KPG oral exams: task design considerations and actual performance

This paper presents a task analysis model that has been designed for the oral tasks of the Greek State Exams for foreign language certification (known as KPG). The theoretical background of the model is based on the systemic functional approach to language use as well as on the notion of genre as both process and product. The purpose of this paper is to show how the model has been applied to describe and analyze the tasks designed for the KPG oral exams at levels B1 and B2. The analysis of the oral task rubrics shows that the generic process specified by the task is likely to lead test takers to particular lexicogrammatical choices, which, in turn, cause differences in the expected language performance. Implications for future research, language teaching and testing are mentioned.