A Closer Look at the TSA Listening and Speaking Assessment

Part 1 Speaking Assessment

Common Problems (1) Inhibition Real-time exposure to an audience  Worried about making mistakes  Fear of criticism / losing face / shy of the attention  Feel unnatural to speak a foreign language

Solution 1: Group / Pair Work Start all speaking activities with group / pair work  Lower anxiety  Encourage collaborative relationships  Student security  Encourage negotiation of meaning  Immediate feedback from listeners

Note!  Big groups Should maximize the amount of communicative practice

Solution 2: Teacher’s Role Teachers as Models  Always model the activity with students  Remind students of the key grammar  Teach/review essential vocabulary before the activity starts  Ss need the knowledge of linguistic forms, meanings and functions

Minor errors are tolerated  The purpose of communicative approach is fluency, instead of accuracy

Types of Spoken Interaction (1)Dialogues Ss are taught a brief dialogue which they learn by heart e.g. A: Look, it ’ s stopped raining! B: So it has! Do you want to go out? A: Yes, I ’ ve got a lot of shopping to do.

Ss perform it privately in pairs, then publicly in front of the whole class. Finally, Ss can suggest a continuation Advantages: 1.Ss with less confidence (practice without hesitation) 2.Learning by heart increases the Ss ’ s vocabulary of ready-made combination of words.

e.g. Step 1: Jumbled Conversation (paying compliments) Put Ss into pairs. Instruct them to, choose from the word box, write sentences under the person who said them. Remind them to write in correct order.

Step 2: Modeling Keep Ss in pairs. Instruct Ss to do the following role-play: Imagine your friend buys something new and you think it ’ s great! Complete the dialogue with your partner and practice the dialogues. Students apply the knowledge to negotiate meaning

e.g. Step 1 - Matching Dialogues Ss read the two dialogues of people making suggestions. Ss have to match the picture to the correct dialogue.

Step 2: Modeling the Dialogue Put Ss into pairs They have to suggest things to do together at weekend Use the sentences they learnt from the Matching Exercise to help

e.g. Class Survey Ss walk around the class & try to find someone to match each of the descriptions. Ss choose a partner. Find out two additional facts about their partners that are not on the list. Ss have to tell what they learnt about their partners.

Common Problem (2) Lack of Interest & Low Motivation / Participation English is an alien language to Ss (tendency to use mother-tongue) Ss have nothing to say (they can’t think of anything to say / they lack sufficient vocabulary)

Solution: Carefully chosen Activities Authentic / Realistic Topics & Tasks  Ss can relate using ideas from their own experience & transfer what they learn to the outside world  Motivating & stimulating

Base the activities on easy language  Encourage the use of authentic & natural language  Activities which promote communication Offer cues (e.g. picture cues)

e.g. Step 1 - Describing Pictures (WH- Questions) Tell Ss that Penny & Richard are in class together. They have to find out what they are doing by studying the picture.

Step 2: Describing someone in the class All students should describe someone in the class and answer the following questions about them: 1.Where is the person sitting? 2.Who is he/she sitting next to? 3.What is he/she wearing? 4.What is the person doing? Students are encouraged to write more sentences about the person they have chosen

Step 3: Guessing Put students into pairs. They have to take turns to guess who their partner described in Step 2 by asking WH-questions

e.g. Making Oral Invitation Put Ss into groups of 3 and give each group a set of cards, face down They must take turns taking a card from the deck, and extending an invitation Model the sentence structure “ Would you like to …” Encourage Ss to set a day and time, such as “… on Tuesday night at 9 o ’ clock. ”

e.g. Step 1: Guess the room Put Ss into groups & explain that they ’ re going to take turns comparing them Give each Ss a copy and tell them to choose one of the rooms, but not to tell the rest of the group which room they have chosen They take turns to describe their room & their group mates must guess which room is being described.

spacious messy neat stylish small cramped modern peaceful bright old-fashioned dark noisy e.g. Step 2: Comparing the 4 rooms Give these adjectives to each group and they should describe the rooms using the adjectives.

e.g. Completing a Story Put Ss into pairs. Tell Ss that they each have the same story as their partners, but with different parts missing. They have to ask each other questions to find out what is missing.

Common Problem (3) Wrong Pronunciation More in-class listening practice EMI in classrooms Self-access nciation/

Part 2 Listening Assessment

Suggested Listening Practices 1.Vocabulary Building – Vocab Network Computer Keyboard Type words mouse Give commands Screen speakers

AngryGlad / Happy PuzzledUpset / Sad Vocab Building (Con ’ t) – Help Ss Anticipate Answers

2.Make use of the Tape script To raise awareness of keywords Let ’ s try this! Sample3.wma Peter: What does Sue like? Mary: She loves ____________. Let ’ s buy some for her. Can we buy some chocolate bars? Peter: That ’ s a good idea. But … Sue ’ s got ____________ today. She ’ s can ’ t have chocolates. Mary: What about canned food? We can buy some pork or beef Peter: I like __________ better.