Marking Criteria for Level 4: Oral

Date:

Tutor(s) / Examiner(s):
Language*

Grade
A++

Final Grade:

Student/Candidate:

Content*

Grammar*
excellent accuracy

Vocabulary*
sophisticated, varied vocabulary;
register always appropriate, very
few minor errors

Coherence, Fluency*
highly coherent/clear;
outstanding use of a wide range of
connectors; excellent fluency

Oral Interaction, Pronunciation*

interacts with great ease/skill;
communication skills outstanding;
excellent pronunciation

very high level of accuracy;

hardly any mistakes.

quite sophisticated, varied

vocabulary; register nearly always
appropriate; few minor mistakes
fairly broad vocabulary; capable
of reformulations when necessary;
a few errors
good variety of vocabulary;
mostly avoids repetitions;
appropriate register; some errors

very coherent/clear; excellent

use of a wide range of connectors;
excellent fluency
coherent/ clear discussion; full
range of connectors; very good
fluency
overall coherent/ clear; use of
connectors partly limited; good
fluency

90-100

B
60-69

good degree of accuracy, some

mistakes, occasionally basic; selfcorrecting

C
50-59

fairly appropriate degree of

accuracy, a fair number of
recurrent/basic errors; sometimes
self-correcting

vocabulary basic outside

predictable situations; some basic
word errors; problems with register

appropriate coherence; some

connectors; fairly appropriate fluency, regular use of simple/short
sentences

interacts with ease/skill;

communication skills and
pronunciation are excellent
interaction with overall ease;
relates contributions clearly to
others; very good pronunciation
promotes discourse well (not always elegantly); able to engage in
communication; good
pronunciation, only few errors
can initiate discourse; able to
respond appropriately; willing to
communicate but difficult at times;
mostly clear pronunciation

D
40-49

limited grasp of grammar; a lot

of recurrent errors, can hamper
the understanding; no selfcorrecting

very basic coherence, only very

few connectors; often simple
sentence structures; often
hesitations

difficulties communicating and

interacting (at the lower end of the
level); pronunciation often
inaccurate

F+
33-39

very limited grasp of grammar; a

lot of errors that hamper the
general understanding

low range of vocabulary to express ideas/repetitions; many

word errors sometimes hamper
understanding; problems with
register
limited vocabulary; many errors
that hamper general understanding; inappropriate register

unclear/disorganised; hardly any

connectors; mainly simple/short
sentences

F
20-32

very limited grasp of grammar;

very high number of errors that
almost prevent understanding

very highly disorganised; extremely short/simple sentences

FF

extremely limited grammar; high

number of errors prevents
comprehension; regular use of
mother tongue

very limited vocabulary; a very

high number of errors that almost
prevent understanding; register is
almost entirely inappropriate.
extremely limited vocabulary;
very high number of errors that
prevent understanding; regular
use of mother tongue.

huge difficulties in communicating/ interacting, partly inappropriate; questions often reformulated;

difficult to understand
enormous difficulties with communicating/ interacting; questions
have to be reformulated often;
very difficult to understand
extremely limited to no
interaction; questions have to be
reformulated very often; pronunciation mostly unintelligible.

A+
80-89
A
70-79

0-19

high degree of accuracy; a few

minor mistakes.

completely disorganised

excellent/outstanding; highly
accurate/ analytical/ original/
comprehensive; exceptionally
well-informed
excellent; highly accurate/
analytical/ original; thorough
approach; highly informed
very accurate/ analytical;
comprehensive; well-informed;
originality/ depths of answers
accurate/ credible/ sound;
overall well-informed; not
entirely comprehensive; answers good/ simple
appropriate, not always
clear/ comprehensive; less
well-informed/accuracy/analysis; partly superficial; simple/
unfocused
adequate but basic/ superficial; low clarity, analysis shallow; not appropriately wellinformed; simple/ unfocused
answers; repetition
limited/ little understanding/
clarity; very limited analysis/
accuracy; very simplistic
answers/ill-informed
very limited, almost no understanding/ clarity/ analysis/
structure; highly simplistic
answers/very ill-informed
no analysis; answers extremely simplistic/ unclear/ not
informed; questions often unanswered

Grammar

Vocabulary

Coherence/ Fluency

Oral Interaction/

Content

Pronunciation

Comments
Mark

Language:

Content:

* The weightings of language and content in calculating the final mark will vary according to the task. Please also see full description of the MFL- marking criteria on KEATS and/or in the Student Handbook.
(Kings College London/Modern Foreign Languages, September 2016)