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With the growing need for international communication in the information age, many language learners attend language classes to improve their speaking ability. Even though many students have mastered basic speaking skills, some students are much more effective in their oral communication than others. And those who are more effective communicators experience more success in school and in other areas of their lives.
Speaking skills are the most important part of any English Competency training course.
According to Folse (2006), for most people, the ability to speak a language is synonymous with knowing that language since speech is the most basic means of human communication. Nevertheless, speaking in a second or foreign language has often been viewed as the most demanding of the four language skills. Speaking a language is especially difficult for foreign language learners because effective oral communication requires the ability to use the language appropriately in social interactions. Diversity in interaction involves not only verbal communication, but also paralinguistic elements of speech such as pitch, stress, and intonation (Seligson, 1997; Fulcher, 2003).
According to Thornbury (2007) spoken interaction involves producing and negotiating language rather differently from the way it is used in writing. Speakers and listeners are simultaneously involved in both producing and processing spoken interactions. They are under time constraints which means that they must process language as they go, with no opportunities to go back and make changes. Speakers must also take account of relationships with others, adjusting their language according to the meanings they wish to get across, and responding to verbal or non-verbal signals from their listeners. Many spoken interactions consist of commenting on immediate actions or events, or casually moving from one topic to another (Celce-Murcia, 2001; Richard, & Renandya, 2002).
Therefore, if you can speak well, it will be much much easier for you to listen, read, and write well. Also, you will love English.
Joiner and Jones (2003) contend that among the macro skills of language, it has been widely recognized that speaking, particularly in a second or foreign language, is the most difficult language skill to assess.
How Can We Assess Speaking?
The method used for assessing oral communication skills depends on the purpose of the assessment. According to Luoma (2004) two methods are used for assessing speaking skills.
1. Observational Approach: In the observational approach, the student's behaviour is observed and assessed unobtrusively.
2. Structured Approach: In the structured approach, the student is asked to perform one or more specific oral communication tasks. His or her performance on the task is then evaluated. The task can be administered in a one-on-one setting -- with the test administrator and one student -- or in a group or class setting.
SpeakEnglishGym uses a structured approach for evaluating the speech at the end of every simulation. Both observational and structured approaches use a variety of rating systems. A holistic rating captures a general impression of the student's performance. A primary trait score assesses the student's ability to achieve a specific communication purpose - for example, to persuade the listener to adopt a certain point of view. Analytic scales capture the student's performance on various aspects of communication, such as delivery, organization, content, and language. Rating systems may describe varying degrees of competence along a scale or may indicate the presence or absence of a characteristic (Luoma, 2004).
SpeakEnglishGym uses a structured approach for evaluating the speech at the end of every simulation. Both observational and structured approaches use a variety of rating systems. A holistic rating captures a general impression of the student's performance. A primary trait score assesses the student's ability to achieve a specific communication purpose - for example, to persuade the listener to adopt a certain point of view. Analytic scales capture the student's performance on various aspects of communication, such as delivery, organization, content, and language. Rating systems may describe varying degrees of competence along a scale or may indicate the presence or absence of a characteristic (Luoma, 2004).
The Assessment Approach by SpeakEnglsihGym
The approach of SpeakEnglishGym is more likely to resemble performance or alternative assessment which allowed for more flexibility and also more freedom. The checklist given below is developed from an analytic descriptors of spoken language (council of Europe, 2001 cited in Luoma,2004, pp.72-74). The items on the list were accuracy, fluency, range, coherence, and interaction. Level descriptors (A+, A, B+, B, C+, and C) were specified for each item on the checklist according to which the raters assigned scores to the interviewees.
A+: consistent grammatical control of complex language
A: a high degree of grammatical accuracy, errors are rare, difficult to spot and generally corrected when they do occur.
B+: a relatively high degree of grammatical control; makes no global errors which block communication and can correct most of the mistakes pointed to him.
