How to Test Speaking Skills in Japan

67 Chapter 6: Plan out the test admin details ahead of time

This is just one idea, but it contains a number of features you may want to have in your version First, having a place for students to write basic information at the top may seem obvious, but it’s a really helpful detail to help you keep things organized, especially if you’re conducting speaking tests with more than one class Next, having each construct clearly defined as a whole and then by level will make performances easier to mark in the moment while simultaneously helping students interpret them Again, you can play with the points per level to emphasize/de-emphasize cer tain constructs In this example, you can see how accuracy is only 10% of the overall grade—I do it that way because I don’t want to over-emphasize this point, but I also want students to do their best with it Likewise, you can put similar thinking behind how you distribute percentages The language I’m using for each descriptor has been chosen carefully My preference is for these explanations to be in my own voice, as if I’m talking to each student I much prefer that to typical cold and dry technical language Were my students at the beginning or near beginning stage, I would have these descriptors translated into Japanese and provide a bilingual version It is of the utmost importance that your students be able to really get what everything means I like to base my descriptors on things I would say anyway, points they have heard me make many times As a result, students will be able to see quickly where they are at and what they need to do in order to increase their score next time For the lowest level band, I like to end with a question— What happened? If someone does very poorly, I would use this as a starting point for a discussion on how to do better next time Each level also has a bit of play within it, points-wise; I find this feature most helpful as it enables more precise marking If that