Consider guidelines that help to establish levels when your students

begin and end their speaking course. See the American Council on the

Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) speaking guidelines

(https://www.act .org/publications/guidelines-and-manuals/act -

pro ciency-guidelines-2012/english/speaking) or the Common European

Framework (https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-

reference-languages/level-descriptions) as examples.

Some examples of ways to organize quizzes or exams are included here.

For students at a lower level, choose those toward the top of the list.

Teachers working with a large class could utilize pair or group activities.

Dialogues: Memorized or prepared dialogues allow beginning students

to demonstrate their speaking ability without the task being too

overwhelming. Repeating dialogues in multiple lessons provides

practice with commonly used expressions or multiword chunks of

speech that help to build uency (Hinkel, 2019).


Look at a picture; tell a story: Prepare a number of pictures (or pictures

series), and ask students to tell a story. is can be recorded (in a

language lab if one is available), which allows larger classes to

demonstrate oral skills without the teacher being present with each

student during the exam time.

Role-playing: Create scenarios for students based on the content of your

course. Give students a xed period to prepare for role-playing before

they perform for you.

Presentations: In an academic setting, students may need to develop

presentation skills for future courses. Ask students to present in front of

the whole class with visual aids and other linguistic features that are

typical in academic presentations (e.g., academic discourse markers).

Group discussions: Prepare discussion questions to be answered a er the

completion of an in-class or take-home activity such as an interview, a


reading, or other tasks, and then ask students to carry on a discussion

while you observe. is allows you to evaluate the various aspects of

communicative competence covered previously.

 Recorded projects: Give students speci c criteria to upload a recording of

an individual or group movie, documentary, news presentation, or

sample teaching as a nal project.


Interviews: Interviews allow for individual interaction between teacher

and student. ey work well for both pretests and posttests but are time

consuming for large classes. Before the interviews, try to prepare a

ffi
number of open-ended questions with some variety but a similar

di culty level. Consider beginning and ending with easy questions or

small talk to help students feel relaxed and successful. If time allows,

interviews may be recorded to review if there are any questions

regarding scoring.

If the culture of the school or country does not allow solely oral nal

exams, you may consider adding a written component that includes sections

on vocabulary, writing or completing dialogues, or politeness.

REFLECTIVE QUESTION
Which of the suggestions here would work best in your setting?

Conclusion
Regardless of your setting, it is important for students, teachers, and

administrators to see progress. Students may feel that they are not advancing

because there are no set standards. Opportunities to monitor and

demonstrate learning bene t everyone involved.

 References

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acquisition (6th ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.

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White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.

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Hendrickson, J. M. (1980). Error correction in foreign language teaching: Recent theory, research and

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 Appendix: Sample Lesson Plan

Moving From Mechanical to Meaningful to

Communicative: Talking About the Past

Resources
Whiteboard or blackboard and writing utensil

Dice roll question sheets

Dice (one die per pair of students)

Blank survey sheets

Lesson objectives

Upon completion of this lesson, students will be able to

Ask questions in simple past tense using the correct grammatical

structure.

Create simple past-tense sentences in both the a ffi rmative and negative.

Extend a conversation in the past tense for more than 3 minutes.

Warm-Up
Introduce the focus on the past by sharing a short story from when you were

a child. Ask students what tenses were used during the story.

Opening Discussion
In pairs, have students review past tense by asking them to come up with the

rules for making negative past-tense sentences. Have the pairs discuss: How
do you make a negative sentence in the past tense?


Review with students: To make a negative past-tense sentence, just add

did not (or didn’t) before the verb. e past tense of the be verbs (am, is, and


are) are was and were. To make them negative, you just add not. (I wasn’t

sick. ey weren’t tired.)

Positive Negative

I went I didn’t go

You swam You didn’t swim

We ate We didn’t eat

They sat They didn’t sit

He gave He didn’t give

She climbed She didn’t climb

It jumped It didn’t jump

Speaking Practice Drill with a Die


Give pairs of students one die and a handout with past-tense questions (see

Roll a Die; Ask a Question). e rst student will roll the die and his or her

partner will ask the number of the question he or she rolls. If you roll a 1,

answer A1. If the student roles a 1 a second time, her or she should answer

question B1 and so on. Remind students to say more than yes or no! For

example, the students could say, “Yes. I learned English as a child at school.

My rst English class was in rst grade.” Students continue to roll the die

and answer questions until all the questions have been answered or the

teacher stops them.

Roll a Die; Ask a Question

Take turns rolling the die.  e rst student will roll the die and the other


person will ask the number of the question he or she rolls. If you roll a 1,

answer A1. e next time you roll a 1, answer B1. Answer with 1 or 2

sentences, not just yes or no! Let the next person roll and continue the

activity.

A
1. Did you learn English as a child?

2. Did you eat breakfast this morning?

3. Did you leave your house at 8 a.m.?

4. Did you buy bread last week?

5. Did you ride the bus to school?

6. Did you sit in the same seat this week as last week?

B
1. Did you walk to the store last month?

2. Did you call someone last week?

3. Did you buy fruit yesterday?

4. Did you grow up in Africa?

5. Did you nd an apartment?

6. Did you eat Mexican food last night?

C
1. Did you get a gi for your birthday?

2. Did you forget to do your homework?

3. Did you swim in a lake as a child?

4. Did you drive a car in your home country?

5. Did you feel tired last week?

6. Did you have a good time on your last holiday?

D
1. Did you sleep poorly last night?

2. Did you take Main Street to school?

3. Did you wear a jacket yesterday?

4. Did you write an email to your family last week?

5. Did you sing on Sunday?

6. Did you see a movie last week?

Survey Part I
Students write three of their own questions that start with did and focus on

childhood. For example, did you play soccer as a child?

Survey Part II
Students ask three classmates to answer their questions and record those

classmates’ answers in the chart.

Survey Part III
In pairs, students summarize the answers of their three classmates. Remind

students to answer in full sentences (e.g., Jane rode a bike as a child, but she

did not play soccer).

Keeping a Conversation Going

Review strategies on how to keep a conversation going with the whole class.

See chapter 2 of this book for ideas.

Discussion
In trios, hold a discussion using the provided questions. Remember to be

aware of past-tense verbs. Find ways to keep the conversation going so that

all three people speak at least two times.

What did you like to do when you were a child?

What is the most unusual thing that you have done (since coming to

this country, starting college, etc.)?

What languages have you studied?

What is di fferent between last year and this year?

After-Class Work


Have students interview two friends or family members about their

childhoods. ey should take careful notes and be prepared to share stories

from their family or friends with classmates in the next lesson.

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