The Implementation of Task-Based Learning Assessment

for Assessing Students’ Speaking Skill

Made Ika Sukmadewi (1712021009/7A)

English Language Education
Ganesha University of Education
Singaraja, Bali
Email : ikasukma99@gmail.com

Abstract

Assessing students’ speaking skill is an important thing to do in order to know the students’
progress in learning language, especially in speaking. There are so many kinds of assessments
that can be used to assess their speaking skill, one of them is task-based language assessment
(TBLA). The purpose of this paper is to explain how to assess students’ speaking ability using
task-based language assessment. This topic is important to be discussed because it can be a new
reference for the readers who need new style in assessing students’ speaking skill.

Keywords: Assessment, TBLA, Speaking Skill

A. INTRODUCTION

1) Background

In learning English, junior high school students are to master the four skills; speaking,
listening, writing and reading, because they are the keys to communication. Among the four
skills taught at junior high schools, speaking is the most difficult skill to build in the classroom,
whereas, as what Thornbury (2005) said that speaking is so much a part of daily life that we take
it for granted. Speaking is very important, since it is the most used skill when someone wants to
convey messages and exchange information. Richards (2008) concerned that the mastery of
speaking skills in English is a priority for many second-language or foreign-language learners.

The essence of studying English is that students learn how to communicate with the
language. One way to know the student's success in studying language is through task [ CITATION
Som18 \l 1033 ]. Task is a piece of work done for oneself or someone, free of charge or for a
reward, filling out a questionnaire, purchasing a pair of shoes, booking an airplane, renting a
library book, taking a driving exam, typing a letter, measuring a patient, processing mail,
booking a room, writing a check, locating a street destination and assisting them. In other terms,
a task means the hundred-one activities people perform in daily life [ CITATION Lon85 \l 1033 ].

In studying English, students should be introduced with relevant background in which the
language is used. Learning should be motivated so that students can articulate what they wish to
express and not simply generate grammatically correct phrases (Nunan, 2005). It will be able to
trigger them to negotiate meanings, to modify, as well as to re-paraphrase something, apart from
other salient benefit to achieve, such as students’ acquisition of self-confidence, sense of
initiative, encouragement, as well as avoidance from continuous negative feeling.

There are several approaches to assess student’s speaking skill such as peer-assessment,
self-assessment, and of course task-based language assessment. However, in this paper, it will
address the importance of speaking skills, the nature of task-based language evaluation, and how
to apply task-based language assessment to assess student speaking skills.

2) The Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to inform the readers about the implementation of task-based
language assessment to assess student’s speaking skill

3) The Significance

The significance of this study is expected that reader will know about the implementation
of task-based language assessment to assess student’s speaking skill and can be as consideration
for teacher to understand task-based language assessment for their readiness in the future
assessing.
B. LITERATURE REVIEW

1. Theoretical Review

a. The Nature of Speaking Skill

One expert has a different meaning of speaking. Thornbury (2005) said that speaking is a
real-life practice undertaken by speakers to conduct their ideas to communicate with listeners.
This activity is unplanned, and its consistency is dependent on circumstances. Meanwhile,
Ladouse (in Nunan, 1991) speaking is described as the activity as the ability to express oneself
in the situation, or the activity to report acts, or situation in precise words or the ability to
converse or to express a sequence of ideas fluently. Wilson (1983) also described speaking as
development of the relationship between speaker and listener.

In other hands, Cameron (2001) said that it is about helping people to understand the
thoughts and ideas of the speaker in an act of communication through words. When people make
comments, they offer meanings, emotions, ideas and desires. It can be inferred from the above
meanings that speaking is an activity in which a speaker makes statements to communicate his
ideas to share knowledge so that a listener understands the meaning of the speaker.

b. Functions of Speaking Skill

Speaking, particularly in daily communication is very important. An individual is known

to be educated by the way and when they speak. When talking, someone must know what to talk
about and understand what he/she talks about. Richards (2008) stated that there are three
functions of speaking skill:

1) Interaction

 Interaction refers to what we generally mean by "speech" and explains interaction

that mostly serves a social purpose. The emphasis is more on the speakers and how they
want to talk to each other than on the message.
 2) Transaction

Transaction refers to circumstances in which what is said or done is the subject.

The message and the exact understanding of oneself are the main focus rather than
participants and how they communicate with each other socially.

3) Performance

This refers to public speech that shares information before the public, such as
lectures in the classroom, public announcements, and speeches. The emphasis is on the
message and the public.

Speaking has its functions which cover talk as interaction, transaction and performance which
have been mentioned above. The functions of speaking show that speaking is not only about
producing the language, but it also functions for some different purposes in daily
communication.

c. The Nature of Assessment

Assessment has several meanings by several experts too. Ioannou-Georgiou (2003)

defined assessment as a general term which includes all methods used to gather information
about children’s knowledge, ability, understanding, attitudes, and motivation. Meanwhile,
Cameron (2001) stated that assessment is concerned with pupils learning or performance, and
thus provides one type of information that might be used in evaluation.

