ASSESSING

SPEAKING
Nguyễn Hồng Nhung
 Table of contents

01 02 03

Basic types of Micro- and Macro skills Designing assessment

Speaking of Speaking tests
01
Basic types of Speaking
 Basic types of speaking

1. IMITIATIVE: Performance is the ability to simply parrot back (imitative) a

word or phrase or possibility a sentence. The only role of listening here is in the
short-term storage of a prompt, just long enough to allow the speaker to retain
the short stretch of language that must be imitated.

2. INTENSIVE: It is employed in assessment contexts is the production of the

short stretch of oral language designed to demonstrate competence in a narrow
band of grammatical, phrasal, lexical, or phonological relationships. The speaker
must be aware of semantic properties to be able to respond, but interaction with
an interlocutor or test administrator is minimal at best. ( control : nói theo tranh,
có kiểm soát, road out loud, shadowing, chỉ đường)
3. RESPONSIVE: It includes interaction and test
comprehension but at a somewhat limited level or very short
conversation, standard greetings and small talk, simple requests
and comments, and the like. ( Q&A, role-play)

4. INTERACTIVE: The difference between responsive and

interactive speaking is in the length and complexity of the
interaction, which sometimes includes multiple exchanges and/or
multiple participants. ( interview, trong các kì thi, t ạo s ự than
thiện với người thi

5. EXTENSIVE: (monologue), extensive oral production tasks

speeches, oral presentations, and storytelling. during which the
opportunity for oral interaction from listeners is either highly
limited or ruled out altogether. ( đưa ra h ướng d ẫn, paraphrase,
presentation, retelling story, translation),
Tối đa một bài test speaking là 30’ ( nên cho 5-7’)
 02
Micro - and Macro of
Speaking
 Micro - and Macro of Speaking

Micro-skills Macro-skills
The micro-skills refer to The macro-skills imply the
producing smaller chunks of speaker's focus on the larger
language such as phonemes, elements: fluency, discourse,
morphemes, words, function, style, cohesion,
collocations, and phrasal nonverbal communication, and
units. strategic options.
 03
DESIGNING
ASSESSMENT TASKS
Word and sentence repetition tasks
(L, S)
Scoring scale for repetition tasks:
2 acceptable pronunciation
0 comprehensible, partially, correct pronunciation
1 silence, seriously, incorrect pronunciation

The longer the stretch of language, the more

possibility for error and therefore the more difficult
it becomes to assign a point system to the text.
 IMITATIVE SPEAKING
Phonepass test
- Among a number of speaking tasks on the test, repetition of sentences
occupies a prominent role.

●- Phonepass test has supported the construct validity of its repetition

tasks not just for a test-takers phonological ability but also for discourse
and overall oral production ability.
 INTENSIVE SPEAKING

Directed response tasks

The administrator elicits a particular grammatical form or a transformation of
a sentence, but they do require minimal processing of meaning in order to
produce the correct grammatical output.

Test-takers hear (L.S)

→ Tell me he went home.

→ Tell me that you like rock music.

→ Tell me that you aren't interested in tennis.

 INTENSIVE SPEAKING
Read - Aloud task
- Intensive read-aloud tasks include reading beyond the sentence level up to a
paragraph or two.
- Teachers listening to the recording would then rate students on a number of
phonological factors (vowels, diphthongs, consonants, stress, and intonation) by
completing a two-page diagnostic checklist on which all error or questionable
items were noted.
- Some variations on the task of simply reading a short passage:
+ Reading a scripted dialogue

+ Reading sentences containing minimal pairs

+ Reading information from a table or chart

Read - Aloud task

There are several drawbacks to using this technique for assessing

oral production:

Reading aloud is somewhat inauthentic in that we seldom read

anything aloud to someone else in the real world.

Reading aloud calls on certain specialized oral abilities that may not
indicate one's pragmatic ability to communicate orally in a face-to-
face context.
 Sentence/Dialogue Completion Tasks and
Oral Questionnaires
Test-takers are first given time to read through to get
their gist and to think about appropriate lines to fill in. Then
as the ape, teacher, or test administrator produces one part
orally, the test-takers respond:

The advantages of this technique lie in its moderate control

of the output of the test-takers. On the other hand, this
technique is its reliance on literacy and its ability to
transfer easily from written to spoken English. In addition,
it is the contrived, inauthentic nature of this task.
Picture-Cued Tasks
It is a more popular way to elicit oral language performance at both intensive
and extensive levels. Its stimulus requires a description from the test-
takers.

Picture-cued elicitation of minimal pairs

Picture-cued elicitation of comparatives
Picture-cued elicitation of future tense
Picture-cued elicitation of nouns, negative responses, numbers, and location
Picture-cued elicitation of responses and description
Picture-cued elicitation of giving directions
Picture-cued elicitation of multiple-choice description for two test takers
 Picture-Cued Tasks

Scoring scale for intensive tasks:

2 Comprehensible; acceptable target form
1 Comprehensible: partially correct target form
0 Silence, seriously, incorrect target form

Evaluating interviews could be used:

□ Grammar
□ Vocabulary
□ Comprehensible
□ Fluency
□ Pronunciation
□ Task (accomplishing the objective of the elicited task)
 Translation (of Limited
Stretches of Discourse)
The translation is a meaningful communicative device in
contexts in which the English user is called on to be an
interpreter. The test-taker is given a native-language word,
phrase, or sentence and is asked to translate it.
 RESPONSIVE SPEAKING
Question and Answers
- Question and answer can consist of one or two questions from an interviewer or
they can make up a portion of a whole battery of questions and prompts in an oral
interview.

