CiC3-TB

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SPEAKING TESTS

This practical and accessible book aims to answer this question by offering some proven in-class oral testing techniques that can simultaneously assess communicative competence while helping students build smooth and natural conversation skills. Written in a friendly, jargon-lite style, this quick-start guide will: • Cover essential testing principles and qualities of good tests • Offer clear guidelines for test administration and marking • Provide step-by-step instructions for several proven oral test techniques suitable for a variety of teaching contexts How can you efficiently conduct valid and reliable speaking tests within EFL classes in Japan? “ ” This book, which is also available in Japanese , is ideal for teachers new to oral communication testing or for those who would like to review the basics and pick up some new ideas. I highly recommend this book. It's very straightforward so it’s a fairly quick read. It belongs in the library of any language teacher or program coordinator interested in improving their assessment of students' speaking skills, which in turn has a direct impact on students' learning and outcomes. I give it five stars out of five. Bob Sanderson, Kinki University

• ISBN: 978-4-905343-14-1 • Price: 1500 yen + tax • A5, 134 pages

The author, Jerry Talandis Jr , has been teaching English in Japan since 1993 and is currently a professor at the University of Toyama. He is also co-author of the EFL textbook Conversations in Class, 3rd Edition .

One of the biggest frustrations I had during the early part of my career as an English teacher in Japan was with assessing speaking skills. It really is the hardest of the four skills to evaluate well. Speaking is a performance in real-time, so how do you subjectively judge it in a consistent manner? My impression was that speaking tests were time-consuming, complicated, and simply impractical. I had several excellent books on the subject, but they sat on my shelf for years because they were so complex, and written from a global, context-neutral perspective. Before you can get started in an actual Japanese university class, there is just so much information to sort through! I therefore saw room for a book that was more accessible and spoke directly to the ELT context in Japan. I started with this question: “What do regular language teachers without a background in language testing (like me!) need to know in order to conduct successful in-class speaking tests that simultaneously help their students learn?” Jerry Talandis Jr. Alma Publishing Tel: 075-203-4606 / Fax: 075-320-1721 info@almalang.com 24-4 Nishi-machi Kamigyo-ku Kyoto 602-8174 “ ”

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