It may clearly see that assessment is not only about asses, but also it is a tools to assess
and improve students ability. To assess motivation and attitude objectively is, however, very
hard and requires other tools. Cameron also mentioned testing as a particular form of assessment,
similar to Ioannou-Georgiou.

d. The Aim of Assessment

According to Permendikbud Nomor 104 Tahun 2014 (in Ariani, 2008) stated hat
assessment has several aims:
 1. To know the mastery level of competence in attitudes, knowledge, and skills that have
been and have not been mastered by a person / group of participants students to be
improved in remedial learning and programs enrichment

2. To determine the completeness of the mastery of learners in learning competencies a

certain period of time, namely daily, mid-semester, semester, and period teacher study
unit

3. To establish an improvement or enrichment program based on grade mastery of

competencies for those identified as participants students who are slow or fast in learning
and the achievement of learning outcomes

4. To improve the learning process at the next semester meeting. One of the objectives of
the Assessment above which is "Improving the process learning at the next semester
meeting "can be used by the teacher to create or improve lesson plans

In those four aims, this paper will explain about Task-Based Language Assessment which
implements the first aim “To know the student’s ability” in the English speaking’s skill.

e. The Nature of TBLA

TBLA (Task-Based Language Assessment) is a language test/assessment system which

takes the task as the basic unit for assessment and testing [ CITATION She12 \l 1033 ]. It is based on
the same concepts as TBLT but extends them from the field of education to the field of testing.
As in TBLT methodology, in particular, TBLA tests are often arranged for activities rather than
for grammar or vocabulary. For instance, Long and Norris (2000) stated that the task of
automatically task-based language assessment is the basic analysis unit, motivating item
selection, test instrument construction, and task performance rating. As in the TBLT
methodology, TBLA's main objective and validity are evaluated to the degree to which it can be
effectively connected closely with other techniques.

f. The Implementation of TBLA

According to Shehadeh (2012), there are two principal methods for measuring learner
performance are used in TBLA contexts. The first is the direct assessment of task outcomes. This
method involves either the assessor observing a performance of a task and making a judgment, or
no judgment on the part of the assessor (i.e., judgment / measurement is objective – the testee did
or did not succeed in performing the task) because it results in solutions that are either right or
wrong. A good example of direct assessment of task outcomes is a closed task that results in a
solution that is either right or wrong, like locating a journal article relating to a particular topic in
a library (Robinson and Ross as cited in Shehadeh, 2012). The main advantages of this method
are that “it affords an objective measurement, involving no judgment on the part of the assessor,
and itis easy and quick” (Ellis, 2003). The second performance measure is external ratings. This
method involves external judgment which is more subjective (but efforts are being made to make
it more reliable). This measure also involves a holistic measure (scale) or an analytic measure
(scale) of linguistic ability (e.g., paragraph or essay evaluation; overall linguistic ability versus
the four language skills identified for rating separately). Examples of this assessment include
judging that the learner’s speaking ability is at the “expert” level in the oral interview component
of the old ELTS test which specifies that the learner “can speak with authority on a variety of
topics; can initiate, expand, and develop a theme” (Ellis, 2003)

2. Empirical Review

There are three previous studies that are related with this topic paper. Firstly, a model of
formative TBLA that is implemented in the Chinese language program at the University of Iowa.
This paper entitled "A Model of Formative Task-Based Language Assessment for Chinese as a
Foreign Language" was conducted by Chuanren Ke in 2006. He designed TBLA to assess how
much of the content of the course or program is being learned, thereby providing links to the
course objectives and program goals. The result of this paper is formative tests can be made to
complement the summative tests (OPI/simulated oral proficiency interview) administered at the
end of course. Summative tests, such as final oral proficiency tests, involve interactive skills
rather than presentation skills, so formative tests, which do include the latter, can play an
important supplementary role. TBLA formative testing also allows the teachers to tailor their
teaching energies toward continuing instruction and toward providing timely feedback for
developmental purposes.

Secondly, TBLA also can take a form of performance assessment. In the paper entitled
Some Reflection on Task-Based Language Performance Assessment, it explains about the
complexity of TBLAP (Task-Based Language Assessment Performance). This paper was
conducted by Bachman in 2002. He said that there are several complexities in using TBLAP to
assess students’ skill in language. The result of this paper is TBLA performance assessments are
typically designed to assess complex abilities that cannot easily be defined in term of single trait.
Not only that, but he also believed that TBLAP was the most useful assessment in all situation
because TBLAP is planned by both task and construct in how they are designed, developed, and
used.

The last is the journal entitled Design and Analysis in Task-Based Language Assessment.
This journal was conducted by Mislevy et al. in 2002. In this journal, they described some
challenges from the perspective of “evidence-centered assessment design” and the factor which
affects TBLA validity. The result of this journal is in TBLA language use is observed in more
realistic, it is not just a mere grammar and lexicon, but more complex. The difficulty of fleshing
out all the components into a coherent whole has led to an apparent tension among design
approaches that go by the names of construct-centered assessment and task-based assessment.

Based on those three previous studies, TBLA can be in form of performance assessment
and formative assessment. It does not rule out that TBLA can be used in every type of
assessment. Beside that, TBLA is used to assess in more realistic context. In can be stated that
TBLA matches with speaking skill assessment.

C. CONCLUSION

It can be concluded that teacher needs to pay attention if they want to assess student’s
skill. They need to choose the proper assessment to assess particular skill. TBLA is one of
assessments which matches in assessing student’s speaking skill because TBLA is not focusing
in grammar only, but also in the context of speaking.
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