STARR reflection – oral production G1

Situation: In my role as a French teacher, I have to make sure the students are helped in their language
acquisition and proficiency. In order to improve students’ speaking skills, I often use small oral
formative tests at the beginning of the lessons in order to prepare them for the oral evaluation if there
is one planned in the year. It was the case at HNL.
Task: My taks at HNL was to incorporate one oral evaluation in the curriculum of the G1 pupils.
Action: as part of my teaching methodology, the use of the target language is extremely important and
I schedule at the beginning of almost every lessons a small ‘overhoring’ in which I check whether the
students have learnt their words, can recognize them if I pronounce them and can themselves
pronounce them. It was even more important at HNL as one of their evaluation was a ‘mondeling’, an
oral exam. My task was to schedule it, organize it and prepare my pupils for it. I made sure the
students exactly knew what they could expect by giving them a sheet to practice with at home, with
the sort of questions they could potentially get. I also showed them the evaluation criteria’s
beforehand so that they knew what they would be evaluated on, this greatly helped in terms of the
assessment’s transparency (Geerts & Kralingen, 2018). After making a planning, I had to conduct the
oral evaluations. I had to do it during the lesson, I was sitting behind in the class and the all the
students had to work in their book while I was evaluating one by one each pupil. I conducted the
evaluation by engaging students in a role-play at the beginning and then by asking them to introduce
themselves in French and by asking some questions to them. I provided them with written feedback
and gave them their evaluation form back.
Result: Regular oral formative and summative testing has resulted in a great French level for these
pupils. Pupils were more prone to learning words’ pronunciation and exercised more with speaking
knowing a test was coming. Students were satisfied by the individual feedback I gave them and most
of them have used it for the next formative assessments.
Reflection: As a methodology expert, I believe that incorporating oral evaluations really benefits the
pupils. It is even essential to help them in the acquisition of the target language (Richards & Rodgers,
2014). This reflection demonstrates that I am committed to using effective teaching methods to
enhance pupils’ development and by giving them opportunities to practice their speaking skills. I
support the creation of a supportive and engaging learning environment.

References:
Geerts, W., & Van Kralingen, R. (2018). The Teachers’ Handbook: Secondary and Vocational
Education. Uitgeverij Coutinho.
Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2014). Approaches and methods in language teaching (3rd ed.).
Cambridge University Press.