The typical English instructor at a Korean university is responsible for teaching a very large number of students enrolled in several sections of "conversation" courses each semester. One of the major problems created by this reality is that of evaluating students' achievement in the course fairly and efficiently. In this paper, the authors first review the literature on language testing to identify fundamental considerations particularly relevant to the Korean university situation. Then, oral testing in that situation is discussed in relation to Bachman and Palmer's (1996) concept of "Test Usefulness" (i.e., "Reliability + Construct Validity + Authenticity + Interactiveness + Impact + Practicality"). Finally, the authors describe an oral testing format they have used successfully for several semesters to test a large number of students in a reasonable amount of time. They believe this format, which makes use of small-group role plays and an analytical scoring system with syllabus-based descriptors, goes a long way toward maximizing the usefulness of oral testing in conversation courses.

Bachman, L. F., & Palmer, A. S. (1996). Language testing in practice: Designing and developing useful language tests. Oxford: Oxford University Press.