THE TEST OF SPEAKING LEARNING FOR COMMUNICATION

THE TEST OF SPEAKING LEARNING FOR COMMUNICATION
By:
RANTI LARASWATI
07211210292
ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM
FACULTY OF TEACCING AND EDUCATION
IBN KHALDUN UNIVERSITY BOGOR
TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………...……1
A.Analisycal work of speaking ……………………………………………………...……2
1. English speaking test…………………………………….…….…….……2
2. Basic of theory test…………………………………...…………………...3
B.Toefl Test Speaking…………………………………………………………………….4
1.Speaking Test……………………………………………………………….….4
2. Toefl Text Books for Preparation………………………………………………5
3. The Toefl Speaking Section……….………………………….………………..5
4. Fun Activities for the Toefl Speaking………………………………………….6
C. English to speak and speaking to learn………………………………..........................7
INTRODUCTION
It is known that English is a tool of international communication in the world. As the first foreign language. Since many scientific books are written in English. Therefore, teacher and student should pay more attention to it in order to be able to master it easily. In English language we know is English language is very important for education and all activity, especially in our life. The time that is given at school is very limited, the student should get a good technique for studying English and teachers should get many various way for transferring it in teaching. Test in front of class is vey use full because language is tool of communication, everybody in the world needs to communicate to each other in order to do or get what they want or need in their life. In this case everybody must be able to express their felling and though by using a tool of communication that language.
Since the years ago, the experts, particularly the linguist have been making many kinds of attempts to facilitate the teacher in language teaching as well as language acquisition either second or foreign language. It can be proved by being developed the methods. The community language learning related to develop speaking skill with underlying reason as follows to provide an alternative way for the English teacher to improve their teaching methods of speaking, and than to facilitate the student in developing their speaking skills, and to encourage the students to be more active and creative in learning to speak English. Many people think that knowing a lot of words is a key to fluent speaking. It's true! However, there are many people who have wide idiolect and problem with fluency. They try to learn more and more words because they think vocabulary is their problem. They don't realize the problem is somewhere else.
A. Analysical work of speaking test
1. English speaking test
As has been mention before, speaking test is a prosedur which a student is asked to speak and is assessed on the basis of what he say. At a primary level, speaking might involve pronounciation, intonation, and stress. At a functional level, however speaking is not just a correct pronounciation speech pattern and intonation at this stage speaking also requires the correct use and the idiomatic use of target language.
When speaking skill is developed in English foreign language classes there must be a testing program to measure the learners achievement.
The second, to measure a specific aspect element of speaking skill such as:
Structure, Vocabulary, pronunciation, intonation, and stress. A speaking test for functional purpose refders to an integrative pragmatic test, while the letter refers to a discrete point test. The following classification chart shows the possible types of a speaking test.
2. The approach of assessing speaking skills.
Basically speaking test can be classified into two broad approaches the direct and indirect test. A direct speking test refers to procedures learning’s speaking ability by asking the learner to speak.
3. The scoring procedures of speaking assessment
Assessing speaking skills in English as a foreign language classes in one of the many language skills, especially in term of scoring procedures. That is due also to the fact that speking ability involves.
4. The scoring procedures of speaking test
The scoring of a discrete point is different form if a functional speaking test developing a scoring procedure in a discrete point speaking test is much sample than that of the integrative pragmatic test for functional purpose. This is because in a discrete point test, their rather only focused on a single element of language.
A. Problem of speaking learning
We all know that the success class will depend on the method or technique that the teachers carry out. Based on the above statement, the writer try to find the technique for the test on speaking ability effectively in accordance with curriculum.
B. Limitation of speaking learning
In this case the writer would like to present the test of speaking ability. It will discusses by presenting the theory of some books.
C. The purposes of speaking learning
In this research, the writer would like to write the purpose of the study as follows
1. to give descriptions about use and the advantages of the test of speaking ability
2. to give some descriptions about the procedure of the test speaking ability
3. to give some contribute ideas to English teaching process
2. Basic of theory test
A speaking test is one way that learner is asked to speak and is assessment on the basic of what he say. The test requires the examiner to demonstrate their spoken English proficiency by respond.
B. Toefl Test Speaking Practice Ideas
A. Speaking Tasks to help ESL Students Prepare for the Toefl Exam Preparing for the Toefl is a daunting task. Finding fun ways to practice the test format in a more relaxed way helps students feel less pressured. Part of preparing students for a Toefl test, is ensuring that they understand the format, question configuration, and section breakdown of the test. This process usually includes use of a worthy textbook, software for practice, if possible, and as much repetition and training that students can undertake.
