Midterm oral task rubric

English 4 – 5 – 6 - 7

Below are a set of criteria you can use to grade your students during their speaking tests.
These criteria are general and can be customized for the levelof the students being tested.
Interactive
Task achievement Grammar Vocabulary Pronunciation
Communication
Speaks fluently, with Frequently Uses a wide Can be Keeps and
little or no repetition produces range of lower- understood develops the
or self-correction. complex frequency effortlessly, interaction
sentences, as vocabulary with no L1 naturally and
No searching for
appropriate to appropriate to interference. spontaneously to
language; any
level. level with get to the
hesitation is content- Uses stress,
flexibility and communicative
related. Makes very few intonation, and
accuracy. goal with no
or no errors. pitch skillfully to
Speaks at length support.
No searching for clarify meaning
with no prompting Verb formation
vocabulary.
required. is accurate, with Negotiates.
Excellent evidence of Uses synonyms
Covers all aspects of Responds
4 points complex forms. and
the task fully and appropriately.
paraphrase.
develops topics
appropriately. Uses idiomatic Uses natural
language speech
Makes natural use of
naturally, as
cohesive features
appropriate to
and uses them
level.
appropriately.
Proper use of
webcam and audio
tools

Adapted from EVOLVE DIGITAL Speaking Assessments Teacher's Grading Guide © Cambridge University
Press & Assessment 2022
 Interactive
Task achievement Grammar Vocabulary Pronunciation
Communication
Speaks fluently, with Sentence forms Uses some Can be easily Keeps and
only occasional show some lower-frequency understood develops the
repetition or self- complexity, as vocabulary easily, with little interaction
correction. appropriate to appropriate to L1 interference. quite naturally
level. level. and
Only occasional Uses stress,
spontaneously
language-related Makes few, Little searching intonation, and
to get to the
hesitation. non-systematic for vocabulary. pitch effectively
communicative
errors. to clarify
Speaks at length, but Occasionally goal with very
meaning.
may occasionally Verb formation uses some little support.
Good lose coherence. is generally synonyms and
accurate, with paraphrase. Often
3.5 points Covers all aspects of negotiates.
some instances
the task with some Occasionally
of complex
development. uses idiomatic Often responds
forms, as
language, as appropriately.
Makes good use of appropriate to
appropriate to
cohesive features, level.
level. Rarely reads a
with only occasional
inappropriacy. script during the
task,
Adequate use of maintaining
webcam and audio natural speech
tools

Adapted from EVOLVE DIGITAL Speaking Assessments Teacher's Grading Guide © Cambridge University
Press & Assessment 2022
 Maintains flow of Produces simple Uses the Can be Keeps and
speech, but with sentence forms vocabulary understood, but develops the
noticeable repetition accurately, but needed for may interaction to
and/or self- only rarely achievement of mispronounce get to the
correction complex the task. certain sounds. communicative
structures goal with
Some searching for Occasional L1 interference
appropriate to prompting and
language, resulting in searching for may cause
the level. support.
hesitation. vocabulary. confusion for
Makes the listener.
Needs some Little use of Sometimes
occasional
prompting to synonyms and Does not always negotiates.
errors.
achieve task; paraphrase. use stress,
occasionally loses Verb formation intonation, and Sometimes
Satisfactory coherence. Little use of the responds
as appropriate pitch where
idiomatic appropriately.
3 points to the level is they would
Covers most aspects language of the
sometimes clarify meaning.
of the task, but with level. Frequent lack of
inaccurate.
little development. natural speech
Makes use of due to partial
cohesive features, reading of a
but with some script.
inappropriacy or
overuse of certain
features.

Fair use of webcam

and audio tools.

Adapted from EVOLVE DIGITAL Speaking Assessments Teacher's Grading Guide © Cambridge University
Press & Assessment 2022
 Interactive
Task achievement Grammar Vocabulary Pronunciation
Communication
Speech breaks down Produces only Produces only Mispronounces Has
or features long basic sentence vocabulary certain sounds, considerable
pauses. forms. below the level, which can make difficulty to
and lacks the speech difficult keep and
Hesitates often or at Makes frequent
vocabulary to understand. develop the
length when errors.
needed for the interaction.
searching for Misplaced
Frequently task.
language. stress and
produces verbs Fails to get to
Frequently intonation can
Unable to produce in base form the
searches for cause difficulty
utterances without communicative
words. for the listener
prompting. goal.
or make the
No use of
Task achieved only message
synonym or Requires lots of
Below level partially or not at all. unclear.
paraphrase prompting and
2 points Utterances are rarely support.
No use of the
or not at all linked
idiomatic Does not
with connective
language of the negotiate.
features.
level.
Poor use of webcam Responds with
and audio tools. very short
utterances.

Lack of natural
speech due to
reading a script
during the task.

• Absence: 0 points
• Use of Spanish: 0 points
• No video is available (only audio): 0 points

Adapted from EVOLVE DIGITAL Speaking Assessments Teacher's Grading Guide © Cambridge University
Press & Assessment 2022