Description
Teaching speaking and listening skills has become very important for one to learn a given language. Initially, listening was considered to be about mastery of skills. Emphasis was laid on recognition of reduced words and key words. However, the current view is that listeners must be active participants and must employ evaluation, facilitation, and monitoring strategies. On the other hand, speaking was drill-based and focused on memorizing and repetition. As the grammar-based syllabi changed to communication syllabi, fluency became popular. This assessment portfolio is intended for predominately young students learning English as EFL, EL, and/or EAP. A number of learning objectives and desired competences have been considered designing it. The objectives include enhancing critical and creative thinking, effective communication, and promoting lifelong learning. On the other hand, competences such as oral and written communication, quantitative reasoning, and critical thinking are natured.
Section 1: Speaking Progress Checks
Assessment Portfolio
Speaking Progress Check # 1 – Prompt
Speaking Task: Formal Discussion| Assessment Type: Speaking and recording | Scoring Form: Checklist
The name of the candidate: _____________________________
Prompt
Discuss the topic in which you experienced a lot of difficulty while studying. You will be required to ask at least one question based on the identified area. Moreover, you will respond to another question from one of your classmates. The main purpose of this class activity is to assist you understand the topic better. The time allocated for each question or response in one minute.
Assessment Portfolio
Instructions
- You will choose any text that in the course book that invites authentic inquiry. You should read it carefully and prepare well in advance for this particular class.
- Since the class session requires consistent focus on the identified text, sticky notes will be provided. Make use of them for annotating the text as you read.
You will be given the responsibility of running the whole lesson. Your tutor will only act as discussion leader. Your task will be to raise a question about the text and to respond to at least one question that will
Provide a short narration of the most horrifying day in your life. The story should not take more than five minutes.
Instructions
You will give a short narration about the most terrifying experience in your life. The event could have taken place while you rare at school, at home on vacation. However, you must explain it as it happened to you or as you witnessed it take place. Make sure that your narration is in simple past tense. Ensure that you make use of tone variation and gestures in order to attract the attention of the whole class. Moreover, ensure that you incorporate a captivating introduction, rise and climax. This will be followed by a fall and presentation of a resolution at the very end. The time allocated for every presentation is between 3 and five minutes. As one student tells his/her story before the class, the rest should identify familiar vocabulary and sentence structure as presented and practice to retain what is spoken while processing it at the same time.
Speaking Progress Check # 2 – Assessment
Assessment for Story
Student :______________ Class: ______________ Teacher: ______________
The folowing are the main points to note:
- Good introduction
- Us eof simple past tense
- Presnted within 3-5 minutes
- Use of a varierty of sentence structures
- Use of suffent vocabulary to convey the story
- Sustained ability to develop the story and attract the attention of lstnes
- Clear pronounciation
- Use of intonation and gestures
Speaking Progress Check # 3 Prompt
Speaking Task: Role Play (Drama) | Assessment Type: Performance Test| Scoring Form: Holistic Rubric
The name of the candidate: _____________________________
Prompt
You have had many opportunities to hold conversations in class or even out of class. Think about these conversations. Consider the most thrilling job, career, or activity that I familiar to you. Narrate it to your friends and afterwards dramatize it.
Instructions
- Identify a number of experiences in your life. This could range from what happens at you home to what happened to you when you visited a doctor to have your tooth removed.
- Think of how you can adapt the activity to make it more thrilling when you dramatize.
- Identify the main issues that the drama is going to reflect on.
- After you have done a brief practice, present it to class. The presentation should not take more than 5 minutes. You may present it alone or together with you friend.
Speaking Progress Check # 3 – Assessment
Holistic Rubric for the Drama Presentation
The name of the candidate: ____________________________
Criteria | Grade | Excellent | Commendable | Standard | Tried |
Understanding of story | 35% | Shows a clear familiarity | Good understanding | Fair | The story is not consistent |
Cooperation | 35% | All members participate | Some members participate | Few members participate | Only one person participates |
Presentation | 30% | Shows confidence
Informative Entertaining Audible Appropriate intonation and body language use |
Shows some confidence
Presents some information Engages audience Can be heard Some use of intonation and body language |
Unsure of responsibility
Somewhat informative Engages audience intermittently Hard to hear Some movement |
Portrayal stalls
Lacks information Audience bored Mumbles Body language is lacking; inappropriate |
SECTION 2
Listening Progress Check
Listening Progress Check # 1 prompt
Task: Listening for Specific Information | Type of Assessment: Recording Fluency | Type of Scoring: Holistic Rubric
Listen and Attempt
Name of the Candidate: ________________
Prompt
Listen to the audio provided at http://www.ielts-exam.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=694&Itemid=77. It is about elephants. Afterwards attempt the questions that follow.
