REFRRESHER | AS17 TEACHING AND
ASSESSMENT OF THE MACRO SKILLS
CHAPTER 1
Listening is primarily viewed as the foundation for
language acquisition process. Since communication is
basically oral, people mostly learn, understand, and
respond effectively by listening to what others have to say.
However, according to Nation and Newton (2009) in
Nemtchinova, 2013, it has been "the least understood and
the most overlooked of the four skills (listening,
speaking, reading, writing). Listening skills in language
classrooms are more often tested through students’ ability
to respond effectively to what has been heard. However,
this skill is seldom taught.
HEARING AND LISTENING
Although hearing and listening are most of the time
regarded as synonyms, the two terms are quite distinct.
The former is passive, and the latter is active.
From the dictionary:
• Hearing - the process, function or power of
perceiving a sound.
• Listening - to hear something with thoughtful
attention.
From the book Stand up, Speak out: The Practice and
Ethics of Public Speaking:
• Hearing - accidental and automatic brain
response to sound that requires no effort.
• Listening - purposeful and focused to understand
the meanings expressed by a speaker.
According to Kline (1996):
• Hearing - the reception of sound
• Listening - the attachment of meaning to the
sound
According to Rost (2002):
• Hearing - a form of perception.
• Listening - an active and intentional process.
Vandergrift (1999) in Yildirim (2016):
• Listening - a complex, active process in which the
listener must discriminate between sounds,
understand vocabulary and grammatical
structures, interpret stress and intonation, retain
what was gathered in all of the above, and
interpret it within the immediate as well as the
larger sociocultural context of the utterance.
According to Maureen (2017):
• Hearing - act of perceiving sound and receiving
sound waves or vibrations through your ear.
• Listening - act of hearing a sound and
understanding what you hear.
According to Surbhi (2017):
• Hearing - natural ability or an inborn trait that
allows us to recognize sound through ears by
catching vibrations.
• Listening - learned skill, in which we can receive
sounds through cars, and transform them into
meaningful messages.
Flowerdew and Miller (2005)
1. Listening
2. Speaking
3. Reading
4. Writing
Listening is more than just hearing sounds and words. It
is an active process wherein language learners receive,
construct meaning from, and respond to both verbal and
non-verbal messages. As you listen, you interpret the
sounds and get the important words and construct
meaning. As you do this you also simultaneously check
the new information against your prior knowledge and
experiences.
ACTIVE LISTENING
This skill may not come naturally for many of us. You
have to understand that there is a line that separates
passive listening and active listening.
• Passive listening - is regarded as one-way
communication wherein the receiver does not
respond nor give feedback to the speaker in any
way.
• Active listening - responding and providing
message but even to the verbal and non-verbal
messages. It is listening accurately, effectively,
and responding appropriately to the various
communicative context. It is gaining information,
learning, and understanding things. It is a key to
effective communication.
The importance of active listening
• Listening is vital in the language classroom because
it provides input for the learner. Without
understanding input at the right level, any learning
simply cannot begin.
• Spoken language provides a means of interaction for
the learner. Because learners must interact to achieve
understanding. Access to speakers of the language is
essential. Moreover, learners' failure to understand
the language they hear is an impetus, not an obstacle,
to interaction and learning.
• Authentic spoken language presents a challenge for
the learner to understand language as native speakers
use it.
• Listening exercises provide teachers with a means for
drawing learner's attention to new forms (vocabulary,
grammar, new interaction patterns) in the language.
Barriers to active listening
• Noise. It is the most common distraction when
listening. Noise does not only refer to something
physical, but also psychological (internal thoughts).
physiological (basic needs), semantic noise, and
(word meanings and interpretation).
• Attention span. Students can only maintain focused
attention for a finite length of time. Thus, classroom
lectures should be short, interesting, and engaging.
• Receiver biases. One's preconceived ideas and
opinions, whether about the speaker or the
message/topic, can be considered as noise and may
interfere in the listening process. It may hinder one
from receiving new points of view and information.
• Listening or receiver apprehension. Listening or
receiver apprehension is the fear that you might be
unable to understand the message or process the
 information correctly or be able to adapt your
thinking to include the new information coherently.
Key Active Listening Skills
1. Pay Attention. It is concentrating on the speaker's
message while integrating one's own prior knowledge
and experiences. It also involves paying attention not
just to the speaker's message but also to the non-
verbal gestures.
2. Withhold Judgment. It is important to stay open-
minded and to welcome varied ideas, new
perspectives, and different opinions. Good listeners
know how to respond appropriately without
criticizing, judging, and insisting on their point of
view.
3. Reflect. Reflecting during the communication
process allows you to understand the speaker's
experiences and the emotions that come with them.
Reflecting in this context refers to rephrasing and
repeating or reaffirming both the words and the
feelings of the speaker. The purposes of this are as
follows:
• to allow the speakers to hear their thoughts
and to focus on what they say and feel;
