How to Test Speaking Skills in Japan

100 Part 3: Three speaking test ideas Marking & Admin Tips

Remember that recording the test will allow you to focus more in tently on the performances while they are happening You could take some notes of initial impressions or focus on assessing just one or two constructs and leave the rest until later Once you gain experience and build confidence in your mark ing approach, you’ll find you can complete all of the marking in-class This skill is worth your investment of time and effort to obtain, as it will make the overall testing process much more practical Recording the tests is not something only you can do Giv en the ubiquity of smartphones, encourage your students to record their own performances These can later be used for various fol low-up or self-evaluation tasks, especially at the end of the course Students who compare early test performances with more recent ones will gain a good sense of how they progressed (Hagley, 2010; Talandis, Jr & Stout, 2015) If you have a bit of time, try to elicit a few impressions from your students Alternatively, have them write up their thoughts for homework To encourage greater reflection, give clear directives, such as Write at least three sentences on what you liked about your test performance. This sort of instruction is more likely to result in a more substantial answer If you try this testing activity with a large class, you may not have enough time to get through every pair In that case, you’ll need to reschedule the remaining students for another time (per haps in the following class) Alternatively, if you know you won’t get through everyone ahead of time, you can plan from the beginning to hold the test over two separate lessons