Eka Gorgoshidze, Melekeduri Public School Marika Siradze, Ozurgeti Public School # 5

Definitions Authenticity-- the quality of being real and true; antonym: artificial Authentic Speaking— Lower levels: being able to have a simple conversation with a native speaker; Higher levels: operating in multiple authentic situations Authentic Assessment—evaluation of students’ abilities in “real-world” contexts;

Benefit of Authentic Assessment helps teachers develop more beneficial relationship with their students; helps students answer the question: “How am I doing”; engages students directly in the evaluation of their own work and progress helps teachers plan their next steps;

Challenges of Authentic Speaking None-native environment; Lack of confidence while speaking; Addiction to the textbook;

Recommendations for Success: Make a conducive classroom environment; Stop speaking in Georgian in and out of the classroom; Scaffold students while speaking; encourage them with posters/visual aids of key classroom expressions/target language; Regular practice (10x) Specificity (clear instructions)

Authentic Assessment Rubric CriteriaAdvancedProficientBasic Vocabulary Uses relevant phrases and words. Use of vocabulary and idioms approximates that of native speaker. Phrases and vocabulary partly correspondence to the given situation; Uses very poor vocabulary and expressions. Frequently uses inadequate vocabulary; Grammar Grammatical usage and word order approximates that of a native speakers; Occasionally makes grammatical or word order errors which do not obscure meaning; Grammar and word order errors make comprehension difficult; Understand able communica tion The level of comprehension is high. The conversation passes without difficulties; Understands the conversation despite of some mistakes. Sometimes needs repetitions; Has great difficulty following what is said. Can comprehend only conversation spoken slowly with frequent repetition

Example Activities/Tasks

Activities/Tasks cont’d Improvisation –teacher provides the situation, and the students must act out and respond to each other appropriately within it (role play) a) Situation in an Italian restaurant in New York; b) Emergency situation in a hotel; Information gap (speaking) –two people or groups have dissimilar information, and they must get the missing pieces from the other. Situation in the street\giving directions;

Now you try!

Reflection How do you imagine you could create authentic speaking in your classroom? How are you going to assess authentic speaking? What kind of activities will help students prepare for the assessment?

Thank You