to the ACTFL assessment criteria. This study first investigated correlations between the dependent variable (OPIc) and 24 independent variables, including prononminals, rheme, clause and tokens. After that, stepwise regression analyses were conducted in order to gain some information about possible predictors of OPIc performance. One of the findings was that the more lexical complexity, content and lexical diversity the test takers had and the longer discourse they produced, the more fluently they responded and the better they performed on the OPIc.