Controlled Assessment
Speaking & Writing
Rachel Hawkes
Some thoughts on CA so far……!
Feedback from teachers!
We now spend all our
time assessing and not
enough time teaching!
It’s a nightmare not
being able to give
feedback in Stage 2.
Students are still trying
to memorise
everything for the oral
like they did before!
It’s very hard for
students to write 200+
words under controlled
conditions.
There’s a massive
discrepancy between the
prepared presentation and
the more spontaneous
follow up.
6 hours preparation
time is too long – what
is the teacher supposed
to do in this time?
Rachel Hawkes
Challenge
Possible strategies
1 CA takes too much time out of
teaching.
1. Consider how many CAs you do –
are they all necessary?
2. Are you recording every speaking?
3. Are you using the full time
allocation for Stage 2?
4. Are some CAs not submitted?
Which?
2 Students are trying to memorise 6
minutes of oral material.
1 4 mins is sufficient for top grades if
Q o L meets the criteria
2 The distance between memorisation
and improvision is reduced if students
work from an acquired core repertoire.
3 Spontaneous talk can be built on
from Y7
4 Spontaneity depends more on
comprehension of the questions than
fluent speaking – this can be practised
Rachel Hawkes
Challenge
3 The length of the writing is a
challenge
Possible strategies
1 Often it is the content that challenges
– practise elaboration tasks
2 Make Y9 assessments preparatory / Do
practice tasks in Y10
3 Build up a repertoire / pattern of
response over time to lots of different
tasks
4 Do a ‘dummy run’ during Stage 2 time
1 Meet this ‘head on’ with teaching
activities that promote speedy
comprehension and ready responses
4 They can deliver a good prepared 2 Spontaneous talk can be built on from
presentation but cannot answer
Y7
spontaneous questions
3 Spontaneity depends more on
comprehension of the questions than
fluent speaking – this can be practised
4 Use Stage 1 and 2 to practise this a lot
Rachel Hawkes
Challenge
5 Using Stage 2 for the maximum
benefit of students.
Possible strategies
1. Minimise its length.
2. Only start stage 2 when students
are at the right level in their learning.
3 Use strategies to ensure that they
do the right things: refer to previous
work, use their core repertoire,
employ the right ratio of
known/unknown language
4 Train students in peer assessment
from the outset
5 Teach students how to make good
use of online resources
Rachel Hawkes
http://www.text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/speech.asp
• Type the word, sentence, paragraph, book into the box,
• Set the speed to -2 (or whatever speed the student can
build up to)
• Choose the target language
• Click "say it"
OR
Use www.voki.com
Rachel Hawkes
What went well?
Even better if?
Rachel Hawkes
Some thoughts after Round 1 in my school!
• The first task (Term 1 Y10) was not very good
• Students were not able to respond readily enough to
spontaneous questions
• Teachers found their role much more demanding
than previously and also needed to adapt their
practice
• We needed to make time as a department to
consider best practice in examining (as well as
assessing/marking)
• We recorded everything but this added an extra layer
of time and stress to the process
Rachel Hawkes
What we plan to do differently…
• Record just one oral for each student
• Continue to place great emphasis on spontaneous
talk in teaching (from Y7)
• Practise preparing/planning to write CA style tasks in
Y10 at key times
• Use methods we have developed to ensure that
teachers offer students optimal support in the oral
• Evaluate which CA tasks worked the best for students
and re-use these – abandon/adapt others
• Consider KS3 in KS4 planning – modify practice at
KS3 where appropriate
Rachel Hawkes
Key Stage 3 Speaking Assessment
P
Q
Possible follow-up Questions
Que fais-tu pour garder la forme?
Manges-tu sainement?
Name:
Bois-tu assez d’eau/beaucoup d’eau?
Fais-tu de l’exercice regulièrement?
Notes on Presentation: La forme
Fumes-tu?
Bois-tu de l’alcool?
A quelle heure tu te couches?
Communication
Qu’est-ce que tu as fait le weekend dernier pour
garder la forme? C’était comment?
Qu’est-ce que tu as mangé le weekend dernier?
Range of Language
Accuracy/Pronunciation
Qu’est-ce que tu vas faire le weekend prochain pour
garder la forme?
Qu’est-ce que tu vas faire à l’avenir pour garder la
forme?
Interaction in followup questions
1
2
3
NC level:
4
5
Answer = /
Elaboration = +
Teacher prompt=P
Repetition of teacher feed = R
Non communication = X
Controlled Speaking Assessment ‘Health’
Open Interaction.
You have been doing Weightwatchers for 5 years now and have lost a lot
of weight! You have been asked by the Area Manager to come and speak
at one of the meetings to try and inspire others to lose weight.
The Area Manager would like you to have a chat with one of the people
trying to lose weight. You should be prepared to speak about the
following:
What you typically eat now and what you used to eat before you started
Weightwatchers.
What your lifestyle is like now (including your daily routine and any
sports you do) and what it used to be like before you became healthy.
Your opinion on smoking and alcohol
What you plan to do in the future to stay healthy
Any advice you would give someone trying to lose weight
Be prepared to ask at least two questions to the person who is trying to
