Developing Oral Communication Skills
Teachers of Forms 1 to 3 in our secondary schools have reported that there is now an oral communication skills assessment at Form 3 level. The normal tendency of teachers, students, parents, and schools is to react to examinations, but pedagogically this is not the best practice, since language competence is developmental. In this forum we share our iniatives in developing oral communication skills throughout the secondary school.
(1) What do our Standards say?
(2) What communication competencies are we specifically targetting?
(3) What guidelines do our syllabuses provide?
(4) What are our topics for this semester?
(5) Where does the Creole factor into this mix?
We share our ideas and examples of best practice - not only goals, ideas and methods we are already implementing, but goals, ideas and methods we have found in our research online and in books that all of us can benefit from.
We also say 'Thank You" to Kimarie
(1) What do our Standards say?
(2) What communication competencies are we specifically targetting?
(3) What guidelines do our syllabuses provide?
(4) What are our topics for this semester?
(5) Where does the Creole factor into this mix?
We share our ideas and examples of best practice - not only goals, ideas and methods we are already implementing, but goals, ideas and methods we have found in our research online and in books that all of us can benefit from.
We also say 'Thank You" to Kimarie
posted by Cynthia James | 7:22 AM
16 Comments:
I am glad that this topic has come up, because this is one area in which I know little. Our exams have always been written and I never paid much attention to developing speaking skills as long as I felt the students could understand me and I could understand them.
Most of my students speak in the Creole and even when they try to answer in Standard English, very few of them can hold an entire sentence to the end without switching. I also speak in the Creole sometimes in class to get the point across more quickly, especially when the students are having trouble understanding a topic.
I did a Google search to see what foreign syllabuses look like in this area, and was amazed at how many areas come under this topic. This is all I have to share right now. Scroll down to the end of the website below - English Language Arts Content Standards. It has given me some ideas!
http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/enggrade6.asp
perhaps the way of approaching this issue of oracy and its impending place at a lower form exam is by trying to define the term in our particular Caribbean context first.
we are in a precarious situation of having an 'adequate' and even more colourful creole for our everyday speech and this proves efficient in most realms of communication necessary for conducting our everyday business. however we, in a colonial dimension, had to write an exam formally structured upon the standard english dialect utilizing an academic register. thus there was one for home and one for school and the boundaries had to be well defined perhaps even causing a Colonial Girls School type scenario.
at present the exam that we (our students) write entails the use of the standard but allowances are made for the creole in conversation. this may seem insubstancial here but it shows that there has been real progress in terms of recognition of the creole as a real language of efficient communication.
i believe that the creole can be an invaluable tool for classroom communication especially when relating a situation in term of contextual relevance eg.why study Romeo and Juliet.....because up to this day people still get bazodee and go about doing stchupidness. here we do not trivialize the play but we lend a realistic and plausible context to base student understanding upon.
i do not foresee though that the CXC will allow essay responses for drama to constitute the creole register. so what then is the way forward... the implementation of sessions where topics of great variety are discussed where the standard will be the choice of dialect. practise makes perfect.
hello everyone
this is part of the information i received from a form three teacher who did the orals for the first time last year.
General points to note when conducting the Oral Interview for language arts.
1)read aloud all instructuions for the students.
2) proir to the interview,please advise students to speak the truth or to keep their responses real.
3) teachers need to study the scoring rubric well before administering the item.
4) teachers must use only standard english when questioning students.use a freindly tone to help put students at ease.
5) the interviews are meant only as a guide on the tpoic. the teacher may ask a few relevant follow-up questions for the purpose of elicting information from the student.
6) there must be no ambiguity in the follow- up questions.
7) keep the follow - up questions to a minimum as these are only to elict more infromation from a student who has not said enough.
8)do not make any assumptions when asking questions and do not ask any loaded questions.
9) the student can ask for clarification of the question.
10) score each student after listening to the responses and when teh students is in- front of you. do not wait to score after the entire gropu of students has been interviewed.
Structure of the oral paper for the examiner.
provide students with topics 10-15 minutes before the examination in the presence of an examiner.collect these following the interview.
Topics include:
youth and crime
values:respect
entertainment:movies
helathy lifestyles
future careers.
