Assessing Criteria for Oral Skills: English Testing at Upper

Assessing Criteria for Oral Skills:
English Testing at Upper
Intermediate Level
Mª Victoria Guadamillas
University of Castilla-La Mancha
CEFR
The Common European Framework (CEFR), published in 2001, stablishes
some self-assessment criteria for second language oral skills.
For spoken interaction the speakers are supposed to be able to “interact with
a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native
speakers quite possible”, and it is also able to “take an active part in discussion
in familiar contexts, accounting for and sustaining my views.” (Council of
Europe, 2001: 24).
As for spoken production, according to CEFR, evaluators must consider the
ability to “present clear, detailed descriptions on a wide range of subjects
related to their field of interest and express a viewpoint on a topical issue
giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options” (2001: 24).
Oral production
Task Design
Planning
L2 Production
Individual Differences
Ellis (2009)
Luoma (2004) states:
the complexity of evaluating speaking and the necessity of
designing a grading rubric for oral presentation, since speaking is
considered a multi-dimensional skill with a multitude of
decisions to be made in every step of the process.
evaluators must keep in mind exactly what type of speaking will
be tested within a particular context and design tasks and rating
criteria that are suited to what is being tested. Besides, the author
considers that students “should be aware of evaluation criteria
and the testing and evaluation process must follow an outline
plan.” (Luoma, 2004: 29)
Cambridge ESOL
Trinity (GESE)
Official English
School_Spain
B2 (CEFR)
Oral Test
Levels: CEFR
Graded
CEFR
Examinatio
ns
in
Spoken
English
(Trinity)
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10
Level 9
Pre A1
A1
A2.1
A2.2
B1.1.
B1.2
B2.1
B2.2.
B2.3.
C1.1.
C1.2.
Cambridge CEFR
(English
Language
Assessment
)
KET
(Key A2
English
Test)
PET
B1
(Preliminary
English
Test)
Official
Language
School
CEFR
Beginners
Test
A2
Intermediate
Test
B1
Advanced
English Test
B2
FCE (First B2
Certificate)
CAE
(Advanced)
C1
CPE
C2
(Proficiency)
Oral Tasks
Trinity (Level 9)
Cambridge (FCE)
Official Language School
(Orden 23/04/2014)
PART 1 Topic Phase
General questions
Speaking (set topic) 5min. to
prepare the task.
PART 2 Interactive Phase
Photo description
Conversation
PART 3 Conversation
Phase
Talk to each other
about a particular
topic
______________________
PART 4 ___________
Discussion and
conversation with
the examiner
_______________________
15-20 minutes
15-20 minutes
25 minutes
Trinity Level 9/ Part 1/ Topic phase
When choosing the topic, candidates should select a topic of their own choice and plan
the areas of the topic which they would like to inform the examiner about and
discuss. As with the previous stage, candidates should prepare the topic on a subject
they are personally interested in, knowledgeable about and able to talk about.
Please note the topic should not be chosen directly from the list of subject areas for
the Conversation phase for the particular grade. Instead, candidates should be strongly
encouraged to prepare a personalised topic. This is to enable candidates to show a wide
range of language throughout the examination.
The topic should provide candidates with the opportunity to demonstrate the language
requirements of the grade. Therefore, candidates should be strongly encouraged to
incorporate language items of the grade into their contributions.
Trinity Level 9/Part 2/ Interactive phase
Trinity Level 9/Part 3/Conversation phase
Cambridge FCE /Part 1
Cambridge FCE /Part 2
Cambridge FCE /Part 3
Cambridge FCE / Part 4
State Official Language Schools Advanced/ Part 1 /Monologue
State Official Language Schools Advanced/ Part
2/Dialogue
Oral Assessment Criteria
complexity
accuracy
fluency
Trinity (GESE) level 9
Criteria
-Coverage of communicative skills
appropriate for the grade
Cambridge (ESOL) FCE
Criteria
Grammatical Resource
-Language functions
-Lexical Resource
-Grammatical, lexical and phonological
items
-Discourse Management
-Accuracy and appropriacy in language
use
-Interactive Communication
- Fluency and promptness of response
-Pronunciation
(Galaczi, 2005: 17)
Official Language School (Advanced
Certificate)
Criteria
-Fluency, pronunciation, intonation
-Communicative ability, efficiency and
adequacy for the communicative
situation
-Discourse Management; coherence
and
cohesion,
accuracy,
connectors…etc.
-Language use: grammar, syntax,
vocabulary, style and emphasis
-Interaction: flexibility, spontaneity,
ability to open and close the
conversation
Marking
Trinity (Level 9) 50%
Formal topic presentation 33.3%
Interactive task 33.3%
Discussion of portfolio and
Conversation 33.3%
Cambridge(FCE) 20%
Assessment is based on performance in the
whole test, and is not related to
performance in particular parts of the test.
Official Language School (B2) 36%
Assessment is based on performance
in every part.
Monologue 16 points
Discussion 20 points
What are we doing
?
C A F (Complexity, Accuracy,
Fluency) may be affected by
the task design (Tavakoli and
Foster, 2008)
Increasing individual differences
Topis or
themes are
quite different
or distributed
in different
ways
Planning doesn’t exist
or timing is different
Task design is different in
terms of the different
phases
Recommendation and Conclusion
Assessment criteria are very general
Specific points or a very detailed assessment grid should be developed
Teacher training is needed to avoid different evaluation processes at
the same level
Prohibited or expected expression in every level would help to
evaluate candidates
Time for preparation can be also a key factor to avoid anxiety in
candidates
Unify topics and themes
Thank you!

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