High school teacher training workshop

HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER TRAINING WORKSHOPVinh Phuc, August 2014Assessing SPEAKING skillsWhat do you often do to make your students speak English in class?How often do you test them on speaking skill?How do you test their speaking skill?Work in groupActivity 1 Group WorkChoose speaking tasks that have a positive effect on teaching / learningAvoid lengthy directions (written or spoken)Include a warm-upProvide a variety of tasks for accurate assessmentCreate an appropriate scoring rubric3 Assess the Speaking Test for strengths and weaknessesSpecifying appropriate tasksContent Operations: expressing, narrating, eliciting, etc.Types of text: dialogue, multi-participantInteractions: face-to-face, telephoneFormatInterviewInteraction with peersResponse to tape-recordingsTesting speakingElicitation techniques:Questions and requests for information Pictures (for eliciting description)Role playInterpretingDiscussionTape-recorded stimuli ImitationTesting speakingObtaining valid and reliable scoringAppropriate descriptions of criteria levels are written out and scorer are trained to use themIrrelevant features of performance are ignoredThere is more than one scorer for each performanceTesting speaking Making a rubricWhat is a rubric?"a scoring tool that lists the criteria for a piece of work or 'what counts.' " -- Heidi Goodrich 2-3Activity 2 Group WorkFill in the rubric with descriptors:limited, poor, fair, some, adequate, sound, unclear, parts clear, mostly clear, very clear, well developed, extensive, excellentFluencyPronunciationEffortVocabularyFill in the rubric with descriptorsFluencyPronunciationEffortVocabularyLimitedParts clearMostly clearVery clearunclearsomegoodWellDevelopedlimitedadequatesoundextensivepoorfairGoodexcellentWhat are the assessment criteria?What does each criterion really mean?IELTS SPEAKINGUnderstanding assessment criteriaActivity 3 Group WorkFluency and coherenceLexical resourceGrammatical range & accuracyPronunciationASSESSMENT CRITERIAFluency:Amount of hesitation/ self-correction / repetition (How many times)Ability to speak at length (How long)Coherence:Ability to organize ideas logicallyUse of discourse markers & linking phrases1. FLUENCY & COHERENCEExpand + BuildSimon’s advice:Idea: answer the question directly.Explain: give a reason or explain your answer in more detail.Alternative: explain an alternative (e.g. the opposite) to your answer.Example: give an example to support your answer.Another idea: Just add it on the end of your answer.SPEAK AT LENGTH?Discourse markersRespond to a pointYes, I agree because / I’m not sure I agree with that you see Speculating on the futureI think we’ll probably see a lot of / Maybe there’ll be more Compare/contrastIn my view, there are two main differencesLinking words:not only that, whereas, provided that, as a result, this is due to, etc.COHERENCEAbility to convey precise meaningUse of:Collocations Less common vocabularyIdiomatic expressionsVocabulary resource: Topic specific vocabularyParaphrasing: Able to explain/describe smt when you are not sure/ can not remember the exact word to use2. LEXICAL RESOURCERange of structures (use of clauses, complex structures)Range of tense useError densityThe level of errors (errors in basic or complex structures)3. GRAMMATICAL ACCURACY & RANGEFocus on the accuracy & variety of pronunciation featuresPronounce the words & sounds of English correctlyUse correct stress in words & sentencesUse correct intonationLink words together correctly when speaking: “pausing & chunking”4. PRONUNCIATIONDiscuss with the person sitting next to you:Differences across levels Focus on level 5 & 6IELTS SPEAKING: BAND DESCRIPTORActivity 4 Pair workBe Careful! Assure all students understand the criteria of assessment (the rubric) Did you teach enough, the required content?Check for “Silent Period”Provide a proper environment / warm up.Test what you taught!Give students specific feedback allow for a retake. Praise!Flood & Lapp, 1992Pre TestDuring TestingAfter Testing