• to show the speakers that you are trying to
perceive the world as they see it and that you
are doing your best to understand their
messages;
• to encourage them to continue talking.
4. Clarity. To able to provide accurate and relevant
feedback, the listener has to clarify information that
has not been clearly understood; or to ask for more
information or details about the topic.
5. Summarize. Restate key points in the conversation to
ensure that you have the same understanding of the
intention and message of the speaker. It is one way for
the speaker to "listen to himself/herself" and to review
his/her thoughts and feelings.
6. Share. As you listen intently to the other person and
maintain open-mindedness, you’ll be able to
understand his perspectives and feelings. You can
begin to introduce (without imposing) your
perspectives, ideas, and feelings without judgments.
ETHICAL LISTENING
Ethical listening highlights the importance of listening
with honest intentions. Respect is the key to active
listening. If you want to be heard and respected when it is
your turn to speak, you should also extend the same
degree of respect to others whether you agree with them
or not.
Stages of Listening (RURER)
DeVito (2000) has divided the listening process into five
mental tasks or stages namely: receiving, understanding,
remembering, evaluating, and responding.
Stage 1. Receiving
Involves two other activities like hearing and attending.
In this stage, you must pay attention to the speaker and
avoid accommodating other thoughts to ensure that you
have not missed any information, or messages both verbal
and non-verbal.
Stage 2. Understanding
Determine the context and assign meaning to the words
and utterances beard. In this stage, you should also be
aware of some factors that may affect your understanding
like the choice of words, accent, language fluency,
physical noise, perceptions, experiences, and the like.
Stage 3. Remembering
Remembering all details is vital to be able to move
forward in the conversation. Sometimes listening
attentively is not enough since there might be a message
that is too complex and thus needs highly developed
listening skills.
Stage 4. Evaluating
The listener assesses the information after making
reasonable objective interpretation of the message. In this
stage the listener tries to review mentally and determine
the veracity of the information (with considerations of the
speaker's context) against his/her knowledge and
experiences.
Stage 5. Responding
Giving feedback is an important aspect of the
communication process. It is at this stage where you will
signify your participation. Feedback can either be verbal
and non-verbal reactions. Take note as well that not all
feedback occurs at the end.
• Formative Feedback - listener may offer non-
verbal signals like nodding while the speaker is
talking to show involvement.
• Summative feedback - on the other hand is given
at the end of the communication.
The Process of Listening
Most literature would point out two common terms
related to the process of listening top-down and bottom-
up. Top-down and bottom-up describe how a person
processes a listening text.
• bottom-up process - uses the information he she
has about sounds, word meanings, and discourse
markers, then after, tries to assemble his/her
understanding of what he/she reads or hears one
step at a time.
• top-down process - learners use their
background knowledge to comprehend the
meaning by considering previous knowledge and
schemata.
Skills for Listening
Skills - competencies which native listeners possess and
which non- natives need to acquire concerning the
language they are learning.
The following skill classification is adopted by Nihei
(2002) from an article by Richards (1987):
1. ability to recognize reduced forms of words
2. ability to distinguish word boundaries
3. ability to detect keywords (ie., those which identify
topics and propositions)
4. ability to guess the meanings of words from the
contexts in which they occur
5. ability to recognize cohesive devices in spoken
discourse,
6. ability to distinguish between major and minor
constituents;
7. ability to recognize the communicative functions of
utterances, according to situations, participants, goals
8. ability to reconstruct or infer situations, goals,
participants, procedures
9. ability to use real-world knowledge and experience to
work out purposes, goals, settings, procedures
10. ability to predict outcomes from events described;
11. ability to infer links and connections between events;
12. ability to distinguish between literal and implied
meanings
13. ability to recognize markers of coherence in
discourse, and to detect such relations as the main
idea, supporting the idea, given information, new
information, generalization, exemplification
14. ability to process speech containing pauses, errors,
corrections Richards (2008) in Lopez, et.al. (2020) explains:
15. ability to make use of facial, paralinguistic, and other
• before-listening stage prepares students for both
clues to work out meanings
types of processing through activities that require
16. ability to adjust listening strategies to different kinds
activating their previous knowledge, making
of listener purposes or goals
predictions, and revising key vocabulary.
Listening to Comprehend and Listening to Acquire the • while-listening stage focuses attention on
Target Language comprehension through activities that require
selective listening, listening for main ideas (gist
The LSRW (listening-speaking-reading-writing) method listening), or understanding the sequence of events
suggests that students learning a new language will first (sequencing)
be taught how to listen.
• post-listening phase, students should express their
LESSON 2: STRATEGIES IN TEACHING opinions on the topic and respond to comprehension.
LISTENING
The following are some of the exercises using the
Teaching Listening principle of interactive approach in listening:

