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Module 5119
Language Testing and Assessment



Week 7
Assessing productive skills 2
Speaking
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Group discussion
Discuss with other members in your group the
speaking assessment in your context of L2 teaching
and testing. Please cover the following points in
your discussion:
Test tasks
Test format or method
Length
Recording test discourse
Rating procedures
Challenges involved


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Points to be covered
The nature of speaking and its assessment
Basic types of speaking
Designing assessment tasks
Group project



“The testing of speaking is widely regarded as the most challenging of all language tests to prepare, administer and score (Madsen, 1983, p. 147)
Why?
not easy to establish criteria to evaluate a speaking test. Is ‘fluency’ more important than ‘accuracy’? If fluency is more important , then how we will define this concept?

Fluency: “the maximally effective operation of the language system so far acquired by the student” (Brumfit, 1984, p. 543)
Brumfit, C. (1984). Communicative methodology in language teaching. Cambridge: CUP.
Madsen, Harold (1983). Techniques in testing. New York: OUP
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Speaking as a construct
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The nature of speaking
A non-native English-speaking
student is being interviewed by
a lecturer who is her prospective
supervisor. The outcome of
the interview will determine
whether she can enroll as a PhD
student in the school. What are
some linguistic and non-
linguistic factors that can be
held responsible for her success
in this particular act of communication?

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Features of speaking
Social and interactive
Co-construction of meaning
The people involved are important, not the test, and what goes on between tester and testee may have an existence independent of the test instrument and still remain a valid response.

Basic types of speaking
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Micro- and macro-skills of speaking - Handout
Read through the list of skills in the handout. In pairs, each assigned to a different skill (or two), brainstorm some tasks that assess those skills.
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Micro- and macro-skills of speaking
Micro skills
producing small chunks of language
e.g., phonemes, morphemes, words, collocations, phrasal units
Macro skills
speaker’s focus on larger elements
e.g., fluency, discourse, function, style, cohesion, non-verbal communication, strategic options
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Designing assessment tasks
imitative speaking
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Scoring scale for repetition tasks
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Designing assessment tasks
intensive speaking
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Sentence/Dialogue completion tasks and oral questionnaires
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Picture-cued tasks
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Designing assessment tasks
Responsive speaking
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Designing assessment tasks
Interactive speaking
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Oral proficiency Scoring categories (Brown, 2001, pp. 406-407)
Handout 2
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Designing assessment tasks
Interactive speaking
Role-play
Discussions and conversations
Games
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Designing assessment tasks
Extensive speaking
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Designing assessment tasks
Extensive speaking
Retelling a story, News event
Interpreting(of extended prose)
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The activity cycle of assessing speaking
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Conclusion
Do not be afraid to set such a test in the first place
Draw on your own materials to set a test appropriate for your group of testees
Keep the factor of time constant for each test administration
Give the testees the opportunity to lead once he or she is at ease
Do not allow factors such as accent to cloud your perception of linguistic competence
Rely on your own instinctive judgment when assigning a value to performance on such a test
Try to think of this value in terms of words rather than marks
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Activity
Each of you will play the role of the test taker (testee), the interviewer (tester) and the observer by turns.
Carry out the speaking assessment.

Report what you observed