Oral Assessment

What is oral assessment?

Oral assessment can be defined as assessment in which the candidate's response to the assessment task is verbal or spoken, rather than written. The task stimulus may also be oral (eg a question spoken by an examiner), or visual (eg a picture) or written (eg a set of instructions) or a combination of these. The assessment may involve interaction with the examiner and/or with other people, or it may be a solo performance by the candidate eg making a presentation.

Purposes of oral assessment

The purposes of oral assessment can be divided into two main categories. The first is where the purpose is to assess the candidate's skills and abilities in oral communication. The assessment provides a measure of how well the candidate can communicate in the language and context concerned. Examples can be found in GCSE English and in the assessment of modern foreign languages.

The second category of oral assessment comprises verbal communication as the means but not the focus of assessment. The candidate's knowledge and skills in a particular subject are assessed via the oral medium. Thus in some specifications a candidate's coursework may be assessed, in part at least, orally eg they may talk about their geography fieldwork or their science investigation.

Oral assessment in English

Oral assessment in GCSE English is used to assess a candidate's abilities in speaking and listening. The assessment is considered as coursework, since it is internally set and marked and carried out over the period of the GCSE course. Candidates must be assessed in three different contexts:

• extended individual contribution
• group discussion and interaction
• drama-focussed activity.

They must also engage in speaking activities in a variety of formal and informal contexts for a range of purposes:

• to explain, describe, narrate
• to explore, analyse, imagine
• to discuss, argue, persuade.

Teachers keep written records of each candidate's activities in speaking and listening throughout the course and award a final mark at the end of the course based on their overall achievement. Teachers carry out internal moderation of their marking using a video-tape of examples of speaking and listening activities provided by the awarding body. External moderation involves statistical analysis of the marks awarded by each centre and monitoring and occasional visits by a moderator appointed by the awarding body.

Oral assessment in modern foreign languages

Oral assessment in modern foreign languages specifications is externally set but conducted by the candidate's teacher. In some specifications, teachers may choose to carry out the marking themselves and to submit the marks and a sample of tape-recorded tests to the awarding body for external moderation. Alternatively the tests are tape-recorded while the teacher conducts them and all tapes are submitted to an external examiner for marking.

Modern foreign languages speaking tests require the candidate to carry out a range of activities specified by the awarding body. At GCSE the candidate is provided with a cue card, setting the scene for a verbal exchange and prompting the candidate as to what they should say. For the purposes of the role play, the candidate's teacher plays the part of, for example, a shop assistant or a railway station official. The candidate is also required to engage in a conversation with their teacher on a range of topics such as their home, family and hobbies. The assessment takes about 10 minutes per candidate.

Validity and reliability

Oral assessment enhances the validity of assessment of a language specification where it is agreed that the ability to communicate in the language is an important element of the subject. Reliability can however be a challenge in oral assessment since there are so many variables that are difficult to control eg how the assessment is conducted, where and when it is conducted, the interpretation of the marking criteria. Oral assessment is also time-consuming because it requires each candidate to be assessed individually.