Teaching this skill provides an avenue for students to be

exposed to rich input and an authentic sample of oral
texts. This allows them to be familiar with what
constitutes oral texts like pronunciation, stress, pitch, and
intonation; and, to be exposed to rich vocabulary and
language structure that is used in varied communicative
settings.
Likewise, you have also been introduced to the process of
listening. Vandegrift (2004) mentioned that students may
use either top-down or bottom-up processes. As one
listens, he/she may consciously or unconsciously use one
or both processes. Cahyono and Widiati (2009) mentioned
that "successful listeners are those who can use both
bottom-up and top-down processes by combining the new
information and the knowledge that they already know."
This claim is supported by several authors and thus leads
to what Lopez, et.al (2020) mentions as an 'integrative
approach' in teaching listening which involves three key
stages: before-listening, while-listening, and after-
listening.
The following are some of the exercises you can use
which would develop students' top-down and bottom-up
processing:
Format of a Listening Lesson
In the previous discussion, we have established the
following points:

• Teachers must provide activities that supplement

comprehension goals with acquisition goals.
• Successful listeners are those that can use both
bottom-up and top-down processes thus, teaching-
learning activities should provide students the
opportunity to practice both.
The three key stages in listening may be used as an outline
in designing a listening lesson that ensures an interactive
process approach in teaching listening.
Pre-listening
This stage sets the context of the listening activity that will
be given to students. In this stage, the following will help
you in getting your students ready for the listening task:
• Identifying vocabulary/comprehension needs.
Teachers should help students better understand the
listening or oral texts by identifying possible difficult
words or presenting specific vocabulary expressions
that students would need while listening.
• Activating interest. Teachers would always start
with motivational activities to set the classroom
mood. You may use video and audio segments, songs,
and/or stories that students find interesting. You may
refer to the suggested activities given above.
• Putting it in context. Teachers should choose oral
and listening texts that are relevant and interesting to
the students. During pre-listening, the teacher should
be able to design contextualized listening activities
that would activate students prior knowledge and help
them form appropriate inferences which they need to
comprehend the message.
•
• Analyzing linguistic features of the text. Depending
on the goal of your listening task, you can also ask
students to analyze language forms from the script.
You can also use the listening script/task as a
springboard in teaching grammatical functions.
• Integrating speaking and writing. Since listening is
a receptive skill, you may also want to design tasks
that would require students to use their productive
skills. In this case, students are allowed to use the
language creatively. They may write dialogues and
short compositions, role-play a certain scene, or
express their appreciation and reaction through
written and oral tasks.
Generic Format of a Listening Lesson
Pre-listening
• Identify vocabulary needs
• Activate interest and motivation
• Put in context

While-listening
In planning the while-listening activities, you may need to
consider the following:

