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 Phonetics/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: • the difference between continual and final assessment • defining the characteristics of spoken English for assessment • To provide supportfor: • Setting the task for the Oral Exam • Setting the criteria for the Oral Exam • Defining levels of mastery

4. Programme • Needs Analysis • Global Context • Competence • Types of Assessment • Exam Assessment - Background • Process – from LK06 to descriptive criteria • Oral Exam tasks • Tools - Audacity / Rubistar • Looking towards Module II

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

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 - business, commerce, international co-operation • 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 written model; most World Standard English models are defined to specific contexts and genres

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 in a way which does not discourage or disenchant?

12. II. Competence and 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 (Exam) • (Strategic competence - metacognitive/cognitive)

14. New in LK06

15. III. Types of Assessment

16. Purposes of Assessment • To acknowledge pupils’ efforts • To motivate pupils • To monitor progress • To identify students with special education needs (SEN) at both ends of the scale • To establish baseline evidence of achievement • To detect pupil under-achievement • To report to parents

17. Purposes of Assessment (cont.) • To “group” or “set” pupils • To measure end-of-course achievement • To compare pupils • To monitor teaching and inform planning • To provide information which will make teachers and schools accountable for their performance

18. Considerthisquote... “There’s an awful lot of giving smiley faces at the bottom of children’s work and very elaborate praise and stars and so on. They are fine for maintaining pupils’ motivation and making children feel good about it, but unless it’s accompanied by more direct specific advice about what to do to make the piece of work better it’s actually of very little help to pupils as a learning activity. It actually helps the pupil to be told directly but kindly, what it is they are not doing very well so that they know how to do it better.” • (Gipps, 1997:9)

19. Two Key Assessment Purposes Summative Assessment (”sluttverdering”) Assessment of Learning • The Judge • Norm-referenced Assessment Formative Assessment (”underveisvurdering”) Assessment forLearning • The Coach or Mentor • Criterion-referenced Assessment

20. Summative Assessment • Checks what has been learned or acquired to date • Is designed for those not directly involved in daily learning and teaching • Is presented in a periodic report • Usually gathers information into quickly reviewed numbers, scores or marks • Usually compares students with other students or ”standards” for a specific grade level • Does not need to involve the student (but does involve school administration and parents) • (Sutton, Ruth, http://www.surf.to/ruth.sutton.publications)

21. Formative Assessment • Checks learning to decide what to do next • Is designed to assist teachers and students • Is used in ”marking” and conversation • Usually detailed, specific and descriptive feedback in words, as well as (or instead of) numbers, scores and marks • Usually focuses on improvement, compared with the student’s ”previous best” • Needs to involve the student – the person most able to improve learning • (Sutton, Ruth, http://www.surf.to/ruth.sutton.publications)

22. Ipsative or ”value-added” Assessment • Ipsative Assessment: • The learner’s performance is measured against the learner’s own previous levels of attainment or mastery • Measures gains in personal learing and provides data on the extent to which the pupil, the teacher, and the school have been able to improve learning

23. Common weakness in assessment: • Time (quality vs. quantity) • Meaningful feedback • Affective filter (emotions) • Effect on pupils – need for clear messages to pupils that they are capable of: • learning • improving their performance • benefiting from being in your classroom

24. A brief history of Assessment The clapping exercise

26. IV. From aims to criteria:

27. 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

28. 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

29. LK06 – focus on spoken English

30. 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 • usebasic terminology to describe grammar and text structure • Basic grammar – simple/compound sentences, basic concord, countable/uncountable nouns, etc.

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

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

33. Spoken skills (Key Stage 8-10) Communication • mastervocabulary 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 discusscurrent events and interdisciplinary topics • use content from various sources independently and critically

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

35. 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

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

37. Overview of categories…

38. V. Oral Exam Tasks – 48 hour preparation time

39. 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)

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

41. 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

42. Oral Exam Task Description – Group Activity • Within your groups, you should each present an Oral Exam Task 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.

43. VI. From Criteria to Level Descriptions

44. LK06 – focus on spoken English

45. Categories…

46. VI. Spoken Samples

47. 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.

48. Level descriptors

49. Defining characteristics (Student Pair 1) • Pronunciation problems • shut vs. shot, Clarice, plural –s ”songs”, also (overcorrection), stains vs. stands • good – Norway, was, Red Wood Forest • Rhythm/Stress – overall good • Intonation problems – rising intonation throughout • bathroom, more, roll, parents, Crown Electrics, driving, actor, Hotel, Norway • Lexical chunks – have learned ”consists of”

50. Defining characteristics (cont.) • Precisions – thing, something, ”high and huge” (trees) • Word grammar – serie, who is fourteen years, president  presidential (candidate) • Verb phrase grammar – basic very good, some signs of advanced (“girl who was fourteen years”) – processing of this does slow down fluency • Norwegianisms • ”it has now been” • ”it always happens something with one of them”