Assessing Spoken English

T E S T I N G & E VA L U AT I O N 1. Intelligibility of the spoken word parenthesis, or change of subject.
It will
in complete utterances be here, perhaps, that candidates will
John Dawson establishes the Candidates’ utterances should be demonstrate their handling of the items
recognisable and decodable as signalling and phrases typical of spoken, as
criteria to be applied to assessing
the meaning intended by the speaker. opposed to written, language - such as
oral proficiency successfully. They may be long or short, simple or that reminds me of ... or there’s no point in
... or I’m not very keen on ... . An ability
Assessing spoken
to handle turn-taking in the conversation
and directing the conversation along
chosen lines is also important.
At advanced levels especially,
T English
raditionally, listening and candidates should be able to maintain
speaking skills in English have cohesion, communicate ideas and
not been given priority in non- maintain control over relevance and
English-speaking education systems. register. This will display their lexical
There are several reasons for this: range, when they use synonyms and
formal education in the past attached complex, according to the level at which superordinates to avoid direct repetition
importance to a literary grasp of the assessment is being made. Candidates as they develop a topic. It may involve
language, and since learners were should observe a set of phonemic the use of logical markers such as in spite
unlikely to come into contact with contrasts (e.g. /f/ versus /v/ and /e/ versus of, alternatively, or speaking generally, to
English speakers, there was little need /i:/) and a system of suprasegmental indicate the cohesion of an argument.
for oral proficiency. contrasts (e.g. intonation, stress, tone, Intonation is important for
With the emergence of English as an length) approximating as closely as maintaining interest in a conversation
international language, the situation is possible to any widely acceptable variety and a friendly tone as it progresses, as
changing: learners are now more likely of English. Candidates should control well as one’s attitude to certain elements
to need oral proficiency than before. tone groups and phrasing to show units within it, so the candidates’ control of
When these learners become candidates of meaning. this will be assessed.
for examination or assessment they need
to demonstrate their proficiency 2. Comprehension of complete
through standardised criteria - especially utterances
Shared responsibility
those learners who will need English Candidates should understand the Taken together, these four competencies
professionally or for study. spoken language of the assessor delivered will mean successful conversation or
at normal speed, without undue discussion on terms of relative equality,
concession to the non-native speaker. engaging in meaningful dialogue. It is
The difficulties of the assessor who will determine the
assessment 3. Ability to respond to utterances language level at which this occurs.
Spoken language is notoriously difficult Candidates should respond appropriately However, all of the above
to assess. Criteria of performance and and readily. Their language should not presupposes fluent interaction about a
descriptors to pinpoint aspects of transgress linguistically or stylistically the topic of conversation. The first requisite
spoken language are open to normal and accepted behaviour of for a learner’s best performance is a
interpretation and misinterpretation. English. The level of appropriacy and topic which is of interest. They will
Judgements are necessarily subjective. readiness required will, again, depend on perform more effectively and confidently
There is often no complete, retrievable the level at which the assessment is being on topics of their own choice, preferably
record of the assessment process, which made. At elementary levels this may pre-researched with or without help
is usually one-to-one and conducted involve answering simple yes/no and wh- from teachers.
behind closed doors. Assessors, no questions, while at advanced levels there For their part, assessors must
matter how well trained, are difficult to could be a requirement, for example, for establish and maintain a non-threatening
standardise: being human, they can an expression of extended opinion. atmosphere, with encouraging noises,
differ not only from one another, but Under consideration here will be the comments and a relaxed bearing. They
also in their own assessments from one candidates’ range of vocabulary and are the other half of the interaction and
occasion to another. Learners, also grammatical structures and the fluency they must demonstrate all the
being human, perform at varying or and flexibility with which they can competencies themselves for it to be
unpredictable levels of proficiency under handle what they know. p
successful. E T
assessment conditions, i.e. as ‘candidates’. John Dawson has been
4. Ability to initiate and maintain involved in teaching
English as a foreign
language
What is being assessed Equally as important as a suitable
language for more than
40 years. He worked
I would like to suggest a list of four response is the use of language to initiate with the British Council
in Burma, India, Greece,
competencies that assessors for public topics and keep a conversation going. Brazil, Malta, London
examinations measure, at all levels, and This includes the use of lexical markers and The United Arab
Emirates. Until recently
which are applicable when teachers find and changes in intonation to signify and he was Chief Examiner
themselves in the role of assessors of their distinguish parts of the discourse - such in English (ESOL) for
own students. things as ordering, exemplifying, Trinity College London.
• ENGLISH TEACHING professional • 23

Assessing Spoken English

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T E S T I N G & E VA L U AT I O N 1. Intelligibility of the spoken word parenthesis, or change of subject.

• ENGLISH TEACHING professional • 23

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