Final Test for Oral English: Three Minute Public Speech

As the final test for my Oral English classes I decided on a 3 minute public speech that each student would present to the class.

The principles of Public Speaking were covered, in detail, over the semester where everyone had the opportunity of practice in front of the class. Step by step, Preparation, Planning and Practice were explained.

When it came to the time to commence the ‘exam’ at the end of the term, all the students had been given a good grounding of the principles for their ‘test’. With an average of 48 students to test in each Oral class, I opted to do this in blocks of 12 students a lesson, starting in numerical sequence by their student number. Out of fairness, I gave each group a list of topics to choose from the week before, thus allowing each student the same time to prepare, and practice, their speech. Students were not allowed to use notes during their speech but could use ‘flash’ cards, as prompts, if they wanted.

The 12 speeches can be completed in one 45 minute lesson. These ‘exams were timed to ensure the students had a week to prepare for their other official exams set by their Chinese teachers.

Each speech was assessed on the basis of seven criteria which had been explained to each class prior to starting the ‘exams’.

Criteria, each rated 1 to 10:
 * Presentation
 * Pronunciation
 * Preparation and Planning
 * Voice Projection
 * Fluency
 * Enthusiasm
 * Quality of the speech

As I was the sole judge of each presentation, this lent a degree of uniformity to the marks. There is an option of allowing questions from the audience at the end of each speech but that may detract from the new concept of a speech as an exam. Another idea is to have the audience register a vote for their choice of the best speech but that is more appropriate as part of a training exercise. The audience participated by way of applauding the speakers and, from my discussions with students after the lessons; they were clearly able to discern the better speeches. For something so new, I was very impressed with the quality of the talks and the ability of the speakers. There were a few nervous starts and a few speeches that were obviously memorised but, on the whole, most students made a good attempt. The most common weakness was in the ability to use their body language and impart a sense of enthusiasm for what they had to say. Pronunciation was never a significant problem from any of the speeches although there were the occasional words that had to be interpreted.

One of the side benefits that arose from using a speech as a means of testing the students, was its help in alleviating their ‘fears’ about speaking English as it produced an obvious, and tangible, boost to their confidence. It can be a fairly daunting task to get up in front of an audience, even though it is your classmates and friends, and give a speech, the more so, when the speech is not in your native tongue.

Whilst there are some reservations about using this system to test the students, I believe it is a valid test because of its uniformity in assessment, its measure of each student’s commitment, and ability, and its measure of how well a student can use the English language. Any good speech needs to be prepared, planned and practised and this, rather than detracting from the value of the test, in my view, adds to the value. Having students give a speech from a random subject or, with minimal time for preparation, is unfair because it benefits the quick witted and penalises the more careful and studious candidates.