Microskills of Speaking

Micro skills refer to producing smaller

chunks of language such as phonemes,
morphemes, words, collocations, and
phrasal units
 Microskills of Speaking
8
1
Produce differences among 5 Use grammatical word classes 
English phonemes and  (nouns, verbs, etc.), systems (tense,
Use an adequate number
allophonic variants. agreement, pluralization), word order,
of lexicalunits to accomplish
patterns, rules, and forms.
2 pragmatic purposes.
Produce chunks of the language 9
6
of different lengths. Produce speech in natural
Produce fluent speech at constituents in appropriate phrases,
3 different rates of delivery. pause groups, breath groups, and
Produce English stress patterns,  sentences.
7
words in stressed and unstressed
10
positions, rhythmic structure, Strategic devices: pauses, fillers,
and intonational contours. Express a particular meaning
self-corrections, and
in different grammatical forms.
backtracking to enhance the clarity
4 of the message. 11
Produce reduced forms of words
and phrases. Use cohesive devices in 
spoken discourse.
Macroskills of
speaking
Focus on the larger elements:

● Fluency
● Discourse
● Function
● Style
● Cohesion
● Nonverbal communication: body language…
● Strategic options: Key words emphasis…
DESIGNING ASSESSMENT TASK:
RESPONSIVE SPEAKING

Question and
answer

Giving
instruction and
direction

Paraphrasing
 Question and
answer
It refers to short interview
This form of assessment requires one person,
an interlocutor, to ask the student questions.
Students' answers can be 1 sentence
responses, or, can entail a more detailed
answer depending upon the question asked.
Example
• How are you doing? (Response: I'm fine is not
acceptable. Something with more substance is
needed).
• What is your favorite day of the week and why?
(Response: My favorite...Friday because it is the
start of the weekend).
• What are the steps kids take in playing soccer?
(Response: First....Second....Finally...)
Giving instruction
and direction
The administrator poses the problem
and then the test takers respond it.
The scoring is primarily based on the
comprehensibility, and secondarily on
another
Test Takers hear:
• Describe how to make a typical dish from your
country.
• What's a good recipe for making
• How do you access email on a PC?
• How would I make a typical costume for a
celebration in your country?
• How do you program telephone numbers into a cell
phone?
• How do I get from to in your city?
Test-takers respond with appropriate
instructions/directions.
 Paraphrasing a story
Test-takers hear: Paraphrase the following little
story in your own words.

Paraphrasing My weekend in the mountains was fabulous. The

Test takers read or hear the
text or story and the
paraphrase it by using their
own words
first day we backpacked into the mountains and
climbed about 2.000 feet. The hike was strenuous
but exhilarating. By sunset we found these beautiful
alpine lakes and made camp there. The sunset was
amazingly beautiful. The next two days we just
kicked back and did little day hikes, some rock
climbing, bird watching, swimming, and fishing.
The hike out on the next day was really easy - all
downhill - and the scenery was incredible.

Test-takers respond with two or three sentences.

 Designing Assessment tasks:
Interactive Speaking
Interview
A test administrator and
a test-taker sit down in a
direct
face-to-face through
questions and directives
 Four level stages of Interview

1. Warm-up 2.Level check

Small talk to make test- A series of preplan
taker become comfortable questions
with the situtation

3. Probe 4. Wind -down

To the heights of their A final phrase of interview
ability, to extend beyond
the limits of the
interviewer’s expection
through difficult questions.
Role play
- It frees studnets to be somewhat creative in their linguistic
output.
- Role play allows some rehearsal time so that students.
- The test administrator must determine the assessment
objectives of the role play then devise a scoring technique.
 Games Discussion &
Conversation
► Assessment games
Especially tasks through which elicit and
► Tinkertoy game observe such abilities:
∆ Topic nomination and termination
► Crossword puzzles ∆ Comprehension signals
∆ Negotiating meaning
► Information gap ∆ Attention getting, control
∆ Eye contact, body language
► City maps ∆ Clarifying, questioning,
paraphrasing