lose weight.
Edexcel French GCSE Task 2010-11
Health Controlled Speaking Assessment
P
Eating and Drinking
Q
P
Do you eat healthily?
Sport and Lifestyle
Name:__________________
Q
What sports do you do and why? How
often/Who with?
Do you eat anything bad?
Do you eat/drink……? Why?
What did you used to eat and drink?
Does the rest of your family eat well?
What did you eat/drink last weekend?
Did you used to drink/smoke? Lots?
How do you relax?
Why is alcohol/smoking bad for your
health?
How did you used to spend your time?
If you used to smoke, was it hard to stop?
What did you do last weekend?
Why do people start to smoke?
What will you do next weekend?
Do your friends smoke?
Who prepares the meals?
Is it important for you to have time to
relax?
What are you planning to eat tonight?
Is your health important to you?
Is it expensive to eat well? Why?
Did you enjoy PE lessons at school?
P
P
Future plans
Are you going to continue to follow a
diet?
Advice to others
What do you have to do to be healthy?
Is it easy?
Is there a new sport you would like to
do? Why?
What should you eat/drink?
Are you going to change anything else
about your lifestyle?
What food should you avoid?
Are your friends/family healthy? How
will you encourage them to be healthy?
How often should you do exercise?
How much fruit and veg should you
eat?
Possible extension/A and A* questions
What should the government do to
encourage people to eat less/be more
active/not smoke etc?
What do you think of fast food?
Q
Q
Do you smoke?
Is your family healthy/sporty?
Do you eat 3 meals a day? What time?
Smoking and Alcohol
Do you drink any alcohol?
Tell me about your daily routine.
What do you eat for bre/lun/din?
P
P
Q
Is it going to be easy to stay healthy?
Are we obsessed by being slim?
What do you think about vegetarianism?
What other problems are associated with
alcohol?
Is it OK to drink in moderation?
Q
GERMAN GCSE SPEAKING CONTROLLED ASSESSMENT
OPEN INTERACTION: Free time
You are visiting your cousins who now live in Germany. It is your
cousin Mark’s birthday and at the party you meet a German
person of your own age who wants to get to know a little more
about you.
Be prepared to discuss:
•your musical tastes
•your sporting & other free time interests
•your current money situation
•making plans to do an activity together
Be prepared to ask questions of the person.
Rachel Hawkes
Open Interaction – Free Time
Comberton Village College
Gesamtschule Obersberg, Bad Hersfeld
Situation
As part of the German Exchange the German pupils want to interview CVC students
about their free time activities and compare with young people in Germany to inform an
article for the school magazine. Your teacher will play the role of one of the German
students.
Task
Be prepared to talk about:
-What you and others normally do in free time
-What you did last weekend
-Your sporting interests
-Pocket money and how you spend it
-Use of media- TV/Film/Computer/Books/Music
-Future plans for taking up new hobbies
Be prepared to ask the German pupils questions about their free time.
Check-list for teachers for conducting a GCSE speaking assessment
You could use this checklist in the following ways:• To listen to exams you have already conducted to assess how well you
structured the assessment and supported the candidates. This could also
help you to identify what each candidate needs from you next time. This
could be done at moderation meetings, individually or in pairs.
• To read through just before conducting the next lot of assessments to
remind you of key strategies and your role in getting best out of students.
• To use after you have assessed the first couple of candidates in a cohort
so that you can improve further for the rest of the candidates. Maybe
build in 10 mins spare after first two?
• Depending on the class and your relationship, you could use it with the
whole class or individuals- listen to an example recording and have a
discussion with pupils about what would have helped them further, as
well as what they could do to improve (see student checklist!).
Rachel Hawkes
Preparation
1. Were you 100% sure about the equipment and how to
record?
2. Did you have a list of possible questions in front of you to
give you an idea of where to take the conversation? Did you
overuse them and did this prevent the natural flow of
conversation?
3. Did you have a list of Quality of Language criteria in front of
you e.g. tenses, opinions, reasons so that you could lead them
into using whatever they were lacking in their answers?
Rachel Hawkes
During exam
1. Did you make notes during the presentation element so
that you didn’t ask them something they had already said?
2. Were your voice and body language friendly and relaxed?
3. Did you sound like you were actually listening to what the
pupil was saying?
4. Did you build up gradually from closed/simple to more
open/complex questions?
5. Did you use cognates, particularly with weaker pupils?
6. Did you emphasise the key words in your question?
7. Did you leave enough thinking time?
8. Did you judge well when to end a silence and move on to
the next question?
9. Did you give examples if pupil didn’t understand the
question straight away?
10. Did you sometimes rephrase the question by using a
different construction?
Rachel Hawkes
Range of Language
Accuracy