B. Toefl Text Books for Preparation
There are many Toefl textbooks, such as Deborah Phillips Longman’s Preparation Course for the Toefl Test ( Pearson ESL, 2005 ) to name one. Online, students can also find many resources to guide them into the test preparation. The ETS website offers students opportunities to practice tests.
The teacher, however, can suggest some activities that will help the students understand the structure of the test, through lighter, more enjoyable tasks. These activities will help all students improve their speaking skills, whether they are undertaking the Toefl test or not. This kind of practice would not replace regular exercises, but does enable students to comprehend the meaning of a limited time cut-off point given to the testers, in which to prove their knowledge.
C. The Toefl Speaking Section
Most answers that students have to give verbally, after reading or listening, demand a 45 second to one minute answer. Therefore, an interesting way of rehearsing
for this section is to include talking tasks in the classroom that call for an answer limited to this time allotted.
D. Fun Activities for the Toefl Speaking Practice Section
Below are some ideas that the teacher can implement into the warm up, ending, or middle part of a lesson, to help students relax, smile and reduce tension.
C. LEARNING TO SPEAK AND SPEAKING TO LEARN
Most students graduate from college having had no instruction or practice in public speaking, and, indeed, harboring a deep dread of having to speak to an audience. When asked, five or ten years after graduation, what they wished they had learned in college, to speak effectively and without fear is generally near the top of the list.
The use of speaking assignments across the curriculum not only develops the ability to speak coherently and persuasively, but also helps students learn a course’s subject matter. It is for these reasons that Pomona College’s general education program requires all students to take at least one speaking-intensive course. My experience in teaching such courses has been overwhelmingly positive. Students learn the material better and they learn to speak more effectively. They are well aware of these benefits and thankful for the opportunity to take speaking-intensive courses.
As students taking multiple-choice tests, we could guess at some answers and be rewarded if we got more than 90 percent right. As professors, we are not shown a list of possible answers, should not be satisfied with guesses, and should not be pleased if 5 or 10 percent of what we tell students is wrong. To give an effective and accurate lecture, we need to know the material.
The second reason why we understand a subject better after we lecture on it is that we learn by doing. The virtues of active-learning strategies are widely acknowledged. We understand concepts better and retain them longer when we express these concepts in our own words. Writing assignments are one way to do this, speaking assignments are another.
We have all had moments of insight when we try to explain a subtle or complex point to our students. As our mind works hard to formulate a persuasive explanation, we suddenly recognize a new analogy, a different argument, a fresh interconnection. There is an intimate relationship between logical reasoning and effective speaking. Good logic not only underlies clear speaking, but can be shaped by it.
What To fulfill their general education requirements, each Pomona College student must pass at least one course that has been approved as “speaking-intensive.” There are no traditional public-speaking courses at Pomona. Just as writing need not be confined to English courses, so we encourage speaking across the curriculum. The college’s curriculum committee recommends that several principles be followed in designing speaking-intensive courses to help students develop the ability to speak clearly, logically, and persuasively.
1. Students should receive some instruction on the principles and practice of effective speaking. This instruction might consist of a few general guidelines, or it might be a detailed list of dos and don’ts. One of the things I tell students is that we are all prone to nervous habits (fiddling with a button, putting a hand in a pocket, saying “um”) that distract listeners and signal the speaker’s nervousness. Speakers are usually unaware of these habits and one of our jobs as a supportive classroom audience is to alert them to these problems. I also tell students that audiences have more confidence in speakers who don’t rely much on notes: someone who reads a speech may be just reciting what someone else wrote. A memorized speech can have the same effect. The goal is to give an extemporaneous speech that tells the audience that the speaker knows the material and is expressing it in his or her own words. I also advise students to have lots of eye contact with individual members of the audience, instead of looking at notes, the floor, or the back of the room. There is disagreement too. Some experts say that a speaker should stand in one place and move about as little as possible; others believe that the energy conveyed by movement has a positive effect on an audience.
2. Students should be given sufficient advance notice so that they can prepare for their speaking assignments beforehand. While memorization is strongly discouraged, students should be encouraged to learn the material and to practice before a friend or a mirror.
3. . Students should express their own thoughts, not simply read or recite speeches, poems, plays, or songs. Speaking-intensive courses are intended to help students
learn substantive material--not memorize lines--and to state ideas and arguments in their own words.
4. The student must be in the spotlight. Student participation in classroom discussion is not sufficient to qualify a course as speaking-intensive. Each student should be a primary speaker--for example, by giving a classroom presentation or leading a focused discussion. If a student can sit passively and merely interject an occasional comment, then the energizing fear of embarrassment is absent and so is the chance to develop effective public-speaking skills.
