Speaking Task

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Speaking Task Diego Ulloa Iglesias. Assessment in English Communicative Competence (EVA0602-1) Mrs. Roxanna Correa Pérez June 7 th , 2012.

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Transcript of Speaking Task

Page 1: Speaking Task

Speaking Task

Diego Ulloa Iglesias.

Assessment in English Communicative Competence (EVA0602-1)

Mrs. Roxanna Correa Pérez

June 7th, 2012.

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Outline

1. Test specifications …………………………………………………………………………………

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2. Speaking task ………………………………………………………………………………………..

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3. Pictures …………………………………………………………………………………………………

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4. Goal Orientation ……………………………………………………………………………………

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5. Rubrics ………………………………………………………………………………………………….

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6. Piloting ………………………………………………………………………………………………….

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7. Improvements ……………………………………………………………………………………….

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8. Appendix (Results) ………………………………………………………………………………..

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1. Test specifications

Test’s purpose Students speaking ability

Description of the

examinees

Both students (X and Z) are in 4th grade high school (public school)

Test level Intermediate

Number of sections

/ papers

This oral test is divided into two sections.

In the first section the performance is individual where each student (X

and Z) has to compare and contrast two pictures and in the second section

both students (X and Z together) have to come to an agreement.

Time for each

section / paper

In the first section every single student (X and Z) has 20 seconds to look at

the photographs and then 1:30 minutes to compare and contrast them.

In the second section both students (X and Z together) should come to an

agreement that should take no more than two minutes.

Weighting for each

section / paper

A total of 40 points; every single section contains 20 points.

Target language

situation

SWBAT compare and contrast some photographs by using the vocabulary

acquired in previous lessons such as: on the other hand, as well as, while,

unlike, too, etc.

Text – types Photographs about different types of job.

Text length Four photographs.

Language skill to be

tested

Oral ability.

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Language elements

to be tested

Communication

Fluency

Pronunciation

Test tasks

The task is divided into two sections.

1st Section:

Teacher – Student X: what you have to do first is to look at these two

photographs that show two different jobs. Once I’ve finish talking, you

have 20 seconds to look at these two photos and think about all the

necessary information to complete this first stage of the task and then you

have one minute and a half to compare and contrast these two photos by

using the vocabulary learned in your previous lessons as much as you can

and also those key words that help you to make of this task a good

comparison and contrast.

Teacher – Student Z: what you have to do first is to look at these two

photographs that show two different jobs. Once I’ve finish talking, you

have 20 seconds to look at these two photos and think about all the

necessary information to complete this first stage of the task and then you

have one minute and a half to compare and contrast these two photos by

using the vocabulary learned in your previous lessons as much as you can

and also those key words that help you to make of this task a good

comparison and contrast.

2nd Section:

Teacher – Both students (X & Z): Finally, you two have to think of and

discuss about what the most dangerous job among these four

photographs is. You can use personal experience or any other resource

that could support your opinions. Both of you have 2 minutes to talk

about this and come to an agreement; remember that if there is no final

agreement in your discussion you two will be assessed with fewer points.

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Test methods

Students speak individually in the first part, about two different photos.

Students speak together in the second part about four photos and a final

agreement is compulsory required.

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2. Speaking task

Two photographs about jobs will be shown to both students having 20 minutes to think about

what they will say about those photos. Then they should compare and contrast those photos

presented by using the vocabulary learned in previous lessons; this cannot take more than 1:30

minutes for students to answer.

In a second stage, students will have to discuss and finally come to an agreement in no more than

two minutes. It will be about the 4 photographs—those two shown to the first student and the

other two presented to the other student, where they will discuss about which of them the most

dangerous job is by giving opinions based on the vocabulary acquired in previous lessons.

Both students will be assessed with the same criteria but individually.

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3. Pictures

(Student X)

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(Student Z)

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4. Goal Orientation

4.1 Oral test (1st part)

Task orientation

Guided

Comparing and contrasting two different photographs showed by the

test-taker.

Interactional

relationship

Non – interactional (individual performance)

Goal orientation There is no goal orientation (individual performance)

Interlocutor status

High

Both students know the test-taker and both of them know each other

too.

Familiarity High

Both students know each other.

Topics Two photographs about different jobs.

4.2 Oral test (2nd part)

Task orientation

Guided

Coming to an agreement based on the photographs showed by the test-

taker.

Interactional

relationship

Interaction by coming to an agreement in pairs.

Goal orientation There is goal orientation through an agreement.

Interlocutor status

High

Both students know the test-taker and both of them know each other

too.

Familiarity High

Both students know each other

Topics 4 different types of dangerous jobs.

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5. Rubrics

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6. Piloting

The task was accomplished by two students from 4th grade secondary school. It was taken

in an open space but noise was not an issue there. These students were almost at the

same level of English because of the quality of their answers and the vocabulary used

when being assessed.

Concentrating on the first part of the task, student X and Z produced English language but

some issues were present there. Fluency was the most noticeable one and this could be

supported by a sort of attack of nerves when trying to begin comparing and contrasting

the photos and also by the lack of vocabulary according to the topic; for instance, student

Z could not explain the second job (building contractor) at first, but he reflected on that

for a moment and then tried to explain with other words that he was a kind of engineer.

Student X, on the other hand, was kind of relaxed but reacted by defining what the jobs

were about separately without comparing and contrasting at first, but at the end of the

first part of the task he started to introduce some connectors such as “like” and “while”.

Both students X and Z accomplished the first part of the task in the due time.

