The state of Iowa requires that anyone providing instruction at The University of Iowa,
Iowa State University, and the University of Northern Iowa be certified as orally
competent. All students whose first language is not English and who have first-time
appointments as teaching assistants are required to be tested to assess their
English speaking and comprehension skills before being assigned assistantship
responsibilities.
There are several different forms of the SPEAK, but all have similar types of questions:
1. A warm-up with general questions;
2. A map-reading section, where the test-taker describes how to get from one place
to another;
3. General questions about a hypothetical town, based on the map;
4. A story-telling section, where the test-taker looks at a series of pictures and tells
the story from the pictures;
5. Follow-up questions based on the story;
6. General opinion questions, often related to the test-taker's field of study.
7. A chart or graph-reading section, where the test-taker explains the information
given on a chart or graph.
8. Follow-up questions based on the chart or graph.
9. A schedule with modifications, where the test-taker explains the schedule and
the changes.
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Communication almost always effective: task performed very competently |
Communication generally effective: task performed competently |
Communication somewhat effective: task performed somewhat competently |
Communication generally not effective: task generally performed poorly |
No effective communication; no evidence of ability to perform task |
Overall features to consider: |
Speaker volunteers information freely, with little or no effort, and may go beyond the task by using additional appropriate functions.
- Native-like repair strategies
- Sophisticated expressions
- Very strong content
- Almost no listener effort required
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Speaker volunteers information, sometimes with effort; usually does not run out of time.
- Linguistic weakness may necessitate some repair strategies that may be slightly distracting
- Expressions sometimes awkward
- Generally strong content
- Little listener effort required
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Speaker responds with effort; sometimes provides limited speech sample and sometimes runs out of time.
- Sometimes excessive, distracting, and ineffective repair strategies used to compensate for linguistic weaknesses (e.g., vocabulary and/or grammar)
- Adequate content
- Some listener effort required
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Speaker responds with much effort; provides limited speech sample and often runs out of time.
- Repair strategies excessive, very destracting, and ineffective
- Much listener effort required
- Difficult to tell if task is fully performed because of linguistic weaknesses, but function can be identified
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Extreme speaker effort is evident; speaker may repeat prompt, give up on task, or be silent.
- Attempts to perform task end in failure
- Only isolated words or phrases intelligible, even with much listener effort
- Function cannot be identified
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Functions performed clearly and effectively |
Functions generally performed clearly and effectively |
Functions performed somewhat clearly and effectively |
Functions generally performed unclearly and ineffectively |
No evidence that functions were performed |
Functional competence is the speaker's ability to select functions to reasonably address the task and to select the language needed to carry out the function. |
Speaker is highly skillful in selecting language to carry out intended functions that reasonably address the task. |
Speaker is able to select language to carry out functions that reasonably address the task. |
Speaker may lack skills in selecting language to carry out functions that reasonably address the task. |
Speaker often lacks skills in selecting language to carry out functions that reasonably address the task. |
Speaker is unable to select language to carry out the functions. |
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Appropriate response to audience/situation |
Generally appropriate response to audience/situation |
Somewhat appropriate task response to audience/situation |
Generally inappropriate response to audience/situation |
No evidence of ability to respond appropriately to audience/situation |
Sociolinguistic competence is the speaker's ability to demonstrate an awareness of audience and situation by selecting the language, register (level of formality), and tone that is appropriate. |
Speaker almost always considers register and demonstrates audience awareness.
- Understanding of context, and strength in discourse and linguistic competence, demonstrate sophistication
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Speaker generally considers register and demonstrates sense of audience awareness.
- Occasionally lacks extensive range, variety, and sophistication; response may be slightly unpolished
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Speaker demonstrates some audience awareness, but register is not always considered.
- Lack of linguistic skills that would demonstrate sociolinguistic sophistication
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Speaker usually does not demonstrate audience awareness since register is often not considered.
- Lack of linguistic skills generally masks sociolinguistic skills
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Speaker is unable to demonstrate sociolinguistic skills and fails to acknowledge audience or consider register. |
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Coherent, with effective use of cohesive devices |
Coherent, with some effective use of cohesive devices |
Somewhat coherent, with some use of cohesive devices |
Generally incoherent, with little use of cohesive devices |
Incoherent, with no use of cohesive devices |
Discourse competence is the speaker's ability to develop and organize information in a coherent manner and to make effective use of cohesive devices to help the listener follow the organization of the response. |
Response is coherent, with logical organization and clear development.
- Contains enough details to almost always be effective
- Sophisticated cohesive devices result in smooth connection of ideas
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Response is generally coherent, with generally clear, logical organization, and adequate development.
- Contains enough details to be generally effective
- Some lack of sophistication in use of cohesive devices may detract from smooth connection of ideas
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Coherence of the response is sometimes affected by lack of development and/or somewhat illogical or unclear organization, sometimes leaving listener confused.
- May lack details
- Mostly simple cohesive devices are used
- Somewhat abrupt openings and closures
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Response is often incoherent; loosely organized and inadequately developed or disjointed discourse often leave listener confused.
- Often lacks detail
- Simple conjunctions used as cohesive devices, if at all
- Abrupt openings and closures
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Response is incoherent.
- Lack of linguistic competence interferes with listener's ability to assess discourse competence
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Use of linguistic features almost always effective; communication not affected by minor errors |
Use of linguistic features generally effective; communication generally not affected by errors |
Use of linguistic features somewhat effective; communication sometimes affected by errors |
Use of linguistic features generally poor; communication often impeded by major errors |
Use of linguistic features poor; communication ineffective due to major errors |
Linguistic competence is the effective selection of vocabulary, control of grammatical structures, and accurate pronunciation along with smooth delivery in order to produce intelligible speech. |
- Errors not noticeable
- Accent not distracting
- Range in grammatical structures and vocabulary
- Delivery often has native-like smoothness
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- Errors not unusual, but rarely major
- Accent may be slightly distracting
- Some range in vocabulary and grammatical structures, which may be slightly awkward or inaccurate
- Delivery generally smooth with some hesitancy and pauses
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- Minor and major errors present
- Accent usually distracting
- Simple structures sometimes accurate, but errors in more complex structures common
- Limited ranges in vocabulary; some inaccurate word choices
- Delivery often slow or choppy; hesitancy and pauses common
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- Limited linguistic control; major errors present
- Accent very distracting
- Speech contains numerous sentence fragments and errors in simple structures
- Frequent inaccurate word choices; general lack of vocabulary for task completion
- Delivery almost always plodding, choppy, and repetitive; hesitancy and pauses very common
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- Lack of linguistic control
- Accent so distracting that few words are intelligible
- Speech contains mostly sentence fragments, repetition of vocabulary, and simple phrases
- Delivery so plodding that only few words are produced
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