Assessment of Speaking Skills in
Higher Education: A Case Study
from Teacher Education
Lynell Chvala
Faculty of Education and International Studies
SMART Teaching Project: Research and
Development in English classrooms in Norway
– relevant research and development in relation to current
practice in the field and a new teacher education for primary
and lower secondary school
– to build effective and meaningful partnerships between:
• teacher educators,
• teacher education students and
• practice teachers and schools in relation to the English as an
Additional Language (EAL)
– focus on basic skills in English
• Lynell Chvala – Speaking
• Mona Flognfeldt – Writing
• Hilde Tørnby – Reading and Numeracy
Focus for today:
• the assessment of speaking skills for teacher
education students
• discourse competence and speaking skills in
higher education for Teacher Education
students
Communicative Approach
• The goal of language teaching is to enable the
learner to communicate
• The method for teaching is for the learner to
experience and practice relevant instances of
communication
(Celce-Murcia and Olstain, 2005)
Theoretical Background
• Vgotsky and Bakhtin
o Language is “hardly ever a totally individual affair”
• Halliday’s Systemic Functional Theory
o a perceived need to communicate something to
someone
o within both the immediate context of situation as
well as the less tangible context of culture which
permeates the situation
Discourse Approach to L2 teaching
• “…an instance of spoken…language that has
describable internal relationships of form and
meaning that relate coherently to an external
communicative function or purpose and a
given audience/interlocutor.”
(Celce-Murcia and Olstain, 2005)
Discourse Approach to L2 teaching
• Furthermore, the external function or purpose
can only be determined if one takes into account
the context and the participants (i.e., all the
relevant situational, social and cultural factors) in
which the piece of discourse occurs)”
• Primary aim of teaching is “to enable learners to
become competent and efficient users of a new
language”
(Celce-Murcia and Olstain, 2005)
Sociocultural competence
to understand context of
culture (top-down)
Discourse
Competence
Linguistic competence –
building blocks for building
the discourse (bottom-up)
Strategic competence - how well learners can apply the
knowledge/resources available to them
Complex Dynamic Theory of Language
• Discourse as multiply interconnected language-using
activity which is nested:
• across time
– historical and neurological are connected in to the moment of the
activity
• within multiple systems
– Inidividual action is connected into all groups that influence them
» from partners engaged in the talk or speaking
» to the global community
» to all sociocultural groups in between
• The environment or context of discourse is…inseparably part
of the complex dynamics, with systems reacting to changes
through soft assembly and co-adaptation.
(Larsen-Freeman and Cameron ,2008)
Case Study – Teacher Education 1st year students
Oral Exam, December 2010
Oral Exam, May 2011
Topic 1
Topic 3
• Theme 1 – Becoming an English
teacher (L2 theories/methods)
• Theme 7 – Language system and
structure, Part B (grammar, phonetics,
vocabulary)
• Theme 2 – Language system and
structure, Part A (grammar, phonetics,
• Theme 8 – Text as Process
vocabulary)
• Theme 3 – Oral skills as a basic skill
+ ICT
• Theme 9 – Writing as a basic skill + ICT
Topic 1 – December Exam
2011 TESOL Convention: K-12 Dream Day: ReImagining Student Engagement through Best
Practices & Programs
Topic 1: December Exam
Your group has been invited to give a presentation at the 2011
Annual Teaching English to Speakers of Other Language
(TESOL) Convention. Your presentation will be a part of the
K-12 Dream Day: Re-Imagining Student Engagement
through Best Practices & Programs in the Best Practices
Strand.
(For more information see last year’s program See
http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/convention2010/docs/tesolk12brochurepdf.pdf )
The organizing committee for this event has specifically
targeted Norway in an effort to include presentations with
a more international focus.
Topic 1: December Exam
Your group will be giving a 15-20 minute presentation with ONE of the following titles:
Improving the effectiveness of vocabulary teaching in lower secondary schools in
Norway
This presentation will focus on effective vocabulary teaching in the subject of English in Norway. The
presentation will examine what it means to know a word in a second or foreign language. The main
focus is on exploring effective practice in relation to developing long-term retention of words for
English language learners.
OR
The role of the teacher in developing pupils’ oral skills in Norway – theories and
methods, including the use of ICT.
This presentation examines the role of the teacher in developing all pupils’ spoken English skills. It
explores relevant theories and methods in relation to oral skills, and takes a close look at the use of
ICT in this pursuit.
Topic 3 – May Exam
Imagine that you are team-teaching in 7th grade together with your partner.
Together, you have decided to take a process approach to writing in
relation to writing a text about Native Americans.
Attached you will find a selection of FOUR texts written by the pupils in your
combined classes. You will also find the original assignment description
for the writing task that was given to the pupils.
Topic 3 – May Exam
Thus far, the combined classes have done prewriting and writing. The attached pupil texts
are first drafts.
Based on your analysis of the selected pupil
texts, you are to:
– plan what to do next
– and present this to the Head of the English
Department or “fagansvarlig” at your school
Topic 3 – May Exam
Make sure to consider:
• your pupils’ development of written skills in English
• your pupils’ understanding of language and genre
• relevant LK06 aims
• the use of assessment to create an effective learning
environment
You will have a maximum of 15 minutes to present your
plan. You should be prepared for a discussion of ca. 5
minutes based on questions from your teacher and/or
the examiner. Grades will be given individually.
Questionaire (May 30/31)
December exam and May exam
1. To what degree do you think the oral exam task reflected a relevant situation for
you as a future teacher of English?
2. To what degree do you think the oral exam reflected a fair assessment of your
speaking skills?
