UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DE LA SANTÍSIMA CONCEPCIÓN

FACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN

Departamento de Lenguas

SPEAKING TEST DESINGASSESSMENT

TeacherGabriela Sanhueza

José Miguel Casanueva H.

Makarena Sánchez C.

Concepción, June 2014

Speaking test

I. List of test specifications from Luoma (2004).

The test’s purpose To assess student’s domain of units contents at the end of the semester

Description of the examinees First cohort. University level

Test level Intermediate level of English.

Definition of construct (theoretical framework for the test)

Student should be able to compare and contrast pictures about holidays and discuss the perfect vacation for them.

Description of suitable language course or textbook

The students work throughout the semester was based on the textbook “Objective PET”, from Cambridge University Press.

Number of sections/papers This oral test is divided in two sections-1st section: Compare and contrast pictures about holidays-2nd section: Get to an agreement

Time for each section/paper 1st section: 1 ½ minutes per test-taker2nd section: 3 minutesTotal: 4 ½ minutes

Weighting for each section/paper Total 20 points

Target language situation- Compare and contrast pictures about holidays: “On one hand…”; “On the other hand….”;“in contrast…”; “…..whereas..”

-Get to an agreement: “I would rather..” ; “I prefer..” ; “I think that…”; “In my opinion…”; “I agree..”

Text types Images

Text Length 5 minutes

Language skills to be tested Speaking

Language elements to be tested The language elements to be tested are :-Vocabulary use-Fluency-Accuracy-Organization of ideas-Interaction

Tests tasks ComparingContrastingGetting to an agreement

Test methods Instructions

Rubrics Analytic rubric

Criteria for marking -Vocabulary use-Fluency-Accuracy-Organization of ideas-Interaction

Samples paper See page 6 and 7

Extra-information:

Warm up activity: Personal information

As speaking tests are not very comfortable for the students, we want to provide a confident environment in order to break the ice and diminish the anxiety of the students. The activity basically consists in asking the test takers some personal information.

Examples: How are you today? – How was your weekend? – Do you have a lot of work to do this week?

II. Testing tasks descriptions (Fulcher, n.d)

Task 1: Compare and contrast pictures related to holidays

Student A

Look at these pictures for a while. Identify similarities and differences between these two images. You have 1 ½ minutes

Student B

Look at these pictures for a while. Identify similarities and differences between these two images. You have 1 ½ minutes

Student A starts

Task specifications

Task Orientation Guided by instructions

Interactional relationship One-way

Goal orientation Divergent: Test takers have to compare and contrast about holidays

Interlocutor status and familiarity High Status : tester- test taker

Topics Holidays

Task 2: Getting to an agreement

Student A and Student B

Look at these pictures for a while. Discuss with your partner about which of these two places you would choose for a perfect holiday by giving reasons. You have 3 minutes. Student B starts

Task specifications

Task Orientation Guided by instructionsOpen when test takers interact with each other

Interactional relationship Two-way: Interactions between test takers

Goal orientation Convergent: Test takers have to get to an agreement

Interlocutor status and familiarity Same Status : Test taker – test taker

Topics Perfect holiday

III. Scoring procedure: Analytic rubric

Student’s name: Grade: Mark:

Category Excellent (4) Good (3) Poor (2) Needs Work (1)

Score

Vocabulary Use

The student makes use of a wide range of vocabulary

The student makes adequate use of vocabulary

The student makes some inadequate use of vocabulary

Inadequate use of vocabulary

Fluency The student’s message has easy flow and rhythm and presents normal hesitations and pauses

The student’s message is generally understandable and presents few hesitations and pauses.

The student’s message is difficult to understand presenting awkward hesitations and pauses.

The student’s message cannot be understood presenting many hesitations and pauses that interfere with the ideas.

Accuracy The student uses a variety of grammar structures which facilitate the speech comprehension

The student makes few errors in grammatical structures even though the speech is understandable.

The student makes frequent grammatical errors which makes it difficult to understand.

The student makes many grammatical errors which makes the message non comprehensible

Organization of ideas

The student presents all the information in a logical sequence

The student presents most of the information in a logical sequence

The student presents lack of coherence in the majority of ideas

The student presents incoherence and no logical sequence of ideas

Interaction The student cooperates actively with each other

The student cooperates partially with each other

The student cooperates deficiently with each other

The student does not cooperate with each other at all.

Total score: 20

IV. Sample paper

English Speaking test (June, 2013)

Topic: Holidays

Task 1: Compare and contrast pictures related to holidays

Task 2: Getting to an agreement

Student A: Look at these pictures for a while. Identify similarities and differences between these two images. You have 1 ½ minutes .

Student B: Look at these pictures for a while. Identify similarities and differences between these two images. You have 1 ½ minutes

Student A and Student B: Look at these pictures for a while. Discuss with your partner about which of these four places you would choose for a perfect holiday by giving reasons. You have 3 minutes

Student B starts