This term the hot topic in NSW amongst secondary teachers is the recent change to the Stage 6 assessment task schedule. Even if you are not in NSW, the topic will resonate with you – how can you assess your students at a school level without succumbing to just practising for the test? The dilemma for NSW teachers is that they can only have 3 tasks and only 1 of these can be an exam style task. The non-exam tasks also need to be conducted in one sitting each – so no portfolios or ongoing work; and they need to assess multiple skills in order to cover the outcomes.
So what to do?
One idea is to film a native speaker talking about an object or photograph. The students could then answer questions in English about the speech (listening skills) in Part A of the task. Part B could require them to summarise the text as the script of a conversation between the student and the native speaker (writing skills). They could be encouraged to not only ask questions relating to the content but also to provide details about themselves.
For example if the speaker (B) introduced their school club the dialogue could develop into a text as follows:
A:ぶかつどうは何をしていますか。
B:ぶかつどうはバスケットボールをしています。十三才の時からしています。
A:そうですか。じつは私もバスケットボールのチームに入っています。でも、私のチームは強くないです。
B:好きなプロのせんしゅはいますか。
A: とくにいませんが、きょ年クラスのえんそくでプロのしあいを見に行きました。シドニーキングズというチームがかちました。とても楽しいけいけんでした。
The marking criteria would need to outline the expectations clearly such as:
Write the script of a conversation between you and the speaker from the listening text.
An excellent response will:
- direct the conversation with questions that allow you to include information provided by the text
- extend the conversation beyond the information provided to include relevant details about your own experience relevant to the conversation
- demonstrate a range of grammatical structures and vocabulary
- demonstrate accurate use of script, vocabulary and grammatical structures
- demonstrate an understanding of aizuchi and other intercultural skills such as modesty when discussing ability etc
I hope that gives you a starting point for combining skills in a single task without replicating just an exam format.
Further reading:
You may also be interested in our post on feedback at https://www.mantenresources.com.au/teachers/blog/5-steps-to-better-feedback/