Examples of questions
how fo you feel about youths commiting crime?
waht are some of the crimes committed by youths?
what do you understand by the word "respect"?
is it important to respect yourself? why?
what kind of movies do young people like? why?
who is your favourite movie star?
what do you think is a healthy lifestyle?
tell me what you do to keep fit?
what are three ideal jobs? why?
what would your like to be when you leave school? why?
Administarion of the oral examinations
1) the oral examintionshould take palce within a period of tw weeks before the start of the written examinations.
2) the division of eductionaly research and evaluation will provide reading passages and questions for converstions along with scoring guides.
3) materials relevant to the examination must at all times be treated with the strictest confidentaility.
4) schools should ensure that all candidates are aware of the form the examination will take and the tme at which they will be examined.each students will be examined for 5-10 minutes.
5) all copies of the final mark sheets should be submittes to the division of educational research and evaluation through the examination section.
There is also a scoring guide but I prefer to photocopy this for all.
i hope it is easy to understand.
Excellent information, Anjini! Is the scoring guide long? I ask because the rubrics are very important. They are a guide to the Standards and competencies that students are supposed to have developed. Can you condense them in another posting? At least give us the areas that are being measured. Looking forward to seeing them. This is very good information. Most teachers I have asked are not aware that there are guidelines such as these.
I have always placed primary focus on written standard English, since it is the main focus for exams. I do switch to creole sometimes when I feel I need to better reach students. Recently there was an incident at my school where a class complained that their English teacher strayed from standard English in her speech. The department found itself defending the use of creole even in English class. It is accepted that other subject teachers can speak creole but not the English teacher. If we are trying to get kids to use standard English in speech, is it okay to correct them when they slip to creole with making them feel subconscious? I know that there is an oral component for communication studies but I am unaware of the requirements. I decided to research some of the oracy standards for schools in the u.S. the site http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primary/publications/languages/framework/oracy/
Looks at standards.it is very interesting, some of it I think is practiced in primary schools, like reading stories, reciting poems. More of the interesting aspects asked for expression of opinions and practicing asking and answering questions and using sustained spoken language to tell stories, as well as choosing topics and preparing a discussion. The standards also look at students expressing verbally opinions about stoires and even re-telling in some cases. After looking at this I will revisit the form 3 semp syllabus for comparision.
Hi Everyone,
This is indeed an interesting topic. Our students have it especially difficult when one considers that they must write an exam in Standard English although most of them speak the Creole. Most teachers I know speak Standard English and encourage their students to do so but students inevitably lapse into Creole. There are moments when I speak in Creole in order to make the class feel more at ease or in order to "bring a point home."
I conducted the NCSE Oral Examinations last year for my school along with the other English teachers and there were some interesting observations. Despite the fact that these children speak the Creole, the performed well on the exam. Responses were accurate and well constructed. Most performed scored high grades except for the few who were disinterested. There were instances when there was a tendency to use phrases and lapse into the dialect which shows an inability of some of them to sustain the Standard. Also some studenst showed their discomfort in speaking in the Standard and were eargerly awaiting for the interview to be over.
We need to focus on this component by developing exercises to strengthen students' communication skills. Conducting interviews from time tto time, asking them to give directions, give instructions, the process in making a cake, fixing a bike etc.
I found all of your comments useful!
Hi everyone,
this is the scoring guide for the oral aspect of the language arts paper for NCSE.
the language arts scoring guide is structured in this way:
There are six columns :
1)scoring criteria
2)understanding of topic
3)speech pace and volume
4)use of standard english
5)articulation enunciation expression
6) lexicon use of vocabulary.
A students gets a score of 14-15 (excellent) if he/she
1)understands all questions,answers approriately ,
2)his speech is natural and continuous
3)uses standard English effectively
4)expressions are appropriate
5)a wide range of vocabulary is used.
A students scores 10-12 (very good) if he/she
1) understands all questions
2) some hestitaion in speech , but generally completes responses.
3) uses standard english appropriately
4) expressions are coherent
5) adequate use of essential vocabulary.
