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Using a Videocamera and Task‐Based Activities to Make Classroom Oral Testing a More Realistic Communicative Experience
Author(s) -
Haggstrom Margaret
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
foreign language annals
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.258
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1944-9720
pISSN - 0015-718X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1944-9720.1994.tb01199.x
Subject(s) - task (project management) , conformity , popularity , foreign language , psychology , language assessment , communicative language teaching , language education , language proficiency , computer science , mathematics education , pedagogy , social psychology , management , economics
With the growing popularity of the communicative approach to language teaching, much emphasis has been placed on improving students' oral proficiency in the foreign language they are studying. Many questions still remain, however‐both practical and theoretical‐as to how to best integrate oral testing into the classroom. This paper will provide an overview of the most widely used methods of classroom oral testing, as well as evaluations of their practicality and conformity to the goals of communicative teaching and testing. I will also describe ways I have successfully used the videocamera and task‐based activities to make oral testing a more realistic communicative experience, one that is both less time‐consuming and easier for the teacher to evaluate accurately and, most importantly, enjoyable rather than stress‐producing for the student.