• Listening and re-listening. Most students may need

to listen to a text several times before they can
understand.
• Guided listening and Scaffold note-taking. While-
listening focuses on comprehension through exercises
that require selective listening, gist listening,
sequencing, etc. These activities may be done by pairs
on in groups. Although listening is an individual
activity, sometimes students become more confident
if they are working with a partner especially in
completing while-listening activities.
• Thinking space. Just like any classroom activity, • Set the listening purpose
students need 'breathing" or 'thinking space between
While-listening
and after listening activities. Give them time to
process the information by pausing in between • Provide opportunity for students to re-listen
paragraphs, and check now and then if they are still • Promote guided listening
following. • Give students 'thinking space!
Post listening Post-listening.
As there are many post-listening activities that you can • Responding to the text.
give, remember that this stage serves as a follow-up to the • Analysing linguistic features of the text
listening activity done while taking into account the • Integrating speaking and writing.
primary purpose of the listening task. Thus, post-listening
activities may focus on: Strategies and Examples in Teaching Listening

• Responding to the text. It is important that students As a language teacher, you need to provide varied and
share their reactions to the content. You can provide relevant listening opportunities for your students in and
discussion questions or evaluative questions that outside the classroom. Here are some examples that you
would guide students in processing what they feel and can use:
the ideas they got after listening. You can better
engage them by providing post-listening tasks that
would let students categorize, synthesize, and clarify
ideas or reflect upon the message. You can engage
them in synthesizing.
Free Listening Tests & Exercises Websites
1. TALK ENGLISH. You can access free listening
lessons from different levels.
2. ELLLO offers over 3,000 free listening activities.
Teachers and students can access lessons for
beginner, intermediate and advanced learners.
3. IELTS buddy. For more listening tasks created by
native speakers of English, you can also access
the free materials across different levels.
4. ESL Lounge. You can also try this website which
offers different kinds of comprehension exercises
after each listening task. This can be accessed
using.
5. Breaking News English. On this website, you can
listen to interesting news content. This news is
presented at different levels and can be read at
different speeds.

For listening and viewing

6. TEDED. You can look for relevant content to use
as viewing and listening texts. Each lesson has
pre- and post-listening activities these parts watch
think and discuss.
LESSON 3 ASSESSMENT IN TEACHING
LISTENING
Why do we assess?
Listening is an internal activity, it is difficult to know what
goes in the mind of the student as he/she listens. However,
teachers can check for retention, comprehension, and
acquisition through the different listening tasks in each
listening stage.
An initial assessment may be done during pre-listening
tasks where teachers can determine students' strengths and
weaknesses. Formative assessment is done throughout
the listening tasks to check for students' progress and
ability to complete the listening tasks. Summative
assessment may be given as part of the post-listening
activities to find out how successful learners have been in
the listening tasks or to find out what they can or can't do.
Remember that summative assessment is not an end in
itself.
Teachers need to reinforce students' learning by providing
scaffolding strategies in teaching listening and giving
regular feedback on students' listening skills.
What do we assess?
Although there are a lot of listening tests you can give to
your students, it is important to ask yourself the following
questions:
How do we assess?
Regardless of macro skill, certain principles serve as
guidelines when assessing.
to make you more capable of delivering exactly what you
want to convey.
2. Grammar. The fewer grammar mistakes you make, the
more effective is your speech. What is important is the
accuracy of the message that you convey while speaking.
3. Pronunciation. Pronunciation is divided into two large
categories: segmentals and suprasegmentals.
• Segmentals are also called phonemes. Individual
sounds of the consonants and vowels are

• Reliability. A reliable test is consistent and

dependable. Bachman & Palmer (1996) describes it
as getting the same results when the same tests were
to be administrated to the same group of individuals
on two different occasions in two different settings.
• Validity. Reveals the extent to which the test
measures what it is supposed to measure and nothing
else. He added that it is by far the most complex
criterion of a good test.
• Practicality. This means that the tests should
consider constraints like limitations, time constraints,
ease of administration, scoring, etc.
• Authenticity. Describes the relationship between the
test and the real world. Assessment tasks should be
reflective of real-life situations which would trigger
mental processes similar to that of what students hear
and use in their daily life.

CHAPTER 2: TEACHING AND ASSESSING

SPEAKING
Speaking as an expressive skill is important for personal
and professional success. An effective speaker captures
attention and successfully gets the message across.
Effective speaking reflects clear thinking.
LESSON 1 UNDERSTANDING SPEAKING
Speaking and its Importance
segmentals.
• Suprasegmentals are speech techniques that
apply to multiple segments such as stress and
rhythm.
SPEECH REGISTER
Speech registers refer to the level of formality and style in
speaking anchored on different situations and contexts.

Speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning
through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a
variety of contexts (Chaney, 1998). Speaking is complex
because speakers are involved in a rapid and dynamic
process incurring a high element of doing various things
at the same time (Johnson, 1996). Further, Johnson (1996)
describes speaking as a "combinatorial skill" that
involves doing various things at the same time including
non-verbal communication skills like listening, eye
contact, and body language.
Why do we speak? People speak for the following
reasons:
1.) convey thoughts,
2.) persuade people, and
3.) inspire people and spur them into action.
The following skills need to be developed for effective
speaking in a second language.
1. Vocabulary. To be able to speak effectively, you have
to acquire enough words to say what you want to say and
In determining the type of speech register, you have to
consider:
• the purpose of your speech (Why am I speaking?)
• the audience (Who am I speaking to?)
• the occasion (What is the event?).
The following are the types of speech registers (FFCCI):
1. Frozen or Fixed Register. Used in very formal
ceremonies and must be said the same each time we say
it. This register is frozen in time, form, and content.
2. Formal Register. Follows a prescriptive format. It is
used in formal settings and is usually impersonal. This
includes academic language. Formal registers are
speeches, announcements, sermons, and pronouncements
by the judges.
3. Consultative Register. This is the standard form of
communication. The speaker uses the participation and
feedback of the listener.
4. Casual Register. This is an informal speech, usually
used between, friends, or colleague who have things to
share. There is free and easy participation of both speaker
and listener.
5. Intimate Register. The last type is a conversation
between two very close individuals. It is described by an
economy of words, with a high chance of nonverbal
communication.
SPEECH ACT
Speech act refers to an utterance expressed by an
individual that presents information and performs an
action as well. It is categorized as locutionary.
illocutionary, and perlocutionary.
• Locutionary act is the act of making an
expressive meaning. This is an utterance that
produces literal meaning based on what is said by
the speaker.
• Illocutionary act (force) is the meaning one
wishes to convey. It is an utterance that has a
social function in mind. In an illocutionary act, it
is not just the act of saying something but the act
of saying something for the purpose of: stating an
opinion, confirming or denying something;
making a prediction, a promise, request; issuing
an order or a decision; and giving advice or
permission.
• Perlocutionary act is the effect of our words that
entails a person to do something. This is what the
hearer does in response to the utterance.
Take this as an example:
Locution: Stop smoking
Illocution: The locution can be interpreted as a request to
stop order, or a warning.
Perlocution: The person stops smoking as an effect.
SPEECH DELIVERY
One way of categorizing a speech is the way it is
delivered. The types of speech delivery are impromptu,
extemporaneous, manuscript, and memorized.
• Impromptu speaking involves delivering a
message on the spur of the moment without
preparation and predetermination. The speaker is
provided on the spot with a topic and she/he will
say something about it.
• Extemporaneous speaking consists of delivering
a speech in a conversational fashion using notes.
This is planned and prepared but the speaker uses
an outline only as a reference while speaking.
• Manuscript speaking consists of reading a fully
scripted speech. It is useful when a message needs
to be delivered in precise words like the state of
the nation address of the President of the
Philippines.
• Memorized speaking is delivering a scripted
speech from memory. Memorization allows the
speaker to be free of notes.
LESSON 2 TEACHING SPEAKING
Speaking is complex because speakers are involved in a
rapid and dynamic process incurring "a high element of
doing various things at the same time" (Johnson, 1996, p.
55).
Teaching and Learning Speaking
Competence in speaking involves the following
components:
1) knowledge of language and discourse;
2) core speaking skills; and
3) communication and discourse strategies
Goh and Burns (2012) in Burns (2019) proposed a model
of teaching the speaking cycle as a basis in the teaching
of speaking. Burns emphasized that the teaching speaking
cycle is not meant to be completed in just one or two
lessons. It is an overall approach to supporting and
scaffolding the learning of speaking skills and strategies
that can be introduced and extended over several lessons
or even a unit of work.
1. Focus learners' attention on speaking
Burns (2019) opined that the teaching speaking cycle
starts with focusing learners' attention in speaking.
Students are guided to prepare themselves for speaking.
The purpose of this is to encourage learners to plan for
overall speaking development and to prepare learners to
approach a specific speaking task. Preparing for speaking
