ASSESSING SPEAKING PERFORMANCE

ENGLISH - LEVEL C1 (CUID)

In the exam, the speaking task (“Prueba de Expresión e Interacción Oral”) is assessed in terms
of the following aspects:

§ Grammatical resources: the range of grammatical constructions employed and the

degree of control in which they are used.

§ Lexical resources: the range of lexical items used to talk about both simple and complex
topics in an appropriate way.

§ Discourse management focuses on comprehensibility and clarity of expression,

coherence and organization.

§ Pronunciation covers intelligibility, intonation, word and sentence stress, and evidence
of first language accent.

§ Interactive communication focuses on the ability to exchange information with another

speaker.

More concretely, at this level, the speaking task should be assessed as follows:

(1) GRAMMATICAL RESOURCES (20%)

Candidates should show a good command of a range of simple and some complex grammatical
structures.

(2) LEXICAL RESOURCES (20%)

Candidates are expected to use a range of appropriate vocabulary, both when dealing with
familiar topics (e.g. personal experiences) and with topics that may be more complex (e.g. climate
change).

(3) DISCOURSE MANAGEMENT (20%)

Candidates are expected to:

- Express themselves fluently, spontaneously, and almost effortlessly or with little hesitation.

- Provide relevant contributions in a comprehensible, clear and organized way.

- Use a range of cohesive devices and discourse markers.

(4) PRONUNCIATION (20%)

Pronunciation is mainly concerned with how easily the examiner understands what is being said.
Intonation, stress, and evidence of native language accent should be taken into account. Thus,
candidates are expected to:

- Be intelligible.

- Use an appropriate intonation.

- Use sentence and word stress correctly.

- Articulate individual sounds correctly.

(5) INTERACTIVE COMMUNICATION (20%)

Candidates should:

- Be able to introduce a new idea, opinion, etc.

- React appropriately to what the examiner asks, says, etc.

- Maintain interaction.