Assessing Speaking

Assessing Speaking

1. Imitative Speaking

   • the
     • ability to imitate a word, phrase or possibly a sentence
       • in
         • a simple repettition task they repeat the sitimulus
   • word repetition task
     • variation on a task prompts test takers
       • with
         • written stimulus to read aloud

2. Intensive Speaking

   • typically emplopyed in assessment contexts
     • is
       • the production of short stretches of oral language
         • to
           • demonstrate competence on grammatical, phrasal, lexical, or phonological relationships
   • includes
     • directed response tasks, reading aloud, sentence and dialogue completion; limited picture-cued tasks including simple sequences, and translation up to the sentence level
   • directed response task
     • in which
       • the test administrator elicits a particular grammatical form or a transformation of a sentence
   • Read-aloud tasks
     • include
       • reading beyond the sentence level up to a paragraph
     • students read aloud into a tape recorde
       • then
         • teachers listen to the recording to rate them
   • Sentence/dialogue completion tasks and oral questionnaires
     • in which
       • test-takers read a dialogue with omitted lines
         • for them to
           • think an appropriate response to fill in
   • Picture-Cued tasks
     • are
       • one of the most popular ways to elicit oral language performance at intensive and extensive levels
         • it
           • requires a description from the test-taker. The pictures need to be simple
   • the scoring process depends on the expected performance criteria for intensive tasks
     • 2- Comprehensible; acceptable target form 1- Comprehensible; partially correct target form 0- silence, or seriously incorrect target form

3. Responsive Speaking

   • involves
     • brief interactions with an interlocutor
   • question and answer
     • consists
       • of one or two questions from an interviewer
         • is
           • intended to elicit a predetermined correct response
   • giving instructions and directions
     • to
       • engage in an extended stretch of discourse
         • to be
           • clear, specific, and use markers and connectors
             • basically
               • the administrator poses the problem and the test taker responds
   • paraphrasing
     • can
       • ask the test taker to read or heat sentences and produce a paraphrase

4. interactive Speaking

   • includes
     • tasks that involve relatively long stretches of interactive discourse
       • like
         • role plays, games, interviews, etc.
   • example
     • Role play
       • opens more opportunity for test takers
         • to
           • use discourse that may be difficult to elicit
     • Discussion and conversations
       • are
         • difficult to specify and score. Discussion may be especially appropriate tasks
           • to
             • elicit and observe that abilities
     • games
       • there are
         • variety of games
           • like
             • Crossword puzzles
               • in which
                 • the names of all members are clued by information about them. Each class member must ask questions of others
                   • to
                     • determine who matches
             • Information gap grids
               • so that
                 • class members must conduct mini-interviews of other classmates
                   • to
                     • fill in boxes

5. Extensive Speaking

   • can
     • vary from length from maybe 5 to 45 minutes, depending on context and purpose
       • for
         • oral interaction from listeners.
   • oral presentations
     • test takers make a presentation
       • and
         • for scoring we need to follow a checklist
           • example of a checklist for a prepared oral presentation
             • at
               • intermediate or advanced level of English
   • Picture-Cued Story-Telling
     • at
       • his level a picture or a series of pictures as a stimulus for a longer story or description
         • althpugh
           • the objective of eliciting narrative discourse needs to be clear
   • Retelling a Story, News Event
     • where
       • test takers hear or read a story or news event that they are asked to retell
   • Translation
     • where
       • longer texts are presented for the test taker to read in the native language and then translate it to English

6. Micro and macroskills of speaking

   • microskills
     • producing smaller chunks of language
       • like
         • phonemes, morphemes, words, collocations and phrasal units.
   • macroskills
     • larger elements
       • such as
         • fluency, discourse, function, style, cohesion, non verbal communication and strategic options

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