How to Test Speaking Skills in Japan

57 Chapter 5: Identify & define your evaluation criteria

Interactional strategies 4. Interacts effectively and readily participates and follows the discussion. 3. Use of interactive strategies is generally adequate but at times experiences some difficulty in maintaining interaction consistently. 2. Interaction ineffective. Can seldom develop an interaction. 1. Understanding and interaction minimal. Note : In this criterion, the term ‘interactional strategies’ means using strategies such as initiating the discussion , asking for clarification, expand ing the topic, turn-taking and concluding the discussion 2 .

Your turn : Take a few minutes to reflect on this Interactional Strategies rating scale How would you adapt it for your stu dents?

In my opinion, this is an excellent construct choice because it exemplifies the notion of having conceptually unique constructs in order to better evaluate speaking performance This one is really dis tinct from the others, and its presence on a marking/feedback sheet would really encourage students to be more interactive in their con versations Being able to talk with someone is not simply a matter of learning vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation Students also need to work on critical skills that promote that magic catch-ball feeling of back and forth, give and take communication Also, did you notice how Weir added an explanatory note to this construct? This is an excellent idea that should not be limited to only this one particular marking criteria—definitions for all of the marking categories would benefit from similar explanations Doing so directly on your rubrics would make your marking scheme more reliable because students would be clearer on what to do 2 These sorts of words, phrases, and expressions are also commonly referred to as conver sation strategies . Many EFL conversation textbooks feature them.