Testing Speaking

Lucile Ariette A. Bautista

 “Speaking a second language is
probably the most difficult skill to test in
that it involves a combination of skills
that may have no correlation with each
other, and which do not lend themselves
to objective testing.”

(Kitao and Kitao, 1996)

 “Language teachers and language
testers need a method which takes
subjective qualitative observations and
then transforms them into objective
quantitative measures.”

(Nakamura & Valens, 2001)

 Formats for
Testing Speaking
Ability
 1. Verbal Essay
The candidate is asked to speak for
three minutes on ither one or more
specified general topics.
 2. Oral Presentations

The candidate is expected to give a

short talk on a topic which he has
either been asked to prepare
beforehand or has been informed of
shortly before the test.
 3. The Free Interview

In this type of interview, the

conversation unfolds in an
unstructured fashion and no set
of procedures is laid down in
advance.
4. The Controlled Interview

In this procedure, there are

normally a set of procedures
determined in advance for
eliciting performance.
 5. Information Transfer:
description of a picture sequence

The candidate sees a panel of

pictures depicting a
chronologically ordered sequence
of events and has to tell the story
in the past tense.
 6. Information Transfer:
questions on a single picture
The examiner asks the candidate
a number of questions about the
content of a picture which he has
had time to study.
 7. Role Play

The candidate is expcted to play

one of the roles in an interaction
which might be reasonably
expected of him in the real world.
 Factors
to consider in
Testing Speaking
Skills
 1. Fluency and Coherence
 refers to how good the speaker is at keeping
talking at the right speed
 shows how good they are at connecting their
ideas together
 gives relevant and meaningful answers
 follows the rules of language at a word,
sentence and text level
 2. Vocabulary
 refers to how much vocabulary the
speaker has and how well they use it
 Appropriateness and suitability to the
topic given to the speaker
 3. Grammar
 refers to how many structures the
speaker knows and how well he will
use them
 flexibility in the use of grammar
 4. Pronunciation
 refers to how well the speaker
pronounces the language
 should be understandable and clear
 appropriate accent, stresses and
pauses
 Methods for
Testing
Speaking Skills
 1. The Observational Method
 the student's behavior is observed
and assessed discreetly
 2. The Structural Method
 the student is asked to perform one
or more specific oral communication
tasks
 his or her performance on the task is
then evaluated
 “In either setting, students should feel that
they are communicating meaningful content
to a real audience.
Tasks should focus on topics that all students
can easily talk about, or, if they do not include
such a focus, students should be given an
opportunity to collect information on the
topic.”
(Butler and Stevens, 1988)
 Both observational and structured
approaches use a variety of rating systems.

a. HOLISTIC RATING - captures a general impression

of the student's performance

b. PRIMARY TRAIT SCORE - assesses the student's

ability to achieve a specific communication purpose

c. ANALYTIC SCALE - captures the student's

performance on various aspects of communication,
such as delivery, organization, content, and language
 Difficulties in
Testing
Speaking Skills
 1. The Rater’s Reliability
The reliability of raters should
be established during their
training and checked during
administration or scoring of
the assessment.
2. The selection of criteria for
evaluating performance
 students should understand ahead
of time what is expected of them
 help them determine on what basis
their performance will be judged
 “When students are actively involved in
establishing assessment criteria for tasks,
they do not only have a better
understanding of what is expected of
them when they perform the tasks, but
they will be able to more fully appreciate
why the criteria are important.”
(Butler & Stevens, 1997).
3. The selection of appropriate
instruments for your learners
 depends upon the purpose for
assessment and the availability of
existing instruments
4. The Administration of the
Test
 it is hard to test large numbers of
learners in a relatively short time
 the examiner of an oral
production is put under great
pressure (Heaton, 1988).