Working with Spoken/Oral Skills in English Key Stage 8-10 Continual/Final Assessment

1. Working with Spoken/Oral Skills in EnglishKey Stage 8-10Continual/Final Assessment Lynell Chvala

2. Lynell Chvala • Applied Linguistics (TESOL – Teaching of English for Speakers of Other Languages, K-12); Certification for 7-12 English as a first language • Allmenlærerutdanning, Høgskolen i Oslo • Oslo International School, 7-IB2; Head of Department (Assessment Co-ordinator) • Universitetet i Oslo, American Phonteics/Academic Writing/NICLE • Högskolan i Halmstad (ENSP) • Iowa State University • MacArthur High School, Houston, TX

3. My aims for today • To provide practical, ”hands-on” assistance with defining the characteristics of spoken English and assessing it • To provide support for: • Setting the task for the Oral Exam • Setting the criteria for the Oral Exam • Defining levels of mastery • Main focus: application in the classroom

4. Programme Needs Analysis Warm-UP • English in a Global Context: ”correctness” • Competence – what and why? • Competence aims  categories/criteria • Oral Exam tasks • Criteria  Level of mastery descriptions • Audacity • Rubistar • Looking towards Module II

5. Needs analysis • Formation of Groups • Discussion • Needs analysis sheeet

6. I. English in a Global Context

7. Varieties of English • native speaker - ca. 375 million • official language – ca. 375 million speakers • second language (ESL); Speakers of English as a second language will soon outnumber those who speak it as a first language. • English as an Academic Language (EAL) • foreign language – ca. 750 million • lingua franca • http://members.tripod.com/the_english_dept/esc.html (August, 2007)

8. Circles of English-speaking peoples • inner circle – English is spoken as a first language (L1); i.e., Ireland, England, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, United States, etc. • outer circle – English is spoken as a second or significant language; i.e., Singapore, India, Pakistan, Malawi, Nigeria, Malaysia, etc. • expanding circle – English has acquired cultural or commercial importance; i.e., China, Sweden, Czech Republic, Japan Israel, Greece, Russia, etc. Norway?

9. Standards/”correctness” • World Standard English vs. Standard English • World Standard English – pronunciation (to maximize intelligibility; to communicate internationally) • Standard English – should continue as a model; most World Standard English models are defined to specific contexts

10. Varieties of English - Which English? ”The safest conclusion to draw is that teachers should work with the variety that best reflects their ownlanguage use, always provided that this will be understood by most other English speakers in the world – and/or the speakers that the students are most likely to come into contact with…”(Harmer, 9).

11. EFL learning and assessment: Key factors Key factors in learning a foreign language (study of Belgium, Holland, France, and Germany) • Attitude • Exposure Source: Nunan, David (University of Hong Kong). “English as a Global Language”. TESOLQuarterly 35:4, 2001. How do we use assessment – both continual and final – in a way which does not discourage or disenchant?

12. II. What is competence, and why competence aims?

13. Competence aims in LK06 Consider: • Competence (underlying, constant potential) versus Performance (one-time, at the moment) • Errors (problems in the underlying system – consistency of mistakes) versus Mistakes (”slips”) • Competence  Strategies  Performance (Strategic competence - metacognitive/cognitive)

14. New in LK06

15. From competence aims in LK06 – assessment categories and criteria

16. Competence aims  your school Competence aims – general description of a three year development period, finishing in 10th grade Local aims – independent control over how skills are developed over the three year period; 8th  9th  10th:Oral Exam

17. Competence Aims (general, describe the end of the Key Stage)Culmination/End: Oral Exam Local aims – Continual Assessment (gradual building up of level of mastery) Year 8 ↓ Year 9 ↓ Year 10

18. LK06 – focus on spoken English

19. Spoken skills (Key Stage 8-10) Language aims • identify important linguistic similarities and differences between English and the native language and use this knowledge in his or her own language learning • Phonetic differences • Rhythmic differences • Intonation differences • use basic terminology to describe grammar and text structure • Basic grammar – simple/compound sentences, basic concord, countable/uncountable nouns, etc.

20. Spoken skills (Key Stage 8-10) Language aims (cont.) • use basic terminology to describe grammar and text structure • Introduction, body, conclusion

21. Categories – Spoken Language Skills (Key Stage 8-10)

22. Spoken skills (Key Stage 8-10) Communication • master vocabulary that covers a range of topics • use basic grammatical and text structures of English orally • express himself/herself orally with some precision, fluency and coherence • select speaking strategies adapted to the purpose and situation • adapt his/her spoken English to the genre and situation • present and discuss current events and interdisciplinary topics • use content from various sources independently and critically

23. Categories – Spoken Language Skills (Key Stage 8-10)

24. Spoken skills (Key Stage 8-10) Culture, society and literature • discussthe way young people live, how they socialise, their views on life and values in Great Britain, the USA, other English-speaking countries and Norway • explainfeatures of history and geography in Great Britain and the USA • describe the situation for some indigenous peoples in English-speaking countries • read and discussa representative selection of literary texts from the genres poetry, short stories, novels and drama from the English-speaking world • describetheme and composition in texts and visual expressions • prepare and discusshis/her own oral texts inspired by literature and art

25. Categories – Spoken Language Skills (Key Stage 8-10)

26. Overview of categories…

27. IV. Oral Exam Tasks – 48 hour preparation time

28. Oral Exam Task – 48 hour preparation time Familiar or covered topics: • current events • interdisciplinary topic that you have worked with • young people in English-speaking countries • indigenous peoples in English-speaking countries • literary texts (poetry, short stories, novels and drama = theme and composition) • visual texts (theme and composition) • art texts (theme and composition)

29. Oral Exam Task – 48 hour preparation time • Relevant vocabulary • Schema • Precision • Knowledge of the genre: purpose • Discuss • Explain • Describe • Compare

30. Oral Exam Task – 48 hour preparation time • Knowledge of genre: organization (form) • Introduction • Body – outline/plan of ideas • Conclusion • Knowledge of genre: situation (audience) • Level of formality and appropriateness

31. Oral Exam Task Description – Group Activity • Within your groups, you should each present an Oral Exam Tasks which you have used in the past. • Discuss your experience using this task (both positive and negative). • Then, as a group, you should pick what you feel – as a group – are the two best examples. You will need to agree as a group. Make sure to consider the appropriateness of the tasks in terms of genre, topic and preparation time. • You should turn in your choices to the course instructor.

32. V. From Criteria to Level Descriptions

33. LK06 – focus on spoken English

34. Categories…

35. Level descriptors activity • Listen to the spoken samples. • Decide whether you think the pupil is: elementary, intermediate or advanced in each category/criteria. Use your own understanding of the skills expected of a 10th grade pupil in order to do this. • Reflect on your reasons for putting the pupil in this category. Then, write a short description of this level based on what you have heard. • In your groups, compare both your assessment of level, as well as your descriptions. • Did you agree? Where did you differ? • Try to come to a common description of this level amongst yourselves.

36. Level descriptors

37. Audacity • http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ • First download. • Then record using headset or microphone. • Save as Project. • Export as mp3 file.

38. Rubistar • http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php Advantages: • Sample of criteria to look at • Simple way of creating your own, saveable rubrics or ”evaluation tables”

39. For next time…. • Further work on level descriptions • Workshop actual pupil texts (requires samples ”from the field” by March 1) • Role of examiner • Issues of reliability • Spoken Production vs. Spoken Interaction • Applications of: Assessment for Learning, Formative, as well as Ipsative, Assessment • Overview of descriptive criteria for oral skills: European Language Portfolio, IELTs, TOEFL