3. To what degree did the pictures in the exam task description help you to
understand the context or situation for the oral exam?
May exam only
Did you prepare a Power Point presentation for this (May) oral exam?
If yes, can you give a short explanation of why:
Did your group use a Power Point presentation for this oral exam?
If yes, can you give a short explanation of why:
Finally, would you be willing to be interviewed about your experiences with the oral
exams this year?
If yes, please give your name:
To what degree do you think the exam task reflected a relevant
situation for you as a future teacher of English?
25
20
15
TESOL conf
Meeting
10
5
0
1 (not at all)
2
3
4
5 (very)
Comments
December exam (TESOL conference):
• Not really relevant situation but relevant in terms
of curriculum.
• No, not really for teaching for my part.
• Depends on what you choose to work with when
working as an English teacher.
• With the growing focus on education teachers
with a higher competence level in their subjects, I
think the TESOL Conference was very relevant!
• Unlikely that this is a real situation that we will
often meet.
Comments
May exam (meeting with the Head of
Department):
• It’s hard to disregard the fact that it’s an exam
• Great task! Thanks for listening in advance.
• In relation to meeting with the «fagansvarlig»
to present our plan for our classes it was good.
Perhaps a bit difficult to combine this with the
exam setting, but definitely okay.
• Unsure about the role of the head of
department.
To what degree do you think the exam task reflected a fair
assessment of your speaking skills?
30
25
20
TESOL conf
15
Meeting
10
5
0
1 (not at all)
2
3
4
5 (very)
Comments:
December exam (TESOL conference):
• I was not aware my language was too informal
before this.
• They did not really talk much about our
pronunciation last time (in December).
May exam (meeting with the Head of
Department):
• If you are going to assess someone, it’s important
to actually LISTEN to the persons you assess!!
To what degree did the pictures in the exam task description help you
to understand the context or situation for the oral exam?
30
25
20
TESOL conf
15
Meeting
10
5
0
1
2
3
4
5
Comments
December exam (TESOL conference):
• Don’t remember.
• Suitable pictures for the given setting!
• Checked out the conference online to get a
better idea as to what the conference was
really about.
Comments
May exam (meeting with the Head of
Department):
• Don’t remember.
• What pictures?
• Haven’t really thought about it.
• Did not notice the pictures until now ;-)
• I learned a lot from this task.
• I must admit that I haven’t really looked at
pictures until now. Now that I have I can see how
they could have helped ;-)
May Exam: Did your group prepare a
.ppt?
Series 1
45
40
35
30
25
Series 1
20
15
10
5
0
Yes
No
Comments –
«presentation»
May exam (meeting with the Head of
Department):
• (translated) The task used the word
«presentation» and therefore, we chose a
Power Point since it is usual to use this and we
did it last time.
• Because that is the most common way of
giving a presentation 
Comments
«historical trajectory»
May exam (meeting with the Head of
Department):
• Because we did it last time.
• As we did this on our exam this winter, we
thought we could do it for this one too.
• We believed that an oral exam called for it.
• Because the teachers repeatedly referred to the
exam before Christmas, which contained ppt
presentation and because it wasn’t specified
enough that we were not supposed to use it.
Comments
«historical trajectory»
May exam (meeting with the Head of Department):
•
•
•
•
•
(translated) It is normal for us to do it this way.
It’s a habit probably.
Habit – but to use it as keywords instead of using a script
Old habit
I think it is mostly out of habit. Using Powerpoint has been a natural part
of so many presentations from upper secondary school and up. I did
however wonder about the use of PowerPoint in relation this task, due to
the setting.
• We assumed that since it was an oral exam, we would use a powerpoint as
a tool.
• Actually, we planned a PP. It is because we are used to it. Simple as that.
• We assumed that we could do that since we hadn’t been told otherwise,
and we find it useful, I guess it just felt natural to make one.
Comments
«context»
May exam (meeting with the Head of
Department):
• Because we found it appropriate to use
concerning the given situation.
References
•
Bakhtin, M.M. 1981. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays. Holquist, Michael (ed.) Austin, Texas: University of
Texas Press.
•
Bhatia, V. 2004. Worlds of Written Discourse: A Genre-Based View. New York: Continuum.
•
Butt, D., R. Fahey, S. Spinks and C. Yallop. 1995. Using Functional Grammar: An Explorer’s Guide. Sydney:
Macquarie University, NCELTR (National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research).
•
Bygate, M., Skehan, P. and Swain, M. 2001. Researching Pedagogic Tasks: Second Language Learning, Teaching
and Testing. London: Person Education Limited.
•
Celce-Murcia, M. and Olshtain, E. 2001. “Discourse Analysis and Language Teaching” in The Handbook of
Discourse Analysis Schiffrin, D. , Tannen, D. and Hamilton, H. (eds.). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.
•
Celce-Murcia, M. and Olshtain, E. 2005. “Discourse-Based Approaches: A New Framework for Second Language
Teaching and Learning” in Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning New York:
Routledge.
•
Penne, S. and Hertzberg, F. 2008. Muntlige tekster i klasserommet (Oral Texts in the Classroom). Oslo:
Universitetsforlaget.
•
Larsen-Freeman, D. and Cameron, L. 2008. Complex Systems and Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
•
Savignon, Sandra. 2005. ”Communicative Language Teaching: Strategies and Goals” in Handbook of Research in
Second Language Teaching and Learning. New York: Routledge
Reflections
• Issue of presentation/discussion
– Meaning of presentation
– How described in the assessment criteria
• Consideration of context
• Use of contextual clues
Next step…
• Individual interview with students
• Interview/information from external
examiners