includes talking with students about what difficulties they
have encountered while speaking and ways on how to
improve their speaking ability.
2. Provide input and/or guide planning
The teacher needs to allow the learners to plan before the
real speaking task. In this stage the teacher may ask the
students to choose a topic they are familiar with, then list
down main ideas and supporting details, think of phrases
that would connect one idea to another, and plan for a
good conclusion, Another way to prepare students for the
speaking task is to encourage the students to read about
his/her topic of interest and gather vocabulary related to
the topic. The teacher can also provide inputs to activate
or reactivate learners' linguistic knowledge.
3. Conduct speaking tasks
Teachers provide speaking tasks for students to practice.
As students are guided on how to plan their speech in
stage 2, they are expected to practice speaking in this
stage focusing on how to say it that encourages fluency of
expression.
4. Focus on language/skills/strategies
This cycle aims at creating opportunities for learners to
improve language accuracy, as well as to enhance their
effective use of skills and strategies (Burns, 2019). In this
stage, the teacher draws learners' attention to selected
parts of the fluency task which may include
pronunciation, grammar, and text structures, as well as
vocabulary.
5. Repeat speaking tasks
At this stage, learners carry out the speaking task(s) from
Stage 3 again. The difference between Stage 3 and Stage
5 is that learners now have a chance to analyze and
practice selected language items or skills during Stage 4,
thus learners can apply this knowledge to enhance their
performance (Burns, 2019).
6. Direct learners' reflection on learning
The students need to monitor their speaking activity. This
stage enables the learners to reflect on their experiences
when doing the speaking tasks. Reflection can be done
individually, in small groups, or in pairs which can focus
on the following (Burns, 2019):
• demands of the speaking tasks which students
have become aware of;
• strategies that are useful to meet the demands of
the task;
• their informal assessment of their capabilities and
performance;
• areas of their performance that show
improvement;
• areas to be further improved; and
• plans for improving a specific area.
7. Facilitate feedback on learning
The teacher in this stage gives feedback on the
performance of the students in the speaking tasks either
through qualitative comments, grades, narratives. rubrics,
and other assessment measures.
Kayi (2006) proposed suggestions in teaching speaking
that teachers might further consider. They are the
following:
1. Provide a maximum opportunity for students to speak
the target language by providing a rich environment
that contains collaborative work, authentic materials
and tasks, and shared knowledge.
2. Try to involve each student in every speaking activity.
3. Reduce teacher speaking time in class while
increasing student speaking time. Step back and
observe students.
4. Indicate positive signs when commenting on a
student's response.
5. Ask eliciting questions such as "What do you mean?
How did you reach that conclusion?" in order to
prompt students to speak more.
6. Provide written feedback like "Your presentation was
great. It was a good job. I really appreciated your
efforts in preparing the materials and efficient use of
your voice..."
7. Do not correct students' pronunciation mistakes very
often while they are speaking. Correction should not
distract the student from his or her speech
8. Circulate around the classroom to ensure that students
are on the right track and see whether they need your
help while they work in groups of pairs.
9. Provide the vocabulary beforehand that students need
in speaking activities.
10. Diagnose problems faced by students who have
difficulty in expressing themselves in the target
language and provide more opportunities to practice
the spoken language.
SPEAKING TASKS
To teach speaking communicatively is to provide varied
speaking tasks that enable students to communicate in
real-life scenarios. The main aim of speaking tasks is to
help students develop fluency. To develop students'
speaking skills, they need intensive practice. Below are
suggested activities that facilitate speaking practice.
Below are some examples of speaking tasks that teachers
can employ in their classes.
1. Discussion. A discussion is carried out to arrive at a
conclusion, to share ideas about an event, or to find
solutions.
Example of discussion points:
a) Students at all levels of the educational ladder in
the are still staying at home due to the COVID 19
pandemic. Is it already safe for students to go
back to face-to-face classes? Why? Why not?
Philippines
b) Mental Wellness amidst the pandemic: Myth or
Reality
c) Learners in the 21" century and beyond
2. Your last word is mine. The first student starts telling
a story: another continues using the last word uttered by
the first student, then another student continues until the
whole story is finished.
3. Short Speeches. Given a time frame, students are given
