| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Richardjw84
Joined: 12 Aug 2011
|
 Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:33 pm Post subject: High-School Speaking Test |
 |
|
Hi,
I have recently been told that I am in charge of carrying out a speaking test of all first and second grade students due to begin in just over a month's time. I work at a high school but the standard of English amongst the students is generally pretty poor.
It's my first teaching job so I don't really know where to begin with this, I'm keen to get it as close to perfect as possible though because it will make-up %20 of the student's overall grade.
Does anyone that has done this before have any advice they can give me? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
crisdean
Joined: 04 Feb 2010
Location: Seoul Special City
|
| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:48 pm Post subject: Re: High-School Speaking Test |
|
|
| Richardjw84 wrote: |
Hi,
I have recently been told that I am in charge of carrying out a speaking test of all first and second grade students due to begin in just over a month's time. I work at a high school but the standard of English amongst the students is generally pretty poor.
It's my first teaching job so I don't really know where to begin with this, I'm keen to get it as close to perfect as possible though because it will make-up %20 of the student's overall grade.
Does anyone that has done this before have any advice they can give me? |
I teach middle school and have been in charge of the last 2 speaking tests. First thing you should do is talk to your co-teachers and ask them what they think is appropriate for the test. Maybe launch a few ideas at them and see what they prefer.
The first speaking test I did was a 2 minute "interview" with the students, it was okay, but I wouldn't recommend it, too time consuming, and you spend too much time talking yourself. The second I had the students introduce themselves, I told them about 3 weeks in advance and suggested they prepare a "speech," gave them an huge list of ideas of things they could include, and gave them 1-2 minutes each for the test. I allowed them to use a cheat sheet at the cost of 10% of they're mark; some took advantage of this, others did not. For the next round of speaking tests I'm going to have them put in groups and they have to perform a 4-5 minute group dialog where I'll grade them on both a group and individual level; my hope is that the weaker students will benefit from working with the stronger ones.
In the past I've observed speaking tests run be the Korean English teachers in the school, and basically all they do is give the students a list of sentences (often not even a dialog) that they have to memorise and recite. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
dsun1226
Joined: 27 May 2010
Location: Seoul
|
| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:31 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I'm also in middle school and was put in charge of speaking tests for 3rd graders. The Korean English teacher last year used conversation dialogues in which students worked in pairs and memorized their parts. They would then recite the parts to me on test day. This type of testing is certainly easier for me to grade but I don't think it does a good job of really challenging students. Students who hardly try during my classes would just memorize and get a good score on test day, by no means does it mean that they're proficient speakers.
This semester I just finished speaking tests in which I had students give me a short 1 minute speech about their future plans. While it's not perfect, it at least gave hard-working students a chance to show what they've learned as well as not giving free points to those students who never try in class. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
|
| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| OP: Check your PM in-box. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Richardjw84
Joined: 12 Aug 2011
|
| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
thanks everyone!
centralcali- I'll email you shortly, having problems accessing my account at the moment. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
|
| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2011 5:09 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Sent a sample test and some information on conducting the thing. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Illysook
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2011 12:36 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Ask for a rubric and if they don't have one, make up your own. Then try to guess how students would fit on a standard curve, only that curve will be biased on your students behalf. Your best students will get A's, your worst students will get C's. See if you can get away with a non-letter grade. Excellent, Average, Needs Improvement, or some other series of words that don't mean much in this environment. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
