1. Assessing Student Talk Getting Kids to Engage in Conversation Martin J. Smith Edison Twp Public Schools, NJ martin.smith@edison.k12.nj.us

2. Capturing the Elusive Butterfly  Karen Jogan – Albright College in PA

3. Three Essential Questions  What do we want students to know and be able to do?  How well?  What is the evidence that students can perform at the expected levels?

4. Conversation vs. Dialogues  Spontaneous  Two-way  Negotiation of meaning  Scripted  Each student responsible for their own lines  No need to develop communicative strategies

5. Interpersonal Communication IS NOTIS One-way communicationTwo-way exchange Memorized dialoguesSpontaneous (and unpredictable) Interviewer asking all the questions Helping each other Turn takingFollowing-up and reacting; maintaining the conversation Overly concerned about accuracy Focusing on the message Talking to the camera or audienceInteractive body language; eye contact Use of bilingual dictionaryUse circumlocution; gestures Shutting down when not understood Asking for clarification ©Copyright 2010 by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

6. Para comunicarse

7. Una conversación: Completa la conversación montar jugar gustar ir alquilar hacer Gerardo ¿Quieres _____ al centro commercial? María No, no quiero. ¿Quieres _____ videos? Gerardo No, no quiero. Quiero ____ ejercicio. María ¿Quieres _____ al básquetbol? Gerardo No, no me gusta el básquetbol. ¿Quieres _____ en bicicleta? María Está bien. Buena idea.

8.  Each person will pick a name out of the basket. Announce the name to the class. Now that person is “taken.”  When everyone has a partner and you hear the signal, walk over and start a conversation about what each other does.  You will get another signal in 3 minutes. Stop. Sit down. Sit down.  Share with the class something new you just learned about your conversation partner.

9. In which activity do students see the long term goal? Are learners invested in the results? Do students have a say in planning the scaffolding they need? While in pairs, do learners have opportunities to take on a variety of roles such as teacher or resource ? Which activity has more of a social component? Is the exercise mechanical or meaningful? Does the exchange build towards proficiency? Which could accommodate a native speaker? A student with learning disabilities?

10. What does a “novice-mid” speaker look like?  Lists and memorized language  Minimum communication  Information or common settings  Answer simple questions  Difficulty forming questions  Difficult to understand  Limited vocabulary  Needs repetition/restating

11. What does the “intermediate-low” speaker look like?  Strings of sentences  Ask and answer simple questions  Survival skills  Comfortable with familiar topics  Takes more risks = Frequent errors  Less accurate as task/message becomes more complex

12. What does the “pre-advanced” speaker look like?  Narrate and describe in major time frames most of the time  Topics of general or personal interest  Understood without difficulty  Can speak in well formed paragraphs  Paraphrase  Circumlocution

13. How can we TEACH interpersonal speaking?  Model interpersonal mode for class  Encourage turn-taking  Tolerate silences  Show interest in students’ responses  Encourage elaboration  Ask for clarification  Recasting  Avoid correcting students in front of peers  A warm atmosphere = more student risk taking  Use gestures to encourage communication  Appropriate topics for age level

15. Teach phrases to clarify such as, slower please, I didn’t understand, what did you say? Show how to invite more language with, Tell me more about that, What else?, I like skiing, do you? Model how to expand the conversation with follow up: why, when, where, how, with whom? Illustrate new words that you anticipate they will need by using visuals, charts, realia and acting

16. Assessing the Interpersonal Mode  OPI  MOPI  SOPI  OPIc  SOPA  ELLOPA  STAMP  NOELLA  IPA  AAPPL  AP – Spanish (soon to be French & German)

17. Interviews  Student – Student  Teacher - Student

18. Technology  Audacity (free downloadable program)  Digital Voice Recorders (www.cdw.com) www.cdw.com

19. Rubrics www.flenj.org Click on Consortium for Assessing Performance Standards