This is the first of more than 3 articles about the speaking component in exams.
In general,speaking-or the interview as it was called in earlier times-is exactly what its title is,that is a test of one's spoken English.The candidate goes from personal to general,from concrete to abstract,in order for the examiner(s) to decide whether he or she is able to understand and respond to spoken English successfully and,within that,how successfully,helped on the way by cues provided by the interlocutor who may or may not also be the examiner.
What has always worked with my classes is that 1) they see this as the easiest part of the whole exam since they interact with a person,not a paper and 2) that they treat it as no more than an incident in their everyday life-i.e.an occasion where they meet people of their own age or older and they chat with them,starting with the basics and moving on to more complex issues.The only extra factor is that they do it in their second language.
A must here is that they must remember that the chance to talk about ,say,sociopathic behavioural patterns in post-traumatic situations,unless they are taking a highly specific exam,are -of course-minimal to nil.They will be asked to talk about themselves,their family,likes or dislikes and how they feel about things.Only at very high level exams they may be encouraged to speculate and generalise and that only to an extent,given the average age of candidates,in Greece and abroad.
Surely,the more they talk and the less the interlocutor does is best for them.If they manage to steer the conversation towards areas in which their knowledge and vocabulary are best,then they feel more comfortable,more confident and thus more successful.In at least one exam the idea is that the examinees come out of the interview room with a feeling that they have achieved something and the interlocutors are trained to facilitate this.And the fact is that they have achieved a lot.They have communicated in a language that is not their mother tongue in an exam situation.
In the next post I will start going into the speaking component of particular exams.
As always,please comment and/or instigate discussion
George
In general,speaking-or the interview as it was called in earlier times-is exactly what its title is,that is a test of one's spoken English.The candidate goes from personal to general,from concrete to abstract,in order for the examiner(s) to decide whether he or she is able to understand and respond to spoken English successfully and,within that,how successfully,helped on the way by cues provided by the interlocutor who may or may not also be the examiner.
What has always worked with my classes is that 1) they see this as the easiest part of the whole exam since they interact with a person,not a paper and 2) that they treat it as no more than an incident in their everyday life-i.e.an occasion where they meet people of their own age or older and they chat with them,starting with the basics and moving on to more complex issues.The only extra factor is that they do it in their second language.
A must here is that they must remember that the chance to talk about ,say,sociopathic behavioural patterns in post-traumatic situations,unless they are taking a highly specific exam,are -of course-minimal to nil.They will be asked to talk about themselves,their family,likes or dislikes and how they feel about things.Only at very high level exams they may be encouraged to speculate and generalise and that only to an extent,given the average age of candidates,in Greece and abroad.
Surely,the more they talk and the less the interlocutor does is best for them.If they manage to steer the conversation towards areas in which their knowledge and vocabulary are best,then they feel more comfortable,more confident and thus more successful.In at least one exam the idea is that the examinees come out of the interview room with a feeling that they have achieved something and the interlocutors are trained to facilitate this.And the fact is that they have achieved a lot.They have communicated in a language that is not their mother tongue in an exam situation.
In the next post I will start going into the speaking component of particular exams.
As always,please comment and/or instigate discussion
George
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