As far as the second part is concerned, both students used an appropriate vocabulary

most of the time by using some connectors that reflect knowledge about comparison and

contrast, but the lack of vocabulary interfered as an issue here again. The final goal in this

part of the task was mainly that both students would come to an agreement on what the

most dangerous job was, but the test-taker had to remind them—after the due time for

the second part of the task, that they should finish by coming to an agreement so it was

accomplished in 10 minutes extra out of the due time.

To sum up, the task was appropriate for both students X and Z in terms of vocabulary

needed according to the topic that they should know about because “dangerous jobs” is

one of the topics that belong to the first semester of a fourth-grade student at that

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particular school. On the other hand, it is probable that the lack of use of connectors to

compare and contrast the photos showed was because they were never taught those but

surely because they had never been assessed in that way: two students in front of

photographs where they have to compare and contrast them and even less come to an

agreement with a classmate because the only way they had been tested orally was by

short interactions previously planned such as dialogues, or short oral presentations such

as singing a song.

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7. Improvements

Based on the performance of both students X&Z and the test-taker, the improvements are

the following. First, both students’ performances were good considering the type of

school where they are studying at and the level of English test-taker expected from them.

After accomplishing the oral test both students and test-taker discussed about the results

of the performance and, taking students’ viewpoints about their results it is worth to say

that they did a good work considering that they had never been in that situation because

their only types of oral tests were short dialogues, dissertations about famous people and

some pieces of songs they had to perform in front of the class. Other thing that is worth to

say is that the vocabulary they have is mainly got from English songs they usually listen to

combined with that learned in class.

Secondly, based on the test-taker performance, students pointed out that, in the last part

of the task, the photographs should have been shown the four at once. This is a point less

for the test-taker because he should foresee that issue, and make a presentation in which

all the four photos were clearly seen by the students instead of showing them separately.

They also pointed out that the test applied was good in terms of preparation and

coherence with what they should know (vocabulary), but not in terms of context: both

students pointed out that that type of English test could not be accomplished successfully

in any Chilean public school because they are not prepared to do it due to the format

where oral skills are not that important as grammar.

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8. Appendix

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Name: ………………………………………………… Total Score: ………………………………………...

Observations: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rubric for the 2nd part of the task

Unacceptable

(1)

Poor

(2)

Good

(3)

Excellent

(4)

Communication

The student has a clear lack of

clarity in the message given, so

he makes the interaction and

agreement difficult to be

accomplished.

The student shows little ability to

interact and communicate the

message, so it causes some problems

to agree with his classmate in the

end.

The student shows ability to interact

with his classmate with little

problems to communicate the

message, although the agreement

could be accomplished in the end.

The student shows great ability to

interact with his classmate with

clarity so the message given is

understood. The final agreement

could be accomplished with no

difficulty.

Vocabulary

The student shows little

knowledge about comparison

and contrast and also uses

inappropriate adjectives and

connectors, so the message is

not clear most of the time.

The vocabulary used by the student is

appropriate for the task but limited:

he uses little adjectives and

connectors, so the message is clear

but he shows little knowledge about

comparison and contrast.

The vocabulary used by the student

is appropriate for the task: he uses

some adjectives and connectors that

make the message coherent most of

the time.

The vocabulary used by the student

is appropriate for the task: using a

clear variety of adjectives and

connectors that make the message

coherent and show clear

knowledge about comparison and

contrast.

Fluency

Hesitation and pauses make

the message unintelligible and

his ideas are not well-

connected at all

The speech of the student is full of

hesitation and pauses when

communicating, so their ideas lack of

clear connection.

The student has little problem with

hesitation when communicating his

ideas, but these are well-connected

most of the time.

Hesitation is not a problem when

communicating his ideas, so the

connection of these makes clear

the message given.

Pronunciation

There is a clear problem with L1

interference in the foreign

language, so the message

cannot be understood.

Problems with pronunciation are

clearly present so the message

cannot be understood most of the

time.

The message can be understood

though some little problem with L1

interference in the foreign language.

L1 does not interference in the

foreign language, so the student

expresses his ideas with no

problem of pronunciation.

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Name: ………………………………………………… Total Score: ………………………………………...

Observations: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rubric for the 1st part of the task

Unacceptable

(1)

Poor

(2)

Good

(3)

Excellent

(4)

Communication

The performance of the

student of comparing and

contrasting lack of coherent

connection, so the message is

clearly not understood.

There is a sort of connection among

his ideas but it is hard to understand

the message most of the time

because the connectors are not

appropriate.

The student’s performance of

comparing and contrasting is

understood by connecting his ideas

with some appropriate connectors

most of the time.

The whole performance of

comparing and contrasting is

clearly understood by connecting

his ideas with appropriate

connectors.

Vocabulary

The student shows little

knowledge about comparison

and contrast and also uses

inappropriate adjectives and

connectors, so the message is

not clear most of the time.

The vocabulary used by the student is

appropriate for the task but limited:

he uses little adjectives and

connectors, so the message is clear

but he shows little knowledge about

comparison and contrast.

The vocabulary used by the student

is appropriate for the task: he uses

some adjectives and connectors that

make the message coherent most of

the time.

The vocabulary used by the student

is appropriate for the task: using a

clear variety of adjectives and

connectors that make the message

coherent and show clear

knowledge about comparison and

contrast.

Fluency

Hesitation and pauses make

the message unintelligible and

his ideas are not well-

connected at all

The speech of the student is full of

hesitation and pauses when

communicating, so their ideas lack of

clear connection.

The student has little problem with

hesitation when communicating his

ideas, but these are well-connected

most of the time.

Hesitation is not a problem when

communicating his ideas, so the

connection of these makes clear

the message given.