5. The student should receive specific suggestions shortly afterward (through written comments, conferences with the instructor, or peer evaluations) on how they can present their arguments more effectively. Just as the development of good writing skills requires useful feedback, so does the development of good speaking skills. At the conclusion of each presentation, I give the class a few minutes to write down constructive suggestions. I then collect these and give them to the speaker at the end of class. If everyone says “slow down” or “speak up,” the speaker will know this is a serious problem. This exercise also encourages everyone to think about what works and what doesn’t. I make written suggestions too. One enlightening practice is to write especially popular phrases (such as “um” and “basically”) at the top of the page and tabulate how many times these are used by the student.
6. Students should have opportunities to improve their speaking abilities after receiving this feedback. Obviously, you cannot become an effective speaker by giving one speech. On the other hand, just as one writing-intensive course is not sufficient to make a good writer, so one speaking-intensive course is not enough to make a good speaker. Instead, these courses should be viewed as opportunities to nurture and develop skills that will be honed over a lifetime. In practice, the curriculum committee has approved courses with as few as two speaking opportunities per student.
7. A speaking-intensive course normally should not have more than 20 students; otherwise, there may not be enough time for all students to have multiple speaking opportunities. I have taught speaking-intensive classes with more than
30 students, but there was adequate time because of an emphasis on work outside the classroom rather than lectures.
8. Courses in languages other than English may be approved as speaking-intensive. The use of a foreign language does not preclude students learning by speaking and learning to speak persuasively and without fear.
Why In addition to these guiding principles, I have learned much from my experience with two quite different courses that are both writing-intensive and speaking-intensive: an interdisciplinary statistics class and a finance class for economics majors. In each class, I divide the students into three-person teams. If the enrollment is not divisible by three, I make one or two four-person teams.
In the statistics course, each team is given nine projects (twelve if the team has four members) to do over the course of the semester, each with a specific due date. The team members work together to collect and analyze the data, with one student writing an essay and one giving an oral presentation. Normally, the student who writes the essay also makes the oral presentation, but this is not required. During the semester, each student makes three project presentations. In addition, each student writes a statistics term paper and gives an oral presentation of this paper.
In the finance class, the teams manage competing financial intermediaries and prepare weekly memos justifying their decisions. The results are determined by a computer simulation program I wrote that is based on a secret historical period in an unnamed country, with each week in the course corresponding to three months of real time. The country and time period are revealed and discussed at the end of the course (and must consequently be changed each time the course is taught). The teams use spreadsheets or write their own computer programs to assist their decisions.
The weekly memos not only explain the teams’ decisions, but also answer a set of questions intended to focus the students’ attention on relevant information. These questions are assigned a week in advance and depend on the historical period and the performance of the teams.
The team members work together outside class to make the weekly decisions and answer my questions, with one student writing that week’s memo. Half the teams have one student give an oral presentation of the team’s answers to my questions. Each student makes at least two oral presentations during the semester and, in addition, each team makes a group presentation at the end of the semester that recaps their performance.
One challenge in designing a speaking-intensive course is to keep the entire class actively engaged in the weekly activities outside the classroom, even though only a small number will be giving oral presentations. The use of teams seems an effective strategy and also develops team-working skills and builds considerable camaraderie.
One issue I have wrestled with is whether each week’s oral presentations should be on the same topic. The first time that I taught my statistics class as speaking intensive, I assigned all teams the same topic each week so that the students might benefit from comparing their approaches and results. I soon found that if more than two or three people speak on the same subject, the presentations become repetitive and the class becomes bored; after a few weeks, I began assigning each team a different topic. In my finance class, I now ask half the teams one set of questions and half another set, and have only half of each group make oral presentations.
Because thinking on one’s feet is an important objective, I tell students to ask each speaker challenging questions. If the questions lag, I fire away. Even “dumb” questions can be useful, as they force the speaker to explain things differently and perhaps more clearly. Students find spirited exchanges among the speaker and various
audience members to be not only beneficial, but a great deal of fun. I have also noticed that students tend to ask tougher questions of the more accomplished or arrogant speakers and to take it easy on those who are struggling.
In each of these courses, the oral presentations take up a lot of class time (from 30 to 60 minutes each week), and much of the traditional course work is consequently done outside the classroom--in the statistics course, reading the textbook and gathering and analyzing data; in the finance course, analyzing the weekly results and making decisions.
This has been a dramatic change from my accustomed role of giving lectures and answering scattered questions. What I have come to realize is that the focus of the course should not be on me, but on helping students learn the subject matter and develop intellectual skills that will serve them well throughout their lives. For both of these goals, I am now convinced that students can learn more by speaking than by listening.
Bibliography
Brumfit, C,J., and J.T. Robert. Language and language teaching. London: Batsford Academic and Educational Ltd., 1983.
Pattison, Pat. Developing Communication Skills. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/speaking/stratspeak.htm
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Klancar-SpeakingSkills.html