A student scores 9-11 (satisfactory)if he/she 1)understands most questions, requires some repetion
2)frequent hesitation in speech and a few responses may be incomplete
3)uses standard
English satisfactorily
4)expressions are fairly coherent
5)fairly adequate use of vocabulary
A student scores 4-6( in progress) if he/she
1)understands some questions requires considerable repetition
2) answers few questions speech is unnatural with grat hestisation
3)standard english has structural inaccuracies
4)expressions are fragmented or incomplete but comprehensible.
5)limited use of vocabulary
A student scores 0-5 (minimal) if he/she
1)understands very little, little or no attempt to answer questions
2) speech is halting and fragnmented
3) little or no use of standard english
4)converstaion is virtually impossible and expressions are alomost incomprehensible
5) little or no use of vocabulary.
enjoy!!
Thanks Anjini. Seems to me that major areas include:
comprehension and awareness of contemporary issues, use of Standard English, coherence, audience engagement, vocabulary development ....
How are teachers preparing students for these?
I was one of the teachers from my school who conducted the NCSE exam this year. I examined 18 students, and I found that the majority did quite well. Overall they were able to express themselves in Standard English, however some had grammatical errors such as incorrect subject/ verb agreement, or some spoke too softly, or were inarticulate, and others gave yes or no answers so additional questioning had to be done to elicit longer responses. Most of the students enjoyed the exam and were very glad to be given the opportunity to express their opinions on given topics.
I also teach Communication Studies and that syllabus has a very strong oral concentration. For example,
Students must be able to
- express themselves in speech and writing with "precision,clarity accuracy and fluency."
- select an interesting experience or story to tell the class and the students in the audience have to orally evaluate the speaker and the story
- practise mock interviews with each other
- use choral speaking activities (poetry,rap,dub,calypso) to concentrate on speech skills - articulation, modulation and enunciation.
- speak on prepared and impromptu topics
- use formal and informal language registers appropriately
- make short expository, persuasive and argumentative speeches
There is also an oral examination as part of their Internal Assessment. Students have to choose a current topic to research, then make a seven minute oral presentation which must include:
- an explanation of the topic and of their personal interest in it
- a discussion of the issues raised and the challenges experienced in exploring topic
- an evaluatin of the effect of sourcess, context, medium or channel on the reliability and validity of information gathered
- a conclusion
Students are allowed to bring in cue cards with headings into the examination. In addition to being marked on the content of their presentation, students are marked on their expression - if they are fluent and use accurate speech; if they have a clear audible voice, make eye contact and use appropriate body movement in respect to situation.
It is quite obvious that developing oral communication skills in students is a very important topic in Language Arts today. Teachers have to devote more time to this topic in their instruction, and implement strategies to improve their students'oracy not just for exams but for life after school.
In my school, the NCSE exam is going to be done for the first time next year. Even though we never had to formally test students' oracy skills before, such assessments have always been a part of our coursework assignments. They would usually take the form of group projects, where students not only have to research, analyse and compile information on a particular topic, but they also have to make oral presentations on the same. For the most part, students at my school have, I would say, a good grasp of the Standard English.
As for me, in an effort to prepare students in this area, my Form 3s have just begun work on a project, where they formulate a skit/dialogue pertaining to a social issue that they feel passionate about. Together with a written presentation, students also have to assume the role of the characters they created, and perform the skit/dialogue, all in Standard English of course. I made it known to them that they have to prepare for the oral part of the exam next year; hence they are cognizant that the project will have importance sooner, rather than later.
My intention is to get these Form 3s aware that they are capable of constructing real conversational dialogue in Standard English, and to make them comfortable about using the Language to discuss things that are familiar to them; my intention is for them to hear one another [not just the teacher] actually talk the Language in real time. In this way, I hope to build their self esteem in this area, and thereby build a foundation for more development of oral skills.
I have been reading the comments and it seems to me that there is a need to approach the field of Communication Studies just as any other discipline. In other words we would not attempt to teach Physics without a grounding in its principles. What are our research, philosophical, content, and pedagogical frameworks for Communication Studies? More is needed than a hit-and-miss, ad hoc approach to staunch our examination needs. It is true that we all "communicate" but how does a study of the field add to our approaches in the classroom? Our university offers a Bachelor's in Communication Studies. Teachers need to interface with this department as one source of information, teaching material, and empirical understandings re. the theories and principles of Communication Studies.