a topic and deliver a speech before the class.
4. Guess the picture. One student has the picture and the
partner needs to guess what's in the picture by asking
probing questions and clarifications.
5. Role Play. In role play, students pretend they are in
various social contexts and have a variety of social roles.
This exercise will encourage the students to speak in real-
life situations.
5. Interviews. Students interview an interesting
personality in the community and report to the class the
results of the interview.
6. Narrating or telling a friend about an amusing
weekend experience
7. Playing games that engage students in conversation
8. Conducting class debates
LESSON 3 ASSESSING SPEAKING
Success in speaking is being able to communicate the
message effectively using accurate and acceptable use of
the language.
Pronunciation, vocabulary, accuracy, interaction, and
fluency are important components of students' overall
speaking competencies. Using different assessment
techniques is the best way for educators to get a clear design in a school setting. An oral presentation
picture of each student's speaking abilities. can be used to assess the speaking skill
holistically or analytically.
Assessing speaking skills entails teachers to pay attention
b. Picture-cued Story Telling. Similar to the
to the following:
limited version, at this level, the main
1. Fluency. Fluency means speaking easily, consideration of using a picture or series of
reasonably quickly without having to stop and pictures is to make it into a stimulus for a longer
pause a lot. story or description.
2. Pronunciation. Pronunciation is the act of c. Retelling a Story or New Event. The focus is
producing the sounds of speech, including usually on the meaningfulness of the relationship
articulation, stress, and intonation. of events within the story, fluency, and interaction
3. Vocabulary. This refers to the body of words with the audience (Brown, 2004).
used in a particular language.
Assessing Speaking Using Rubrics
4. Accuracy. This refers to the correct use of the
language system. In speaking assessment, the teacher needs to integrate all
5. Interaction. This refers to the ability to interact the parameters that constitute effective speaking. The use
with others during communicative tasks. of rubrics is very helpful in assessing speaking. Rubrics
help improve student performance since students are
Types of Speaking Assessment Tasks
aware of what areas they can improve on. There are two
1. Imitative. This involves repeating a small stretch of types of rubrics that can be used in assessing speaking:
language and focusing on pronunciation.
(1) Holistic. leads the rater to evaluate or score the
2. Intensive overall components of communicative
competence without separately considering
1.1 Reading Aloud. Brown (2004) suggests that reading another component of language production.
aloud can be used as a companion for other more (2) Analytical. This rubric requires the rater to
communicative tasks. evaluate or score the components of language
1.2 DRT is beneficial to elicit a specific grammatical form production separately. It scores performance in
or a transformation of a sentence which requires minimal different subcategories such as grammar,
processing like producing English stress patterns, words vocabulary, comprehension, fluency,
in stressed and unstressed positions, rhythmic structure, pronunciation, and task completion.
and intonational contours; produce reduced forms of O'Malley (1996:65) suggests several steps in developing
words and phrases and using an adequate number of rubric:
lexical units (words), grammatical word classes (nouns,
verbs, etc.), systems (e.g., tense, agreement, (1) Set criteria of task success;
pluralization), word order, patterns, rules, forms. (2) Set dimensions of language to be assessed
(grammar, vocabulary, fluency, pronunciation.
1.3 Sentence/Dialogue Completion. This type will etc);
probably be beneficial only for assessing the test taker's (3) Give appropriate weight to each dimension (if the
micro skill of providing the right chunks of language and omission is possible, do);
other pronunciation feature. (4) Focus on what test taker can do, instead of what
3. Responsive. These are speaking tasks that involve they cannot.
responses to spoken prompts. Some of these examples are
question and answer, giving instructions and directions,
and paraphrasing.
4. Interactive. This refers to interactional and
transactional conversations. Some examples are:
a. Interview.
b. Drama-like Task
c. Discussions and Conversations
Discussions and conversations (Brown, 2004: 175) are
informal assessments to performance in:
1)
starting, maintaining, and ending a topic:
2)
getting attention, interrupting, and controlling;
3)
clarifying, questioning and paraphrasing:
4)
signaling for comprehension (e.g nodding):
5)
using appropriate intonation patterns;
6)
using kinesics, eye contact and body language;
7)
being polite, being formal and other
sociolinguistic situation.
d. Games
5. Extensive (monologue)
a. Speech (Oral Presentation or oral report). It is
commonly practiced to present a report, paper, or