Transformative Teachers
Webinar 19 - Speaking - Collaborative tasks
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, Anthea Wilson, Head of Test Production, interviews Roger O'Keefe. Academic Support, Spain. They discuss speaking in relation to the ISE Collaborative task.
If you were unable to attend the webinar, you can watch it again via the following link:
Webinar 19 - Speaking - Collaborative tasks
Summary of questions and responses
Interview: Anthea Wilson and Roger O'Keefe
Can you summarise what Robin said in the video about the collaborative task?
Robin talks about how in the collaborative task the candidate has to take responsibility for maintaining the interaction in this part of the exam and he says how this can be quite difficult for some candidates because they are not used to this. He also touches on the need for listening skills and repair strategies, that is, if a student doesn’t understand what the examiner has said it is possible to ask for repetition, as this is what we do in real life. Robin says it is one of the ways good listeners differ from less adept listeners, as they are comfortable asking for clarification. This is a very much in keeping with Trinity as we want to prepare people for the real world and by developing these skills students will feel more confident when they have to use them outside the class. In essence, the idea is not to catch students out, it is to encourage them to be successful communicators.
What is interesting for candidates/teachers in the collaborative task?
As Robin says it encourages students to ask questions, which they have to do in real life. It prepares them for the real world and is consistent with Trinity ethos where there is a focus on real skills. There is a focus on ‘bias for best’ as the examiners are highly trained and always try to get the best performance from candidates.
Robin mentions 21st century skills, how does the collaborative task help with this?
21st century skills, sometimes referred to as the 4 Cs; critical, creative thinking, collaboration and communication, are all included here. Candidates need to think critically about the prompt, what are they being asked to do. They then need to be creative while they are co-constructing the task with the examiner and obviously, they will be collaborating and communicating. Indeed, Trinity exams focus a lot on transferable skills and this part of the exam is no exception, the skills they learn here will be of infinite use in the world where they may have to deal with situations that are not ‘in a box’.
Many people think the collaborative is the most difficult part of the exam, why do you think this is?
Again, as Robin said in the video learners have to come out of the comfort zone of only answering, they have to change roles and be more proactive. Of course, this can cause some trepidation as they are not used to it, but reflects demands that are made on individuals when participating in any authentic communication. The examiner reads a prompt which could be a dilemma, opinion or situation, and then together with the candidate they create a dialogue around the prompt. Robin mentions the word ‘natural’ in the video and this is key, there is a natural exchange of ideas, opinions, views etc.
How is it assessed?
Communicative effectiveness, interactive listening, delivery and language control are the four headings of the criteria applied to the task. A mark is then given from 0 to 4 globally across all tasks, with scores reflecting how the candidate has performed, in alignment with the analytical descriptors. All the rating scales used are publicly available, and are included in the Teachers Guides, which can be downloaded from the ISE resources pages of the Trinity website.
Have you got any tips?
I would say that by having classes that are open to conversation at the lower levels will make easier for learners to adjust to this part of the exam. For example, when I ask my lower level student about their day and they say something like “.. I went to school and then I went home and had lunch” I would then ask follow up questions and make comments, “what did you have for lunch?” … “oh really, I don’t really like lentils” etc. I also encourage them to ask me questions as part of the classroom routine. It helps to build a relationship with students as they see you more of a human, rather than someone who comes into a class for a couple of hours a week.
Showing classes videos of the exams (available on the website), and reading the scores and rationales that go with them, is also a great way for learners to see what is needed.
There are prepared classes on website, including an overall Scheme of work. Giving students the chance to have debates in class is vital, but teachers must be wary of learners talking over each other, and also ensure that they don’t just jump from one question to another, they must actually listen and respond appropriately. This takes a couple of classes to get going properly, until they understand what they have to do. Once they have a feel for these communicative tasks, you can then bring in the concept of yielding the floor and how to do it, not just asking for comment but also tapering tone and intonation, leaving a pause etc.
Another good way is to give them sample prompts (from the Trinity website or write your own) and encourage them to prepare ‘back stories’ in groups while others work on possible questions they might be able to ask. By ‘back story’ I mean the context or surrounding information relating to the prompt. Doing this has several benefits; they are thinking of backstories and contexts which helps make the prompt personalised and relevant, while the others are focusing on language functions relevant to the level. Groups can then exchange their back stories and questions.
It’s also an interesting activity to give students a prompt for them to discuss in in L1, and then ask what language they used, what body language they used, how they managed to gain time to think etc. Then repeat the task in English, and learners generally feel much happier to talk around the prompt.
Teachers and students should also write their own prompts as this encourages them to look at the functions and see that they can’t use all the language items to answer specific questions/tasks. It also allows them to see how the exam is designed to elicit language.
It’s also worth mentioning that learners shouldn’t seek to just give advice or solve a problem early in the task, the task objective is to find out information first to make an informed decision how to continue the dialogue and to use the functions listed for the level.
Be careful they don’t just talk for the full 4 mins, they need to interact with the examiner
We also saw in the video the position that learners were sitting in, this is important as it allows for more open conversation as they are not in regimented rows. In some classes this may not be possible but with a bit of thought maybe positions could be changed
Attention can also be given to general conversational phrases and associated functions, for example, phrases that could help. Include: it might seem that way, it could be argued, I would suggest, have you/they thought about?, on the one hand… on the other hand, there are two sides to this, etc, By giving them phrases for the functions and doing the activities mentioned above you can help them build accuracy into their fluency.
How much do we need to take into account different cultures?
In different cultures students would not necessarily feel comfortable asking adults questions. Training is important as it’s part of exam and this barrier needs to be broken down in class. As I said above the best way to do this is to start with interaction at lower levels.
What are the main differences between other parts of speaking exam?
The topic task is prepared, and we know content for conversation, the collaborative task is more open and therefore more exciting as it encourages real collaboration as they are working together in a natural way to co-construct meaning.
- If candidate only understands some of the prompt, what can they do?
As Robin said… also they can say “so what you’re saying is…. And what else?”
- Do your students really feel like it is a difficult task?
No, my students actually really like the task as they are comfortable because they have been prepared. In fact, I love it when they come out of the exam, with big smiles on their faces, saying how quickly the exam went and how good they feel.