Assessing language proficiency through storying

This paper presents a research methodology used in Tajikistan for the assessment of second-language proficiency in Tajik amongst some Yaghnob and Yazghulami communities in Tajikistan. The results demonstrate that even in societies whose cultural norms make formal testing unacceptable, a combination of less threatening tools can gain an approximate picture of the range of second-language proficiencies across a community. A key tool was a "Storying Proficiency Interview," which reduced the amount of respondent subjectivity and over- and under-assessment bias, and stimulated fuller, non-polar answers.