Testing speaking

Workshop by Michel Fandel, Christiane Klein and Romy Schmit

18 October 2012

What are the challenges?

•Time consuming•Costly in terms of man-power•Difficult to administer •Design•Documenting the performance•Assessing •Marking criteria

Why test speaking?

•We are required to test speaking by the authorities.

•We have to give marks for speaking and want to be able to justify our marks.

•Speaking is an important skill: we want to encourage learners to practice speaking and to give them meaningful feedback on their performances.

Why test language learning? (1)‘Tests are also important instruments of public policy. National examinations, for example, are used to ensure that learners at educational institutions across the country are held to the same standards.’

Douglas, D. [2010:2]

Why test language learning? (2)‘Tests also allow other stakeholders, including programme administrators, parents, admissions officers and prospective employers, to be assured that learners are progressing according to some generally accepted standard or have achieved a requisite level of competence in their second language’.

Douglas, D. [2010:1-2]

Why test language learning? (3)

‘Perhaps the most important reason is fairness. We like to make sure all students are treated the same, to give each of them equal opportunity to show us what they’ve learned and what they can do with the language they’ve learned. Tests allow us to present all our students with the same instructions and the same input under the same conditions.’

Douglas, D. [2010:1]

What do we test? What is ‘speaking’?

What do we test? What is ‘speaking’?

What do we test? What is ‘speaking’?

What do we test? What is ‘speaking’?

What do we test? What is ‘speaking’?

InteractiveInformal

Spontaneous

ProductiveInformal

Rehearsed

InteractiveFormal

Spontaneous Rehearsed

ProductiveFormal

Rehearsed

What do we test? What is ‘speaking’? A1 C2

Formulaic InteractiveInformal

Spontaneous

ProductiveInformal

Rehearsed

Entertaining

Professional

InteractiveInformal

SpontaneousRehearsed

ProductiveFormal

Rehearsed Professional Academic

C2 C2

What is the place and the use of a scale like the CEFR?

•Theoretical model = simplification of reality• Identifies levels of performance •Presents these levels in a logical order

•No representation of individual language learners actual progress

•Cf.: language scales.pdf

Warm up Main tasks

“Long” monologue (description, presentation)

Vocabulary,& structureOrganisationPronunciation

Interview (can be prepared & rehearsed)Short turns, basic simple language and issues

First impression:Maybe pronunciation

More complex, in-depth exchange:

Interactive speaking

How do we test?How do we assess?

Higly standardized testse.g. Certifying tests

Issues•Fairness •Number of observations or samples•Documentation and administration•Getting the whole picture •Giving feedback and justifying mark

How do we test?How do we assess?

Regular classroom observationsElectronic portfolio

Marking grids

Cf.: LUXEMBOURG MARKING DESCRIPTORS FOR SPEAKING ACROSS THE CEFR LEVELS.pdf

Bibliography and Sources (1)

•Csépes, I. & Együd, G. (2003) Into Europe – The Speaking Handbook. British Council – Teleki László FoundationThe Into Europe series can be downloaded from:http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/projects/examreform/

•Douglas, D. (2010) Understanding Language Testing. Hodder Education

•Luoma, S. (2004) Assessing Speaking. CUP

Bibliography and Sources (2)• http://www.cambridgeesol.org/index.html

http://research.cambridgeesol.org/fitness-purpose/examples-speaking-tests

• http://www.cityandguildsenglish.com/ http://www.cityandguildsenglish.com/SESOL http://www.cityandguildsenglish.com/Sample_

spoken_examination_videos

• http://www.ielts.org/ http://www.ielts.org/test_takers_information/t

est_sample/speaking_sample.aspx

• http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/site/?id=369http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/site/?id=2071 http://www.trinitycollege.co.uk/site/?id=1861