This document discusses various methods for assessing oral language skills in students, including information gap activities, story/text retelling, improvisations, role-plays, simulations, oral reports, debates, and oral language portfolios. It emphasizes the importance of teacher observation and documentation through checklists, rubrics, rating scales, or anecdotal records. Various language functions like describing, giving information, and summarizing can be assessed through these activities. Careful planning is needed to implement oral language assessment and involve all students in authentic contexts to improve their communication skills.

1. UNIAMAZONIA
CILENA CUELLAR
2012

2. Information Gap
• Is the ability of one person to
give information to another.
• This information may involve descriptions of
pictures, mapas, or manipulatives.
• Is prepared by the teacher but not by
students.
• Assess the following: describing, giving
information, and give directions.

3. Story/Text Retelling
Involve having students retell stories or
text selections that they have listened
to or read.
Language function most likely used in
story/text retelling are describing,
giving information, and summarizing.

4. Students can also read stories they
themselves have written or that the
teacher has written for them.
Select a story depending the students`
level.
Ask the student to tell you in his or her
own words what the story or text is
about.

5. Improvisations/Role-plays/Simulations
These activities are authentic because
they involve language use in interactive
context.
Dramatic activities have been shows to
reduce anxiety, increase motivation,
and enhance language acquisition.

6. Improvisations call for students to
generate language given an oral or written
cue.
Students interact following the directions.
Role plays assign distinct roles to each
student and ask them to speak through
these roles.
• Is more structured than improvisations

7. Simulations provide a context or situation
in which students need to interact in order
to solve a problem or make a decision
together.
• joint discussion
• Decision
• Making activities
• Sociodrama (solution to a social problem)
• Pairs or groups of students

8. Oral Reports
Offer a real-life listening comprehension
opportunity which can provide new and
interesting information to the listener.
• Develop the public speaking skils.
• Require thorough preparation by students
• Can be designed at all levels of proficiency.

9. Debates
Can present
oppotunities for
students to participate.
Is a type of role play where the students
are asked to take sides on an issue and
defend their positions.

10. RECORDING TEACHER
OBSERVATIONS
The importance of documenting
teacher observations by using
rating scales, rubrics, or checklists
or by keeping anecdotal records.

11. Teacher Observation
Documentation can
take the form of
checklists, rubrics,
rating scales, or
anecdotal records and
can be done on an
individual basis, in
pairs, or in groups.

12. • Checklists: Only allow nothing the
presence or absence of a particular
feature.
• Rubrics or rating scales: Allow for
documenting the degree of oral language
proficiency.
• Anecdotal records: Allow for more
qualitative descriptions of students
performance.

13. Anecdotal Records
Consist of brief notes made shortly
after a student has been observed
making progress in a key area.
Organizing
• Keeping a notebook with a section
on each student.

14. Selecting
• A few students to observe each week.
To write anecdotal records, you need to
follow:
1. Describe a specific event or product
2. Report rather that evaluate or interpret
3. Relate the material to other facts known
about the student.

15. ORAL LANGUAGE PORTAFOLIOS
• They provide continuous information
on student growth over time
• They are authentic
• They are directly linked to classroom
intruction
• They are multidimentional
• They call for student reflection in the
form of self-assessment.

16. Using Oral Language Assessment in Instruction
Teachers need to make decisions regarding
grades, placement, and modifications in
instruction.
• Regarding grades: how to convert
performance ratings into grades.
• Regard to placement: Can provide
specific implications relating to different
levels of language proficiency.

17. • Making decisions
 Adapting instruction to students
needs.
 Gruping students
 Communicating progress to students
an parents

18. Conclusions
• Assessment of oral language requieres
planning, time, and experience
• All students should be envolve in each of
these situtions.
• These tools sould help students to
improve their knowledge, for they can
communicate in a real context.

19. BLIBLIOGRAPHY
Underhill 1987
Brown and Yule 1983
Omaggio hadley 1993
Forrest 1992
Richard Amato 1988
Scarcella 1987
Gonzales Pino 1988