Observations of a Cambridge Examiner: Preparation of Paper 5: the Speaking exam

The Speaking exam often terrifies people.

In the traditional way of teaching English in schools there was a strong emphasis on grammar and written exercises; filling the gaps, conjugating verbs and so on rather than on Speaking or Listening. There are many people who have managed to have passed many years of studying English hardly having ever spoken a word in English. Fortunately, these days in many schools this has changed, there is much more focus on the spoken word and using English in realistic situations resulting in many young people feeling a lot more comfortable speaking in English. Many young people have also travelled and/or studied abroad which has given them an real environment in which to use and improve their English.

However, there are many people who were schooled in the old way, who have not had many opportunities to travel or live abroad where they would have been able to improve their English in a natural, authentic environment.

The problem with the Speaking Paper is two-fold; those who have been abroad and who can defend themselves in real-life situations and those with no confidence or much experience using English orally. The problems are different, in fact almost diametrically-opposed. Frequently, those who are comfortable with English do not realize that in the Speaking exam it is necessary to do more than simply chat. As an examiner a common frustration is their lack of vocabulary usage, lack of variation with and use of grammar, using most commonly quite basic grammar to express themselves; well and quite fluently, but at the Advanced level it is expected that the candidate can use a more varied English with more flexibility and richness than simple expressions and structures. Therefore these people will do well in the Pronunciation part but do much word in the grammar, vocabulary and discourse management parts.

The other types often have a better grammatical level but are uncomfortable using it, there is a lot more hesitation and lack of confidence with English in general. When you are nervous speaking, it is very easy for your mind to block and to go into panic-mode. People spend a lot of time worrying about how good their English is rather than focus more on the ideas they need to express or get intimidated about their supposed inability to express themselves in English. The result between the two groups is often the same with people not using enough advanced level of English.

With preparation and practice and a knowledge of what you will face in the exam helps immensely when doing the exam, you will be more relaxed, better prepared and so will have more mental space to focus on the questions calmly to be able to answer them smoothly.

The Speaking part is often done a week before the writing papers. However, it very much depends on scheduling, so it sometimes happens that everything is done on the same day, which personally I think is a bit too much, but it helps if you must travel to another city to take the exam. So, it is possible to ask for to do everything together if this is the case, especially from the British Council or the Cambridge Schools exam centre in Madrid.

Paper 5: The Speaking Paper

The assessor awards marks to each candidate for performance throughout the test according to five analytical criteria: Grammatical Resource, Vocabulary Resource, Discourse Management, Pronunciation and Interactive Communication. The interlocutor provides a mark for global achievement for each candidate, which assesses the candidate’s overall effectiveness in tackling the tasks. These scores are converted to a mark out of 40. Combining the analytical marks of the assessor and a global achievement mark from the interlocutor gives a balanced view of a candidate’s performance.
 

Part 1:  Is a conversation between the interlocutor and each candidate (spoken questions).

It is a general conversation of questions and answers using interactional and social language. A strong candidate is one who will make an attempt to extend his/her answers to the questions without pausing for too long to think about what he/she is going to say. You will be asked questions from a range of topics, for example: homes and families, technology, relationships, and so on. This is to be considered as the warm-up part of the exam where you have the opportunity to start speaking, start relaxing and begin to feel comfortable with using your English in an exam situation.

Part 2:  Is an individual ‘long turn’ of one minute for each candidate with a shorter 30-second response from the second candidate. In turn, you and your partner will be given spoken instructions with written and visual stimuli in the form of a choice of three pictures to talk about and you will select two of them. The examiners will be looking for ability to organize a larger piece of discourse, comparing, describing, expressing opinions and speculating. A stronger, well-prepared candidate will take full advantage of his/her opportunity to talk for one minute, and to respond to the question about his/her partner’s pictures. However, a weaker or less committed candidate will sometimes fail to do what he/she is asked to do, or forget what he/she has been asked to do and so do not refer to the task which appears in written form on the visuals sheet. By omitting to focus on the more speculative elements of the tasks you are losing a great opportunity to expand and demonstrate your language abilities, so may people find it more difficult to sustain their ‘long turn’ for one minute, to express their ideas effectively and to take up the opportunity to show what they could do. By making a very short comment about your partner’s pictures, you deprive yourself of an opportunity to expand on your partner's comments.