The aspect of oral communication as regards the lower school is new information for me.We have recently taken in form ones and this is my first term of teaching them.My head of department has yet to bring this oracy aspect of the syllabus to my attention.However, now that I have heard about it I will start doing my research and interfacing with the members of my department to ascertain their knowledge and preparedness for this aspect of the English syllabus.
Regarding my present treatment of oral communication in my classrooms , I must admit that little time is spent on it.This is mainly because the cxc exam did not contain an oral aspect.As a result,my energies have been spent primarily on developing written communicaton.I realise now that this can no longer be the case and I will need to spend time on ensuring that the students acquire essential oral skills.
Hi everyone!
As I read the comments I felt a sense of excitement because I feel the awakening of a sleeping giant where our research into oracy is concerned. Oral competence in language is a passion of mine and of particular concern is the apparent lack of eloquence in the speech of many young people today.I am aware that there are students in other schools who are excellent orators but they apperar to be in the minority.
Simple things like how we ought to answer a phone, address someone in authority or simply answer a general question pose serious problems to our students who not only rely heavily on the Creole but also on the language of the street which has its own jargon.
Before the NCSE oral paper I attended the Standardisation session held at the learning resource center.Teachers were shown how to use the rubric and listened to samples of students speech from a CD.We then had to 'mark' the students using the rubric and then compare our marks with what the standardisation committee had given each student.
It was a trying process because often there were disagreements with what some teachers considered to be excellent production of Standard English.
My school is a magnet school for the Visual and Performing arts and one of the observations I made last term during the NCSE orals was that the theatre arts students, (in particular, those who may not be the best writers of Standard English)were the best prepared for this exam. I practiced with students before but those involved in drama "performed" for this exam and did quite well scoring in the 13-15 range.
Might be something to look into.
The question of preparing the present Form 3 for an oral examination is a really huge problem. I really feel it is unfair to them since preparation for this should have started in Form 1.I cannot see how they can be expected to acquire the skills necessary for the NCSE in less than a year. In truth and in fact such training should start in primary school-nay –kindergarten.
Developing competence in Standard English calls the corporation of all subjects departments. Oral presentations especially in problem-based learning can be targeted in all subject areas as a means of reinforcing skills that have been taught in English. English teachers would need to give increased time to discussions and role playing. I see feasible activities being implemented in dialogues,debates,speeches comprehensions etc.
With my present Form 3 I usually do a project in advertisement which entails written elements-since we do posters or brochures. This term I have included an oral component –student can present an oral advertisement. The only other oral activity I have planned for this term consists of discussions on particular comprehension topics. For example this term, there would be one on tobacco smoking –a follow-up from a comprehension passage.
In keeping with SEMP syllabus requirements students should be afforded the opportunity to listen to audio-visual versions of famous speeches. We can make the situation real for them when we plan our various competitions during the school year. Students who win Calypso competitions,Divali essay competitions or poetry competitions or Art competitions should be asked to prepare an acceptance speech.
The influence of Creole must inevitably pose a problem-such a problem does not disappear overnight. Examiners must take into account that this is the language these students live .It surrounds them at home and with their peers. At least until such time as they are given adequate preparation, we must show some sensitivity towards this-after all many educated people address them in Creole. Some of these people may be role models or even their teachers. They hear it in parliament too. The close proximity of classes to each other is another factor that discourages too much oral activities. Students at my school are at disadvantage where facilities for activities are concerned. I really feel that a well equipped audio visual room would be invaluable in planning activities to develop oracy skills.
I see the thrust into Oral English as a component of the English syllabus as a attempt to portray the Standard as a foreign language as Spanish. Using the Standard should be the rule of thumb for all teachers in the classroom. What will eventually happen is that students will get the option to "drop" English as they can now do with Spanish.
Extremely intriguing comment, Jerome. Can you say more about:
... students will get the option to "drop" English as they can now do with Spanish."
If doing the oral is part of doing English, how can they drop part of the subject? Your comment also implies that many students dropped Spanish because of the orals. I can see where you are coming from... Perhaps you are more in tune with how students feel about language than I am. The decline of Spanish is really something to think about now that orals have been introduced in English. I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say.
Post a Comment
<< Home