B: uses accurately a repertoire of frequently used routines and patterns associated with more predictable situations.
C+: uses more simple structures correctly, but still systematically makes basic mistakes
C: only limited control of a few grammatical structures and sentences patterns in a memorized repertoire.
1. Accuracy
A+: can express himself or herself spontaneously at length with a natural colloquial flow, avoiding or backtracking around any difficulty that the interlocutor is hardly aware of.
A: can express himself or herself fluently and spontaneously, almost effortlessly. Only a conceptually difficult subject can hinder a natural, smooth flow of language.
B+: can produce stretches of language with fairly even tempo: although he or she can be hesitant as he or she searches for patterns and expressions. There are a few noticeably long pauses.
B: can keep going comprehensibly, even though pausing for grammatical and lexical planning and repair is very evident, especially in longer stretches of free production.
C+: can make himself understood in very short utterances, even though pauses, false starts, and re-formulations are very evident.
C: can manage very short, isolated, mainly pre-packaged utterances, with much pausing to search for expressions.
2. Fluency
A+: great flexibility in reformulating ideas with different linguistic forms to convey meaning, to emphasize, to differentiate, and to eliminate ambiguity. And also has a good command of idiomatic expressions and colloquialisms.
A: has a good command of a broad range of linguistic items to express himself or to reformulate ideas in an appropriate style on a wide range of general, academic, professional or leisure topics without having to restrict what he has to say.
B+: has a sufficient range of language to be able to give clear descriptions and express viewpoints on most general topics without much conspicuous searching for words.
B: has enough language to get by, with sufficient vocabulary to express himself with some hesitation and circumlocution on topics such as family, hobbies, work, travel, and current events.
C+: uses basic sentence patterns with memorized phrases to communicate limited information in simple everyday situations.
C: has a very basic repertoire of words and simple phrases related to personal details and particular concrete situations.
3. Range
A+: can create coherent and cohesive discourse marking, full and appropriate use of a variety of organizational patterns and a wide range of connectors and other cohesive devices.
A: can produce clear, smoothly-flowing, and well-structured speech. Shows controlled use of organizational patterns, connectors, and cohesive devices.
B+: can use a limited number of cohesive devices to link his utterances into clear coherent discourse.
B: can link a series of shorter, discrete, and simple elements into a connected, linear sequence of points.
C+: can link groups of words with simple connectors like 'and', 'but', and 'because'.
C: can link words or group of words with very basic linear connectors like 'then' or 'and'.
4. Coherence
A+: can interact with ease and skill, picking up and using non-verbal and intonational cues apparently effortlessly. Can interweave his contribution into the joint discourse with fully natural turn-taking, referencing, and allusion-making (16-20 scores).
A: can select a suitable phrase from a readily rage of discourse functions to preface his remarks in order to keep or to get the floor and to relate his own contributions skillfully to those of other speakers (14 - 16 scores).
B+: can initiate discourse, take his turn when appropriate and end conversation when he needs to. Can help the discussion along on familiar ground confirming comprehension, inviting others in, etc. (11-15 scores).
B: can initiate, maintain, and close simple face-to-face conversations on topics that are familiar or of personal interest. Can repeat back what someone has said to confirm mutual understanding? (8-11 scores).
C+: can answer questions and respond to simple statements. Can indicate when he is following but is rarely able to understand enough to keep conversation going on his own record (4- 8 scores).
C: can ask and answer questions about personal details. Can interact in simple way but communication is totally dependent upon repetition, rephrasing, and repair (0-4 scores).
5. Interaction
SpeakEnglishGym encourages Critical-thinking strategies in the learning process so that the learners become active participants in the interaction process by listening carefully to questyions, by judging on those utterances, and by making the best decisions about what to say in response to what has been said in the conversation by interviewers. In fact, critical thinking strategies help the learners consider all the characteristics of a good conversation when they were talking in the classroom. The students are totally attentive to what interviewers say and to what themselves wanted to say in the interactions.
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