Teacher interventions following test takers’ interactional troubles during classroom-based paired speaking tests at lower level Elisabeth Peyer Gabriela Lüthi Nadia Ravazzini Interaktionsprobleme conversation analysis examiner behaviour Prüferverhalten German as a foreign language classroom-based assessment classroom-based assessment Deutsch als Fremdsprache interactional troubles This paper analyses the behaviour and interventions of four teachers during authentic classroom-based paired speaking tests (n=21) in lower secondary schools in the German as a foreign language classroom (target level: A2). Conversation analysis was used to explore the tests with regard to two questions: a) How do the teacher-examiners intervene when the student-examinees face interactional troubles? b) What effect do these interventions have on the progressivity of the peer interaction and on the test takers’ independent interactional trouble solving? The analysis shows that the scope and type of interventions vary greatly depending on the teacher and that, while most of these attempts at collaborative assistance are beneficial for the progressivity of the peer interaction, they do not foster test takers’ independent interactional trouble solving ability. Only the permission to deviate from the task is conducive to both progressivity and test takers’ independent interactional trouble solving. Philipps-Universität Marburg Marburg Deutschhausstraße 9, 35037 Marburg 2025 2025-12-15 2025-12-15 Text article urn:nbn:de:hebis:04-0009-2025-354-87938 ger 3101186-X 5 1 (2025) 1 https://journals.uni-marburg.de/ziaf/article/download/8793/8624 10.17192/ziaf.2025.5.1.8793 https://journals.uni-marburg.de/0009/2025/354/8793