Oral-repetition items are useful for students who cannot read or write English, because they can simply listen to what their teacher says to them and then repeat it. Yet oral repetition also has an advantage for those who are literate: Reading skills are not mixed with pronunciation skills. But oral repetition does have one major limitation: Some beginning students can mimic or imitate quite well, but they might not have developed much skill yet in pronouncing and using English. Therefore, results of an oral-repetition test could indicate potential for learning English as much as present skill in using the language. [1]
Oral repetition is one of the easiest of all exams to prepare. No distractors are needed; no clever sentence frames are required, and no drawings need to be prepared. Furthermore, every pronunciation feature can be tested. In fact, in one short sentence, such as “Did you say I stole the meat?” we can evaluate the pronunciation of key vowels and diphthongs (Л/, /iy/, /uw/, /еу/, /ow/), important consonants such as the troublesome “th” (or /6/), vowel reduction (the schwa in “the” and possibly in “you,” which reduces quite often to /уэ/ in rapid speech), word linking (sayl), assimilation in the “did” + “you” combination {/dip/), consonant clusters (/st/ in “stole”), pitch (notably on “stole” and “meat”), terminal intonation (/), and timed stress or sentence rhythm. As we can see, a single sentence can provide a wealth of test items, yet in preparing the test, we have to keep in mind the problem of scoring it. Inexperienced teachers pack too much into each item and the result is confusion and inaccuracy. Recording the response on tape reduces the problem somewhat but it is time consuming and boring to play the tape back again and again for the information that you need. A better way is щ to test for many things at one time. For example, you could check final intonation on questions, including echo cues and question tags. These you can mix so that answers won’t be given mechanically: Where did she put the broom? Is that it near the door? She didn’t put it back in the closet? He cleaned the place up quite well, didn’t he? It’s a good idea to have a separate sentence for each point you’re testing, although this is not a firm rule. [2]
Many teachers are comfortable checking two things in one sentence. For example, it would be possible to listen for main stress and rising intonation in the same sentence: “Did it come yesterday?” In preparing material to read aloud to your students, you can use exercises, dialogs, and readings from your ESL books; or you can make up your own. Some teachers prefer using part of an essay or story. This provides continuity from sentence to sentence, but it is often inefficient: You may have to read a lot to get the specific sounds or intonation you are interested in. This is why many teachers use unrelated sentences or construct their own story.
When reading the material aloud, do so at normal or near normal speed; and be sure to keep normal sentence rhythm. This of course includes joining the words in your phrases and keeping function words unstressed: “one of the pans” (/wonovdopaenz^j. Also, it is a good idea to say the sentence only once. In scoring this kind of test, listen only for the items marked on the key (“He said he could come.”). Ignore other errors. Give instructions orally, and keep them simple. For example, you might say, “I will read some sentences to you. Listen carefully. I will read each one only once. After each one, I will stop; then you say it back to me. [3]
Strictly speaking, the ability to hear and identify various sounds (auditory perception) is a listening skill, but good pronunciation depends on how well we hear what is spoken. Therefore, we include items of “hearing identification” as one kind of pronunciation test. These can be simple enough for little children and adult beginners. For beginners, the use of visuals in testing can emphasize the difference in meaning between words which sound similar. In this way, testing can reinforce teaching. For example, here is a set of three pictures. The student listens to a sentence in which “the” makes a big difference. He must be able to identify the word “the” (even though it is unstressed and its vowel reduced): “The box is in the back of the truck.” Those who hear the second “the” will know that the third frame (C) is correct. The illustration above captures a distinction that hinges upon the presence or absence of a consonant sound. But a difference in meaning can be signaled as well by word stress, and this can also be tested with pictures. For example, simple line drawings can contrast “He has a toy store” with “He has a toy store.” The first sentence refers to a child’s toy that is made to look like a store. The second sentence refers to a store where toys are sold. The illustration we have used requires no speaking or writing on the part of the student. He can draw a circle around the right picture or put an “X” on it. While two distracters would be ideal, usually one distracter is all that we can expect to find. Because suitable pictures are not always easy to get, you can use pairs of sentences instead. Students listen to two short sentences and decide if they are the same or different. Beginning students can circle “S” for “same” and “D” for “different.” For example, if they heard, “What a big mouse,” / “What a big mouth,” the correct response would be “D”. But we have to be careful when repeating sentences like this. Often our intonation changes quite unintentionally, and the student might circle “D” because of this difference in intonation. It is possible of course to test intonation on purpose. Com- pare these two sentences (which would be presented orally and not in writing): “It's raining.”\ /“It’s raining?”/Again the student would circle “D”. [4]
Alternate Forms of Limited-Response Items.
- Substitution drill. (The cue word can be spoken or written for your students.)
‒ Grapes are not cheap now. (figs)
‒ He does not have to leave yet. (his brother)
- Phrase items.
‒ into the house
‒ wrote a note
- Sentence completion. (This can be cued with pictures.)
‒ The American flag is red,., and blue, [white]
Advantages of Limited-Response Items.
1. (Oral repetition). These are very easy to prepare 2. (Oral repetition). These enable us to test students who can’t read yet. Also they do not mix reading comprehension and pronunciation. 3. (Oral repetition). These can test virtually all pronunciation features. 4. (Hearing identification). These combine pronunciation and meaning. 5. (Hearing identification). These enable us to test students with rather limited language skills.
Limitations of Limited-Response Items.
1.(Oral repetition). These possibly test aptitude to learn English as much as present skill in pronouncing English. 2. (Oral repetition). These are time consuming when administered individually. They can be administered in a language lab, but the teacher must still listen to tapes individually.3. (Oral repetition). There is a need for a native speaker to model the sentence.4.(Hearing identification). It is often difficult to think of suitable sketches or find suitable pictures.5.(Hearing identification). There is a somewhat limited number of testing options. For example, consider the difficulty of representing contextualized contrasts of ramble-rumble, weird-geared, cud-could. [5]
These all items are widely used in any sentences using all examples, which are shown in the given article.
References:
- Heaton, J. 1990. Classroom Testing. Longman.
- Hedge. T. 2000. Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford University Press.
- Hughes, A. 1989. Testing for Language Teachers. Cambridge University Press
- Hicks, D. Littlejohn, A. 1998. Cambridge English for Schools (CES). Teacher’s Book. Level Two. Cambridge University Press.
- Hicks, D. Littlejohn, A. 1997. Cambridge English for Schools (CES). Student’s Book. Level Two. Cambridge University Press.