Instructions
- You are required to listen to the video before providing the answers to the questions that follow. The audio will be played twice.
- You should first go through all the questions.
- During the first listening, you are not allowed to take any notes.
- Attempt to answer the questions as the audio plays for the second time.
- After it has finished playing, you will be given 5 minutes. Make sure you have provided answers to all questions during this time.
Listening tip: The questions have been presented in the order that the information is provided in the recording. Let your answers be brief. The suggested number of words is three per question.
Question | Your answer |
Which elephants sojourn together for the whole of their life? | |
What name is given to elephant family groups? | |
Which feature of behavior was noticed by scientists after tracking several groups of elephant | |
Which sense is used by elephants to communicate with one another over long distances? | |
What did the scientists from America do with the soundtrack of elephant calls that they had conducted? | |
What were they not able to do with this recording? | |
The elephants in this experiment hurried to find something. What was it? | |
Choose what the lecturer says regarding the various elephant calls:
A Cannot be perceived by humans B Are accompanied by leg movement C Their pitch is similar at the beginning and at the end D Is accompanied by nodding of head at all times E Their pitch increases continuously F Are repeated for a long period of time G Experience continuous fluctuation in volume
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Score |
Listening Progress Check # – Assessment
Task: Listening for Specific Information | Type of Assessment: Recording Fluency | Type of Scoring: Holistic Rubric
Listen and Attempt
Name of the Candidate: ________________
Assessment
Table for Holistic Rubric | |
Score | Description of the work presented by the learner |
5 | Demonstrates the ability to listen, understand the content of the audio and respond to the questions appropriately. The learner has met all the requirements. |
4 | Demonstrates considerable ability to listen to the audio. Moreover, all the task requirements have been met |
3 | Demonstrates partial ability to listen. The learner seems not to have understood what the audio is all about. However, he/she has included most of the requirements for the task. |
2 | Demonstrates little ability to listen. Many of the questions have not been answered. |
1 | Demonstrates poor ability to listen. |
0 | No question has been attempted by the learner |
Listening Progress Check # 2- prompt
Task: inferential Listening| Type of Assessment: Self Evaluation| Type of Scoring: Checklist
Listening, Reading, and Responding to Questions
Prompt:
Open the link http://www.poetryoutloud.org/poems-and-performance/listen-to-poetry and listen to the audio “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning. Afterwards, read the lyrics provided on the next page before responding to the questions provided
Instructions
- Attend carefully to the words of the speaker in order to establish what he is talking about. Note that the poem does not have a single meaning. Therefore, you need to support the meaning you discern using evidence from the lyrics provided. You only need to establish the main point in the poem and not all the interpretations that one can obtain.
- Secondly, investigate the form, structural semiotics, and content of the poem in a way that is informed so as to heighten your understanding of the work and eventually appreciate it.
- What is being referred to as “Fra Pandolf” in the poem?
- Explain the phrase “Must never hope to reproduce the faint” as used in the poem.
- Once you have full understanding of the poem and the questions, provide the answers in writing. Make sure that the answers are to the point and are justified using evidence from the lyrics.
For the attempt to be considered successful, one must pay attention to:
- Specific information that provides clues concerning what the poem is about
- At least two interpretations and at most four.
- Effective writing by taking note of punctuation, grammar, and syntax.
- Demonstrate application of critical thinking.
FERRARA
That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
“Fra Pandolf” by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not
Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek; perhaps
Fra Pandolf chanced to say, “Her mantle laps
Over my lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half-flush that dies along her throat.” Such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, ’twas all one! My favour at her breast,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace—all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
Or blush, at least. She thanked men—good! but thanked
Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech—which I have not—to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark”—and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse—
E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master’s known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretense
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me
Listening Progress Check # 2-Assessment
Listening, Reading, and Responding to Questions
Checklist for Inferential Listening
Candidate Name; ______________
- At least two interpretations.
- The analyses should be logical.
