EUROPEAN SCALES OF LANGUAGE

PROFICIENCY

BASIC CONCEPTS IN ASSESSMENT

ASSESSING ORAL PERFORMANCE

Language Assessment

Global Scale

Basic User A1, A2Independent User B1, B2Proficient User C1, C2

(Common European framework of reference for languages. Learning, teaching, assessment.)

Assessment

Informal Formal

Formative (over time)

Summative (outcomes at the end of instruction)

How to Test Speaking?

What is a speaking task?…activities that involve speakers in

using language for the purpose of achieving a particular goal or objective in a particular speaking situation.

(Bachman and Palmer as cited in Sari Luoma Assesing speaking. p. 31)

Types of classroom speaking performance:

Imitative (like a tape recorder) Intensive (rhymes, learners ‘go over’ certain forms

of the language)Responsive (short replies to teacher-or student-

initiated questions or comments.)Transactional (dialog to convey or exchange

specific information)Interpersonal Dialog to maintain social

relationships Extensive (planned or impromptu monologues)

(Based on H.D. Brown Teaching by Principles pp.271-274)

Steps in designing classroom assessment procedures:

Specify the category of speaking performance.

Consider the micro- and macroskills that you are going to assess.

Think of the genre of spoken language.

Some suggestions for consideration:

Imitative speaking tasks Repeating the sentences

Intensive Learning a rhyme S1-Whole class (What did you do on holiday?) Completing a dialogue Acting out a dialogue Reading aloud (for checking pronunciation) Picture-cued elicitation of a grammatical item

Some suggestions:

Responsive Question elicitation (ask me about my favourite

film) Picture-cued elicitation of response (Q-A) Map-cued elicitation Question and answers

Some suggestions:

Interactive tasks Role plays Interviews Debates

Extensive Retelling a text Describing a picture Describing one’s favourite film, …..

What to evaluate in a speaking task?

Accuracy in phonology, vocabulary and grammar.

Fluency and discourse (cohesion, sociolinguistic appropriateness).

Accomplishing the objective of the task.

Suggested reading:

Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. Longman: New York.

Common European framework of reference for languages. Learning, teaching, assessment. (2001). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English language teaching. Fourth edition. Harlow: Longman.

Luoma, S.( 2004). Assessing speaking. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Weir, C. J. (1990). Communicative language testing. Prentice Hall International