- The first question is intensive in its purpose: it is a display question intended to

elicit a predetermined correct response.

- Questions at the responsive level tend to be genuine referential questions in which

the test-taker is given more opportunity to produce meaningful language in response
 Question and Answers
A responsive question may take the following forms:

Questions eliciting open-ended responses

Test-takers hear:

1. what do you think about the weather today?

2. why did you choose your academic major?

What kind of strategies have you used to help you learn English?

Test-takers respond with a few sentences at most

 Giving Instructions and Directions
The technique is simple: the administrator poses the problem, and test- taker
responds. Scoring is based primarily on comprehensibility, and secondary on
other specified grammatical or discourse categories. The choice of topics
needs to be familiar enough so that the test is not general knowledge but
linguistic competence. Finally, the task should require the test-taker to
produce at least five or six sentences.

Eliciting instructions or direction

Test-takers hear:
Describe how to make a typical dish from your country.
How do you access e-mail on a PC?

Test-takers respond with appropriate instruction

Paraphrasing
The test-takers read or hear a short story or
description with a limited number of sentences (perhaps
two or five) and produce a paraphrase of the story. The
advantage is that they elicit short stretches of output
and perhaps tap into test-takers to practice the
conversational art of conciseness by reducing the
output/ input ratio.
Test- of Spoken English (TSE Test)

The Test of Spoken English is designed to elicit oral production

in various discourse categories rather than in selected
phonological, grammatical, or lexical targets. Tasks include
description, narration, and summary. Giving instruction,
comparing, and contrasting.

From their findings, the researchers were able to report on the

validity of the tasks, especially the match between the intended
task functions and the actual output of both native and non-
active speakers.
Test- of Spoken English (TSE Test)

The Test of Spoken English are designed to elicit oral

production in various discourse categories rather than in
selected phonological, grammatical, or lexical targets.
Tasks include description, narration, summary. giving instruction,
comparing and contrasting.
From their findings, the researchers were be able to report on
the validity of the tasks, especially the match between the
intended task functions and the actual output of both native and
non-active speakers
 INTERACTIVE SPEAKING
Interview
A test administrator and a test-taker sit down in a direct face-to-face exchange
and proceed through a protocol of questions and directives.
Four level stages: warm-up, preliminary small talk to make the test-taker
become comfortable with the situation.
+ No scoring of this phase takes place.
+ Level check, a series of preplanned questions.
+ Probe, probe questions, and prompts challenge test-takers to go to the heights
of their ability, to extend beyond the limits of the interviewer's expectation
through increasingly difficult questions.
+ Wind-down, the final phase of the interview. No scoring for this part
 INTENSIVE SPEAKING
Interview
The success of an oral interview will depend on:
Clearly specifying the administrative procedure of the assessment.
(practically)
Focusing the questions and probes on the purpose (validity)

► Appropriately eliciting an optimal amount and quality of oral production

from the test-taker (biased for best performance)
Minimizing the possibly harmful effect of the power relationship between
interviewer and interviewee (biased for best performance)
Creating a consistent, workable scoring system (reliability)
Role play

It frees students to be somewhat creative in their linguistic output.

In some versions, role-play allows some rehearsal time so that
students can map out what they are going to say. It also has the
effect of lowering anxieties as students can, even for a few
moments, take on the persona of someone other than themselves.

► The test administrator must determine the assessment objectives

of the role play and then devise a scoring technique that
appropriately pinpoints those adjectives.
 Discussion and Conversation
Discussion may be especially appropriate tasks through
which elicit and observe such abilities:

+ Topic nomination, maintenance, and termination

+ Attention getting, interrupting, control
+ Clarifying, questioning, paraphrasing
+ Comprehension signals
+ Negotiating meaning
+ Intonation patterns for pragmatic effect
+ Kinesics, eye contact, proxemics, body language
+ Politeness, and other sociolinguistic factors
 Games
Assessment games:

Tinkertoy game
Crossword puzzles

►Information gap
City maps
As assessments, the key is to specify a set of criteria
and a reasonably practical and reliable scoring method
ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI)

● Originally known as the Foreign

Service Institute (FSI) test.
● In a series of structured tasks, the
OPI is carefully designed to elicit
● pronunciation, fluency and
integrative ability, sociolinguistic
and cultural
 EXTENSIVE SPEAKING
Oral Presentations
The rules for effective assessment must be involved:
+ Specify the criterion
+ Set appropriate tasks
+ Elicit optimal output
+ Establish practical, reliable scoring process

For oral presentations, a checklist or grid is a common means of scoring or

evaluation. The washback effect of a such checklist can be enhanced by
written comments from the teacher, a conference with the teacher, peer
evaluation using the same form, and self-assessment.
 Picture-Cued Storytelling

It considers a picture or a series of pictures as a

stimulus for a longer story or description.
Retelling a Story, News Event [L. R. S]

In this type of task, test-takers hear or read a story or news event

that they are asked to retell.

The objectives: vary from listening comprehension of the original to

production of oral discourse features (communicating sequences and
relationships of events, stress and emphasis patterns, "expression" in
the case of a dramatic story), fluency, and interaction with the
hearer.

Scoring should of course meet the intended criteria.

 Translation (of Extended Prose)

- The test-taker reads the longer texts (dialogue, directions for assembly
products, a synopsis of a story, etc) in the native language and then
translates them into English
+ The advantage: is control of the content, vocabulary, and grammatical
and discourse features.
+ Disadvantage: the translation of longer texts is a highly specialized skill
for which some individuals obtain post-baccalaureate degrees!

- Criteria of scoring: Not only the purpose of stimulating a translation but

the possibility of errors that are unrelated to oral production ability