- The learner should examine the whole poem to draw meaning.
- The content presented by the learner should bear support from the poem’s lyrics.
- The observations or claims presented should be reasonable.
- The learner should demonstrate establishment of an intelligible position based on the poem.
- The ideas should be properly developed and flow logically.
- Less than 5 grammar or punctuation errors
Listening progress Check # 3- prompt
Task: Listening For Detail | Type of Assessment: Discrete item | Type of scoring: Discrete Item
Candidate Name: ______________
Prompt
Listen to the audio provided and answer the questions that follow by stating whether it is true or false.
Instructions
Take a look at the statements in the table presented on the next page. Once you have noted the required details, open the link http://www.ielts-exam.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=736&Itemid=77. Listen to the short audio about Einstein. Afterwards, complete the worksheet on the page that follows by specifying whether the statement given is true or false.
Listening progress Check # 3- Assessment
Task: Listening For Detail | Type of Assessment: Discrete Item | Type of scoring: Discrete Item
Candidate Name; ______________
Statement | True | False |
The blackboard of Einstein was used in Harvard in 16 May 1932 during a lecture | ||
Theories advanced by Einstein were used along astronomical data | ||
The numerical data obtained provides information about aged, density, and radius of the earth | ||
The universe is about I billion years old. | ||
The highly fundamental questions in cosmology are addressed in Einstein’s blackboard |
.
References
Alexandrescu, Ş. (2011). Inferential listening. Analyticnvision. Retrieved 4 June 2016, from https://analyticvision.wordpress.com/tag/inferential-listening/
Browning, R. (2016). My Last Duchess. Poetryfoundation.org. Retrieved 4 June 2016, from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/43768
Filkins, S. (2016). Socratic seminars. readwritethink. Retrieved 3 June 2016, from http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/socratic-seminars-30600.html
Gerver, D. (2016). Simultaneous listening and speaking and retention of prose. The Quarterly Journal Of Experimental Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14640747408400422
Gonzalez, J. (2015). The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies. Cult of Pedagogy. Retrieved 3 June 2016, from http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/speaking-listening-techniques/
IELTS Listening,. (2016). Ielts-exam.net. Retrieved 3 June 2016, from http://www.ielts-exam.net/audio/exams_ielts_mc_pt04.mp3
Nation, I. & Newton, J. (2009). Teaching ESL/EFL listening and speaking. New York: Routledge.
Richards, J. (2009). Teaching listening and speaking. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.
Wilbur, E. (2016). Simultaneous listening and speaking and retention of prose. The Quarterly Journal Of Experimental Psychology. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14640747408400422
Resources
Photo about listening and speaking on the cover page: https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fthumbs.dreamstime.com%2Fz%2Fwomen-talking-listening-22180978.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dreamstime.com%2Froyalty-free-stock-photos-women-talking-listening-image22180978&docid=weGCP-DlPkmccM&tbnid=UYgXiOqrMlSf_M%3A&w=1300&h=863&client=firefox-b&bih=528&biw=1024&ved=0ahUKEwiF8uCcnJDNAhXEtxoKHQ2-Af8QMwg3KAswCw&iact=mrc&uact=8
Photo of a learner speaking in class (page 1): https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Ff.tqn.com%2Fy%2Fhomeworktips%2F1%2FW%2Fd%2FG%2F-%2F-%2F78461202.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fhomeworktips.about.com%2Fod%2Fpaperassignments%2Fht%2Foralreport.htm&docid=Pd5q9cZf3gpOfM&tbnid=b7xdW21hmvPEdM%3A&w=385&h=258&client=firefox-b&bih=528&biw=1024&ved=0ahUKEwjGv57OnpDNAhXE8RQKHdFJC3AQMwgvKBMwEw&iact=mrc&uact=8
Image on page 4: http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/speaking-listening-techniques/
Photo on page 13: https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsuccessyeti.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F07%2Fpractice-ielts-listening-part-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsuccessyeti.com%2Fcommunication%2F8-ways-improve-listening-skills%2F2015%2F07%2F10&docid=jxPWW6fO3x0gmM&tbnid=irxhii7zD5HLVM%3A&w=2121&h=1414&client=firefox-b&bih=528&biw=1024&ved=0ahUKEwjUjMTs0ZDNAhVDDxoKHcy2BqUQMwgxKAAwAA&iact=mrc&uact=8