Transformative Teachers
Webinar 18 - Speaking - Topic task
Summary notes
Thank you for participating in the Trinity College London teacher support webinar series. We are delighted to have over 1000 teachers from 70 countries participate in the series.
In this webinar, Alex Thorp, Lead Academic, Language (Europe), interviews Cathy Taylor, Senior Academic. They discuss speaking in relation to the Topic task of ISE, and related classroom practice.
If you were unable to attend the webinar, you can watch it again via the following link:
Webinar 18 - Speaking - Topic task
Summary of questions and responses
Interview: Alex Thorp and Cathy Taylor
Cathy, could you summarise what Robin was talking about in the video?
Robin talked about preparing for the ISE I topic task – the first task of the exam where students have chosen a topic they are interested in to discuss with the examiner. He said that nerves are an inevitable part of taking an exam. However, being able to talk about a subject, self-selected by the candidate and prepared beforehand minimises the impact of nerves and gives the candidate mental capacity to concentrate on the exam and how they’re interacting with the examiner rather than thinking of what they’re going to say.
When preparing for the exam the candidate will have already thought carefully about the points they wish to discuss and prepared a mind map or topic form with four points on which the examiner will base the discussion. Robin advised against choosing a topic which happens in sequence as the examiner won’t choose the points in any given order. He also advised against choosing a topic which is too technical, PhD studies for example. A rule of thumb is to choose a topic which is accessible to the general listener or you can make accessible to a non-expert.
The key to a successful topic is to map the points on your topic form to the functions for ISE I. Robin showed a sample topic form about Volley ball and the ISE I functions and explained how each point matched a language function. For example; ‘How long I’ve played volley ball ‘ covered actions in the past and recent past, and ‘Plans for the next 6 months ‘ covered future plans and intentions.
Another point he raised was the topic is a discussion and not a memory test so it’s important you don’t memorise your topic and try to recite it. As it’s a discussion the examiner will interrupt and ask questions as a natural part of the interaction to reflect every day conversational turn taking patterns. The candidate is expected to ask the examiner questions at any point in the topic discussion.
Robin mentioned that Trinity developed the topic task to put the candidate at ease – can you explain a bit more about that.
The Trinity philosophy is that the exams are ‘can do’ exams which means the assessment reflects what a candidate can do and doesn’t assess punitively. One of the ways to achieve this is to have a ‘bias for best’ approach whereby the tasks are constructed to allow the candidate to perform as well as they can. In the topic discussion the candidate selects their own topic which gives them ownership and in turn increases their confidence when talking about their topic. All of this creates a supportive environment within the exam and contributes to a more relaxed exam experience. The examiners are also trained to set the candidate at ease and there is a brief setting at ease phase at the start of the exam, which doesn’t form part of the assessment.
The video mentions everyone nervous at beginning of an exam, especially an English speaking exam. What tips or advice could you give learners to help overcome nerves?
It’s important that the topic task reflects authentic communication, so what the candidate is doing in the exam room closely reflects what they will need to do in the real-world when using English. Of course, preparation is the key, and we can refer to positive washback, whereby, preparing for the exam will lead to lots of interactive, spontaneous communication, and the more a candidate is able to talk confidently around a subject, the more this will help with nerves. Of course, it is still an exam and nerves are a perfectly natural part of the experience. There are a few candidates that do experience exam angst (a condition identified as a psychological phobia), although this is very rare (less than 1%). Other ways to help reduce nerves could include:
- Practice task as much as possible with peers – change order or questions each time
- Watching videos of the exam (samples on the website)
- Video your own topic discussion with peers and review
- Positive prediction activities (imagining the event going well ahead of time)
- Relaxation techniques (breathing and self-awareness activities)
It’s also worth noting that most candidates actually enjoy a Trinity exam, and leave the exam room with a sense of achievement and of having had an interesting interaction – not just an exam.
As the topic task is a discussion and not a presentation can you say a bit more about the examiner interrupting the candidate?
One of the aims of the topic task is for the examiner and candidate to create a conversation on the topic together. When we talk to each other we interrupt to check understanding, ask questions, make comments etc and this is what the examiner will do – and these strategies are reflected in the ISE Speaking and interactive listening criteria. For example in Communicative effectiveness the examiner is looking for task fulfilment, how appropriate the candidate’s contributions are, turn taking and repair strategies, so making mistakes is ok. The assessment criteria are on the Trinity website in the Teacher’s guide p.44 https://www.trinitycollege.com/site/?id=3194
Robin said that it’s not recommended to memorise the topic – why is this?
Well the topic is a discussion and not a recitation. If you learn a text by heart and then say it out loud the phonology patters are different from a normal conversation and we’re not assessing speech patterns of recitation. The examiner will interrupt gently to stop the recitation and if it’s a pre-learnt script this will be challenging for the candidate as their security blanket of a script is being taken away from them. It’s much better if the candidate is ready to listen to what the examiner says and be prepared to answer questions and elaborate on something they may have already said.
Trinity exams are not scripted at any point because they reflect communicative competence, that is the ability to communicate in an authentic task, and this in turn reflects a range of competences including linguistic competences, socio-linguistic, discourse and strategic competence. If we focus for a moment on strategic competence, this includes how an individual can cope with spontaneous, unpredictable communication that is co-constructed, this is, built between the two speakers. This would not be possible with a scripted text that is memorised. In fact that would use entirely different competences. Ultimately, one could learn a script by heart without understanding much of what it contains.
