Vertiefendes Gespräch

14:06 Jan 7, 2013 

Of course you are right. It is an artificial situation. The factual knowledge problem is alleviated i my case by the monothematic approach, i.e. the entire exam is on one main theme, the idea being that by the end the candidates will have heard or read quite a bit of factual information.
I'm sure "blarney" would not go down well, although the CEFR says that as of Level C1 the language learner " Can use language flexibly and effectively for social purposes, including emotional, allusive and joking language." This ability would be even more difficult to assesss, though!

13:40 Jan 7, 2013 

Appropriate for a business situation where the details of an agreement or a project have to be hammered out. Inappropriate in the artificial setting of an examination, particularly one that may involve a degree of role play. Would candidates be penalised for introducing an element of blarney, for example? The skills being tested here are linguistic first and foremost. Analytical and problem solving skills are clearly a bonus, but should not be a marking criterion. And since the topics have been set by the examiner, testing the candidate on factual knowledge would be unfair.