Alexander_speaking Item

Level: Lower Intermediate
Aim: Evaluating oral communicative performance by students provided with a situation in which they have to exchange information.

Speaking Item

Role play 1

Participant A:

You have to talk about two topics with a partner. Give as much information as you can, making sure you cover all the aspects included. Taking turns, try to speak as much as your partner.

1. You and your friend are at the mall. Begin talking about clothes.
* Tell your friend your favorite brand is Nike.
* Give reasons to explain why you like this brand.

2. You and your friend are talking about vacation plans. Talk about your next vacation.
Mention aspects such as:
* Destination
* Accommodation
* Things you like doing on vacation
* Things you need to take with you when travelling.

Participant B:

You have to talk about two topics with a partner. Give as much information as you can, making sure you cover all the aspects included. Taking turns, try to speak as much as your partner.

1. You and your friend and are at the mall. Begin talking about clothes.
* Tell your friend that brand you prefer is Adidas.
* Try to change your partner’s opinion about Nike.
* Mention things that you need to do in order to buy good clothes.

2. You and your friend are talking about vacation plans.
Give your friend some advice on how to have a good vacation.
Ask him/her about his/her plans for:
* Entertainment
* Food
* Transportation

Speaking Assessment Criteria

I. PRONUNCIATION

3/2,5 Very good to good. Very slight influence of the native language. Sporadic non-phonemic errors. Speaker is always intelligible.

2/1,5 Average. Marked foreign accent. Occasional phonemic or non-phonemic errors but speaker is always intelligible.

1/0 Poor to very poor. Very heavy foreign accent. Very frequent phonemic and non-phonemic errors. Speaker is unintelligible OR impossible to evaluate.


II. ACCURACY IN MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX.

3/2,5 Very good to good. Sporadic or occasional errors that do not interfere with intelligibility.

2/1,5 Average. Persistent and/or consistent errors that do not seriously affect intelligibility.

1/0 Poor to very poor. No control of morphological and syntactic patterns except for formulaic expressions. Abundance of errors makes communication difficult or virtually impossible.


III. LEXICON/WORD ACCESS.

3/2,5 Very good to good. General vocabulary is extensive and/or adequate to cover varied common topics. Access to words is generally automatic.

2/1,5 Average. Choice of words is sometimes inaccurate. Limitations of vocabulary prevent discussion of some common social topics. Some words escape the speaker and cannot retrieve them. Asks interlocutor, generally in the L2.

1/0 Poor to very poor. Complete lack of vocabulary. Problems in word access/choice make communication impossible. Keeps asking to supply words, generally in the native language.

IV. FLUENCY

3/2,5 Very good to good. Speech is smooth and effortless though some sporadic non-native pauses may be present. Pauses or hesitations do not interfere with intelligibility.

2/1,5 Average. Occasional non-native pauses and hesitations that do not seriously interfere with intelligibility.
1/0 Poor to very poor. Speech is very slow and uneven. Pauses and hesitations may make speech so fragmentary that communication is virtually impossible.

V. COMPREHENSION

3/2,5 Very good to good. Understands everything except for very colloquial or infrequent elements or particular rapid, connected speech. Repetition or rephrasing are virtually unnecessary.

2/1,5 Average. Understands quite normal, educated speech. Occasionally needs repetition or rephrasing. Careful speech may be necessary in clarifications.

1/0 Poor to very poor. Understands virtually nothing or only extremely simplified and slow speech. Repetition and rephrasing are constantly necessary.

Adapted from Forum Asesores,C.A. evaluation formats.