Language Assessment

EUROPEAN

SCALES

OF

PROFICIENCY
BASIC CONCEPTS IN ASSESSMENT
ASSESSING ORAL PERFORMANCE

LANGUAGE

Global Scale
Basic User
Independent User
Proficient User

A1, A2
B1, B2
C1, C2

(Common European framework of reference for languages. Learning,

teaching, assessment.)

Assessment
Informal
Formal

Formative (over time)

Summative (outcomes at the end of instruction)

How to Test Speaking?

What is a speaking task?

activities that involve speakers in using

language for the purpose of achieving a particular
goal or objective in a particular speaking
situation.
(Bachman and Palmer as cited in Sari Luoma
Assesing speaking. p. 31)

Types of classroom speaking

performance:
Imitative (like a tape recorder)
Intensive (rhymes, learners go over certain forms of the
language)
Responsive (short replies to teacher-or student-initiated
questions or comments.)
Transactional (dialog to convey or exchange specific
information)
Interpersonal Dialog to maintain social relationships
Extensive (planned or impromptu monologues)

(Based on H.D. Brown Teaching by Principles pp.271274)

Steps in designing classroom assessment

procedures:
Specify the category of speaking performance.
Consider the micro- and macroskills that you are

going to assess.
Think of the genre of spoken language.

Some suggestions for consideration:

Imitative speaking tasks

Repeating the sentences

Intensive
Learning a rhyme
S1-Whole class (What did you do on holiday?)
Completing a dialogue
Acting out a dialogue
Reading aloud (for checking pronunciation)
Picture-cued elicitation of a grammatical item

Some suggestions:
Responsive
Question elicitation (ask me about my favourite film)
Picture-cued elicitation of response (Q-A)
Map-cued elicitation
Question and answers

Some suggestions:

Interactive tasks

Role plays
Interviews
Debates

Extensive

Retelling a text
Describing a picture
Describing ones favourite film, ..

What to evaluate in a speaking task?

Accuracy in phonology, vocabulary and grammar.
Fluency and discourse (cohesion, sociolinguistic

appropriateness).
Accomplishing the objective of the task.

Suggested reading:
Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by principles: An interactive

approach to language pedagogy. Longman: New York.

Common European framework of reference for languages.
Learning, teaching, assessment. (2001). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English language
teaching. Fourth edition. Harlow: Longman.
Luoma, S.( 2004). Assessing speaking. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Weir, C. J. (1990). Communicative language testing. Prentice
Hall International