Buried on page 65 of one of my very favorite teaching books, The Keys to Planning for Learning, there is a real gem: TALK rubrics. The teacher uses the following criteria to assess students on interpersonal speaking tasks: Target language use Accuracy on specific structures Listening and responding appropriately to peers Kindness in being an equal and inclusive conversation partner I find that groups of 6-8 students can each speak at least 5 times in a 10-minute session, enough to give me a snapshot of their current proficiency. This means that I can assess my my entire class (18-24 students) in one 45-minute period. And...there are no recordings to bring home! For me, that means that my students will actually get feedback from me in a day or two...instead of never : ). I announce the conversation topic in advance, and I often assign homework or in-class tasks the day before (such as a mind map or graphic organizer table) that allows students to organize their thoughts on the topic. I allow students to reference this during the activity, since it increases their vocabulary and target culture fact base but does not take away from the spontaneous nature of the conversation. This lowers student anxiety considerably, even though I seldom see students referring to the documents during the activity. To prepare for the activity, I use the following: • Class expectations posted on projector screen • Oaktag sheets printed with the conversation topic • Box of glass jewels - each student takes 5 and puts 1 in the box each time s/he speaks for accountability • Online timer nearby so I can stick to the 10 minute time limit • Table with 5 columns for students' names and the 4 parts of the rubric (T, A, L, K). I mark +, -, or √ in the appropriate column as they speak. Here's what the sheet looks like at the end: As you can see, I keep neglecting the T column. I'd like to use it for noting text type (word, sentence, string of sentences). Accuracy is for important errors. Listen reflects staying on topic and answering the question that was asked. Kind is about letting others into the conversation, and inviting reluctant speakers to participate. In order to make it feasible for me to sit with one group of students at a time, I cross the TALK rubric with stations à la Creative Language Class. I divide my class into three groups. One group sits with me and does the interpersonal speaking task; another completes an interpretive activity individually or in pairs; and still another completes a "fluency count" or free write on the current thematic unit. All activities concern the thematic unit, so it functions a bit like a mini-IPA. Here is a topic that my students discussed at the end of French 8 last year, as part of our unit on La Nourriture et la faim (food and hunger). You can see the rubric at the end. So, that's my most successful attempt at interpersonal speaking thus far. We do this every few weeks throughout the year, and I see a lot of growth on all fronts - extended discourse as they aim beyond single words for sentences, more attention to peers as they work to focus on the topic and questions at hand, more target language expressions to foster conversation.
I created this document with strategies for interpersonal speaking to provide some tangible tips for students. We use it at the start of the year to introduce the task, and then it's a reference for students who need more support or practice going forward. Check it out! And you: how do you approach interpersonal speaking tasks? What's your most successful and least painful method for assessment?
13 Comments
Kelly Ochoa
1/8/2016 04:00:40 pm
This is great! Thanks for sharing!
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Rebecca Blouwolff
1/8/2016 05:08:27 pm
Glad you enjoyed this, Kelly. Would love to hear your feedback if you try it yourself. Happy teaching!
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2/13/2016 09:13:40 am
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of your post on this. I'm using TALK scores with my 7th-8th graders , but have used the framework to talk to my younger students about expectations during interpersonal work-it's AWESOME.
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2/13/2016 02:36:30 pm
Glad your younger students are finding this useful, Valerie! It really gets all participants focused on creating a positive group dynamic, in my experience.
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5/2/2017 06:51:14 am
Thanks so much for sharing this. I did a trial of this with my split 3/4 class and it went so well! I wanted to test out logistics, and I had the students speak on the fly. Not only was I able to see their true proficiency, but they enjoyed the experience as well. Mille fois merci!
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5/2/2017 07:54:40 am
I'm glad to hear you tried this with your mixed-level class, and that it went well. The tasks that I find most valuable in my teaching practice are those that allow me to see students' true proficiency (or at least, true performance...). They really help me see where to go next with my instruction, and who needs help with what. Bonne continuation!
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Cindy Mollard
7/30/2018 03:35:09 pm
Rebecca, I am going to try this this year. How early in the year can you comfortably do this with your true beginner 7th graders? Do you reduce the time the first couple of times you do this? If all of the kids have spoken before the timer goes off, do you keep going?
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Good to hear from you, Cindy! Will I see you again at ACTFL this year? Doing this "comfortably" is probably a bit of a stretch in French 7 - but very worthwhile as you build students' skill with interpersonal speaking. I tend to push through for the full 10 minutes, but that's me - you could certainly choose to do less time. The key is to provide enough scaffolding so that students have ways to fill the extra time with follow-up questions and comments, etc. Expect many awkward silences as they figure out what to do next, and realize that you are not going to fill that silence for them or let them off the hook by calling "time"! Good luck and let us know how it goes.
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Virginia
4/2/2019 04:00:19 pm
Hi! Thanks so much for sharing. I'm using your article to discuss in our department PLT this week. One question: do you have a version of the materials you pass out to students that is uploaded somewhere free to download? Scribd is asking me to pay in order to download it. I'd love to use the rubric you give the students. Thanks so much.
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Terri-Ann Gawthroupe
4/5/2019 02:59:46 pm
I love the idea of encouraging more interpersonal communication. How spontaneous do you find your conversations are? I am in my first year of teaching, but I have found that my grade sevens are only able to use simple sentences with the structure provided ahead of time. How much language background to students have before they can attempt this kind of spontaneous communication?
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4/6/2019 10:16:30 am
This is a great question, Terri-Ann. For me, this really comes back to the proficiency levels and what's realistic for my Novice High and Intermediate Low learners. In advance of an interpersonal speaking assessment, we will practice lots of Q & A in class. Usually I begin with teacher-written questions that they ask one another via ask-ask-switch (see http://www.creativelanguageclass.com/idea-20-ask-ask-switch/). Then I'll have them start writing a few questions to ask one another. We'll do some sort of in-class survey that forces them to ask and answer the same set of questions several times. On assessment day, students will be recombining memorized elements (in some cases, whole questions) and others will be coming up with appropriate questions independently (those closer to Intermediate). Everyone will be working to answer the question asked, although some will answer in phrases, most in one full sentence, and a few with a string of sentences.
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Dot
10/11/2022 01:39:41 pm
Merci beaucoup, Rebecca! I've been wanting to focus more on interpersonal speaking with my students for years and this year I finally am thanks to all the fabulous ideas & resources you've shared! :)
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Who's that dame?Middle school French teacher obsessed with building students' proficiency via thematic units & authentic materials. Smart teacher blogs:
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