Interaction
present
present (other
persons)
Answer = /
Elaboration = +
Teacher prompt=P
Repetition of teacher
feed = R
Non communication = X
Range of Language
Accuracy


Interaction
present
present (other
persons)
past (perfect)
1
past (imperfect)
past (perfect)
1
2
past (imperfect)
2
3
future
3
4
conditional
4
5
WO2
5
WO3
6
WO3
6
modal &
infinitive
7
modal &
infinitive
7
links
8
opinions
9
reasons
10
comp./sup.
11
vocabulary
12
rows/ adjective
endings
13
future
conditional
WO2
idioms
Answer = /
Elaboration = +
Teacher Prompt=P
Repetition of teacher
feed = R
Non communication = X
links
opinions
reasons
comp./sup.
vocabulary
14
rows/ adjective
endings
15
idioms
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Rachel Hawkes
Peer
assessment
Elaborate,
extend, and
take initiative
Accurately include
a range of
structures and
vocab
Lesson sequence – German Y10 class
Speaking tasks on theme of school
Thank you to Helen Piggott, Comberton Village College
Lesson sequence – German Y10 class
Speaking tasks on theme of school
Peer
assessment


= einfacher =schwieriger
Rachel Hawkes
Peer
assessment
Was sind deine Lieblingsfächer?
1. Mein Lieblingsfach ist Geschichte.
2. Mein Lieblingsfach ist Geschichte, weil es mir
leicht fällt.
3. Mein Lieblingsfach ist Geschichte, weil es mir
leicht fällt und der Lehrer ist humorvoll.
4. Mein Lieblingsfach ist Geschichte, weil es mir
leicht fällt und der Lehrer ist humorvoll.
Außerdem denke ich, dass es nützlicher als
Erdkunde ist.
Rachel Hawkes
Question
Answer = /
Elaboration = +
Teacher prompt=P
Repetition of teacher feed
=R
Non communication = X

oder
?
Question
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
Question
Answer = /
Elaboration = +
Teacher prompt=P
Repetition of teacher
feed = R
Non communication = X

oder
?
Question
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
Answer = /
Elaboration = +
Teacher prompt=P
Repetition of teacher
feed = R
Non communication = X

oder
?
Answer = /
Elaboration = +
Teacher prompt=P
Repetition of teacher
feed = R
Non communication = X

oder
?
Peer
assessment
Elaborate,
extend, and
take initiative
Accurately include
a range of
structures and
vocab
Peer
assessment
um...zu...
schwerer als
leicht
aufstehen
es
würde...geben
man darf
(nicht/kein(e))
wir müssen
streng
nicht leiden
Mobbing
dreckig
meiner
Meinung nach
AGs
...fällt
mir/fallen mir
gestern
letzte Woche
Deutschland
Schulregeln
weder…noch…
können
Mittagspause
gute Noten
vielleicht
Schuluniform
Gang
Peer
assessment
Spend the Words
Take it in turns to ask and answer the same questions as before. This time, rather than
speaking for as long as you can, you need to try and include the words below and
‘spend’ the words as you answer your 5 questions. Your partner will cross them off as
you use them and you need to do the same for your partner. The first to use up all the
words is the winner.
um...zu...
schwerer als
leicht
aufstehen
es
würde...geben
man darf
(nicht/kein(e))
wir müssen
streng
nicht leiden
Mobbing
dreckig
meiner
Meinung nach
AGs
...fällt
mir/fallen mir
gestern
letzte Woche
Deutschland
Schulregeln
weder…noch…
können
Mittagspause
gute Noten
vielleicht
Schuluniform
Gang
Tips so far...
• Don’t start Stage 2 too early.
• Build up students’ familiarity with the exam criteria and their skills in self and
peer assessment
• Prepare a list of all possible questions on the theme that you think could be
answered well spontaneously
• Make a copy of this sheet so that you have one per student
• Use this list as you listen to the student presentation and or picture-based
introduction and highlight questions that you could ask to follow up on (but
not repeat) the material
• Allow yourself more leeway at the start of the day as the first few take longer
• Try out the recording equipment yourself in good time before the exams to
familiarise yourself and become confident
• Before each recording say: Candidate Name & Number, Centre Name, the task
type and topic and the date
• When you save the sound file, name it usefully (see Audacity instructions) to
when your sample is requested (months later!) you can find the material easily.
Rachel Hawkes
Rachel Hawkes
www.rachelhawkes.com