For ISE II it’s not obligatory but still good idea to enter exam with mind map or brief bullet points – remember it’s an interaction. If a candidate does have a written script the examiner will ask them to turn the paper over.
Listening to the examiner is very important isn’t it?
Yes – it’s absolutely vital. In a normal conversation we respond to what our companions/colleagues are saying and the conversation develops from there. If we don’t listen then there isn’t much of a conversation – and this is what it’s like in the exam. If the candidate doesn’t reply to what the examiner is saying then it falls flat. But it also means that the candidate won’t score very highly. For example one of the in the assessment criteria for Interactive listening one of the aspects is how well the candidate understands the examiner and the relevance of their response. The assessment criteria are on the Trinity website in the Teacher’s guide p.44 https://www.trinitycollege.com/site/?id=3194
What about the choice of topic? Robin said to avoid subjects which are too technical and select something which is more accessible to the examiner.
That’s right – candidates need to choose a topic which they know about but also gives rise to the language of the level. If it’s too technical – for example how to create a website then this won’t easily fit with the language functions in the time given for this task. However, as long as the candidate can make the topic accessible to a non-expert then this is fine. Another point worth considering is that sometimes candidates talk about a subject which is highly personal and not usually discussed with a stranger, which can put pressure on the examiner. However, all the examiners are professional and will deal with any topic they are given. The best thing is to experiment with a few topics and see which is the easiest to talk about and lends itself to the functions listed for the level.
Do you have any tips on preparing for the topic discussion task?
It’s a very communicative task and can be incorporated into general English classes which include lot of group work at all stages of the preparation. There are a lot of materials on the ISE section of the Trinity website. https://www.trinitycollege.com/site/?id=3194
The topic preparation has several stages –
- Generate some ideas – look at several options to see what you like best
- Select the topic you prefer
- decide what aspects of the topic you want to discuss
- look at the language which the topic generates
- think of questions which someone might ask about the topic
- practise a lot with pairs/groups/whole class: asking questions, making comments. There are lots of interactive tasks which can be done when preparing for any of these stages.
Any activity that initiates a non-scripted conversation comes into play here, whether the activity is structured, semi-structured, includes a functional focus, or even a focus on form.
- Personalisation activities (home life, poems, music etc.)
- Reporting and comparing experiences (last weekend, my pet etc. )
- Storytelling / sharing – verbal narrative build activities
- Video – creating dialogue to silenced video
- Role-plays and simulations
- Language activation
There are categorisation of communicative activities for the classroom. Arnold, Dörnyyei and Pugliese offer seven criteria for success in the Principled Communicative Approach that might be of use: The seven principles are activities that include the following:
- Personal significance - Meaningful and significant to the individual
- Declarative input - specific input of components that are proceduralised
- Controlled practice – to promote automatisation of L2 skills
- Focus on form – pay attention to structural aspects
- Formulaic language – fixed expressions and phrases: to raise awareness
- Language exposure – extensive exposure to large amounts of L2
- Focused interaction – ample opportunities to participate in genuine L2 interaction
Integrated skills activities are also of value, as highly authentic. A information gaps and dictagloss and very popular,
All of the processes which we use when preparing the topic e.g. selecting a suitable, doing a bit of research around the topic are all very useful in our daily, educational and working lives. These are the 21 C skills which are highly valued by employers. For example looking at a few topics – e.g. My pet dog, My best friend and The last film I saw will all have pros and cons against using them for the topic discussion task. We need to make sure that the topic is of the right level to elicit the required language and communicative skills
What about specific exam preparation tasks?
Well role play is always good. You can do this in 3s – I examiner, 1 candidate and 1 observer. After the exam the observer can give comments on the candidate’s performance - use of the communicative skills, functions etc The role plays can be varied, use negative roles for example candidates who recite, don’t ask questions etc.
What about asking the examiner a question? Is there a specific time to do this?
No, it can be at any time in the discussion and arguably the more integrated the better. A lot of candidates ask a question at the end but instead it’s good to ask a question if they think it appropriate in the middle of the discussion, especially if they are interested in what the examiner thinks. But a word of warning the question should be about the topic and not, for example whether they’ve passed the exam or asking how old the examiner is.
If, as a teacher, I don’t use Trinity exams; what can I learn from the way Trinity exams are structured?
Positive washback – if the use of an exam helps engage is good teaching practices, that facilitate learning, then we can refer to this as positive washback. The kind of activities we have referred to that generate authentic co-constructed communication in the classroom have a strong influence on how a student learns and is able to use a language. An exam like ISE then, that incorporates the use of a personalised topic, will lead to a range of classroom activities that will help with communicative practices.
Questions from the floor:
What about ISE III topics – can you give any advice on selecting a topic for the presentation?
When progressing through the ISE levels the subject matter changes from more concrete to more abstract ideas. To reflect this we advise learners to choose topics which are more discursive that is they lend themselves to discussion, have several aspects which can be evaluated. Topics which are factual are not so suitable. The presentation needs to have clear and coherent structure as well. There’s a webinar coming up on 21 Nov on the ISE III topic so do attend if you can.
Is it better to talk in complex or simple sentences?
There are no specific grammar lists for ISE so it doesn’t really matter if the structures are complex or not; it’s better to look at the list of functional language which candidates are expected to use. Trying to use complicated structures is likely to lead to less natural interaction as the candidate will spend too much time thinking about how they’re going to say it rather than listening and responding to the examiner.
Thank you very much – we look forward to welcoming you to the 19th webinar in the series, on 7 Nov when Ben and Roger will discuss the ISE II collaborative task