Abstract
An oral assessment is a direct way to assess students' learning outcomes by questioning them. The format of oral examinations (viva voce) is not uniform. Unlike interviews, which usually have structured question lists, oral assessments usually do not have a question structure. Structured viva voce overcomes the weaknesses of traditional viva voce. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability of structured viva voce as a formative assessment of dental students. A sample of 65 third-year and 70 fourth-year dental students at one dental school in India were subjected to structured viva voce examinations with questions derived from the subject of periodontics. Each examinee answered five questions (two open and three closed) asked by trained unbiased examiners. The structured viva voce examinations were conducted on the seventh and 14th days after the last lecture of a one-month lecture series. Scores were tabulated into three domains of Bloom's taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, and application. Regarding knowledge, the mean scores were 1.24 +/- 0.59 (seventh day) and 1.66 +/- 0.64 (14th day), and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). Regarding comprehension, the mean scores were 0.92 +/- 0.57 (seventh day) and 1.44 +/- 0.65 (14th day), and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). Regarding application, the mean scores were 0.56 +/- 0.50 (seventh day) and 1.0 +/- 0.43 (14th day) in Domain II, and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.05). The results suggest that structured viva voce was a reliable method for the formative assessment of these dental students.