I’m not sure about the rest of you but I’ve sometimes found that it is difficult to assess a summative speaking task. In response to sitting through the umpteenth (sometimes tedious) round of presentations where one has to equally focus on assessing the presenters while keeping the rest o the class quietly engaged, I was forced to diversify my methods. To deal with the latter problem, I found peer assessment to be an effective and useful tool. I constructed a rating chart with levels one to four focusing on the following criteria: spoke clearly with confidence and expression, spoke using vocabulary and language structures taught in class, spoke with natural flow and only minor hesitations, spoke using a variety of communication strategies (asking to repeat, using gestures, asking for clarification), came prepared to present and was focused during other people’s presentations.
I divided the class into strategic groupings beforehand to balance out the “distracted” students, varying levels of ability and particular dynamics. Once in their groups, students took turns presenting while the others evaluated and provided feedback. At the same time, I was circulating around the class and also simultaneously evaluating those students who were presenting. If I missed someone, I came back and asked them to repeat a portion of their presentation. To finish off and showcase some of their work, I asked each group to nominate one person/group to present to the class. At the end, students handed in their written evaluations providing myself and each other with valuable feedback and insight. What was also a major accomplishment was we had also managed to have everyone present in one period as opposed to the course of a week.
Using the same rating scale (minus the bit about being focused and on-task during other presentations), I also had students come up to see me individually. Asking them 4 to 5 theme-related questions, they had to answer them spontaneously. This allowed me a true insight into their level of speaking and an opportunity to hear them talk without any kind of prop. At the workshop I attended, they had suggested videotaping each student so that you could go back and evaluate from the footage but I found that this would make many students self-conscious and thus impact the results and in all honesty, I knew I wouldn’t have the time to do so.
The results were definitely interesting and in some cases surprising. I would strongly recommend attempting this as a final assessment once students had frequent opportunities to become comfortable and familiar with the vocabulary and pronunciation through the many opportunities of practising in class.
