Some effects of oral assessment applied to a literature course for English language teaching students: A case study

This study refers to some positive and negative effects of oral assessment applied to a literature course. The experiment was conducted in a north Cyprus university English language teaching (ELT) department, during the spring semester of the 2016-2017 academic year. The data were collected from the ELT students taking the Survey to English Literature course (SELC) during the spring semester of the 2016-2017 academic year, who were asked to fill in an open ended questionnaire about the intervention, and semi structured interviews conducted with the co-examiners. In the ELT department under discussion, almost all the exams are written, and the students do not have too many opportunities to speak during the courses or during their mid-term exam. The results show the benefits and drawbacks of implementing oral examinations to assess students' literature knowledge.