Part 3: Is a two-way conversation between the candidates for three minutes. You and your partner will be given spoken instructions with written and visual stimuli in the form of a series of photographs or illustrations based on a common theme, which are used in a decision-making task. It will be necessary to sustain an interaction, exchange ideas, express and justify opinions, agree and/or disagree, suggest, speculate, evaluate, reach a decision through negotiation with your partner etc. This collaborative task gives both of you the opportunity to negotiate and co-operate with each other, to discuss the allotted task fully, openly and clearly. To perform well, it is necessary to not merely agree with your partner but also to express your own views and opinions, or develop on from your partner’s comments. If you have prepared well you will be able to generate more ideas, so as to produce a more varied sample of language with a wider range of structures and vocabulary, and avoid unproductive silences. You must make use of the visuals (without itemizing each one for its own sake, or making reference to them) by including them naturally in their discussion, evaluating them and giving valid reasons for accepting or rejecting them when appropriate. To performed well, you need to follow the instructions you are given and, if necessary, refer to the task which appears in written form on the visuals sheet, showing that you can handle a range of structures and vocabulary, and taking the task seriously. By not doing this, it is easy to run out of things to say because you have not focused enough on the task.

Part 4: This is a discussion on topics related to the collaborative task and is done as spoken questions by the examiner. You will be expected to be able to express and justify opinions, agreeing with an emphasis on agreeing and/or disagreeing.This is where the examiners expect to see your interactive communication skills at work.This is expected in part 3 too, but as there are time restrictions you need to be aware of the time primarily and so you must be careful about getting into a long discussion with your partner over one issue or picture, whereas in part 4 although there is a time limit of 4 minutes and a total of six questions, it is not necessary for the examiner to ask all the questions if the discussion is animated between the two candidates. In general, by this stage of the Speaking test, you should usually be relaxed and more confident and be able to contribute to the discussion with some authority. The examiner may draw out a more reticent or apparently weaker candidates to redress any perceived imbalance in candidate contributions.This is the only part of the exam where the examiner is able to do this, so if you have a dominant partner, the examiner will have noticed this and will try to give you the opportunity to speak, so take it!! You should not assume that you are under-performing if the examiner addresses you first.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CANDIDATE PREPARATION 

You should be aware that Oral Examiners can only base their assessment on what they hear on the day, and that if you do not take the opportunity to show what you are capable of you will under-perform.This happens a lot unfortunately, as an examiner I frequently see people who I suspect have a better level of English, for example they speak quite fluently and confidently, but they just don't demonstrate the advanced range on the day, for example, they use the same adjectives again and again to describe things, the grammar and structures they use are quite basic; as an examiner, this is frustrating as I want to give people as many marks as I can but if they don't show it to me, I cannot. 

You also should not feel disadvantaged because you cannot remember or do not know the

occasional word. This can happen to all of us, but it is how we deal with these situations which is important. Credit is given for paraphrasing and substituting vocabulary, especially if it is effectively communicated. 

Some general advice:

• You should try to avoid strategies which prevent you from producing an extended sample of language, e.g.

Examiner: ‘How important is it for people to start thinking about their future career early in life?’

Candidate A: ‘I think it’s really important.’ 

Say something more extended, explain why you think it is important. Don't worry about 
what you are saying, for example your argument, it is how you say it that is noticed in 
the exam. We are not marking your opinions, but your English.

• You should also avoid merely repeating what you have already said, or echoing what your partner has said, particularly with short responses, e.g.

Examiner (to Candidate B): ‘What about you?’

Candidate B: ‘Yes, I agree.’

• It is however possible to repeat what has been said if you follow it by supporting comments, and, if you can, broaden the ideas to include other aspects e.g.

Candidate B: ‘Yes, I agree. It’s important because if they don’t, they might find they don’t have the qualifications and experience they need to do their chosen job.’

• You should respond to the visual stimuli and express your own personal viewpoints. Again, it is how you express these rather than what you say that is important.

• You should listen carefully to the instructions you are given and refer to the written questions on the candidate’s visual sheet if you can’t remember what they have to do.If you are not sure, ask the examiner to repeat what they have said, we know that people are nervous in the exam and sometimes get confused because of this. We are looking for how you deal with your English, not that you can understand everything first time in a highly stressful environment. It is better to do this than embark on an answer that could be completely wrong.

However, describing visuals is always only a part of a task and you should try to answer the more speculative elements of the task. Simply describing visuals will not give you the opportunity to show your linguistic capabilities.

• You should be aware that long silences and frequent pauses, particularly in Part 2 as there is a strict one minute time limit, will reduce your opportunities to perform well. Even if you only have a few ideas, you should be prepared to comment on what the examiner has asked you or what your partner has said, where appropriate, and ‘think aloud’ rather than say nothing or very little. Practising a lot before the exam is essential as learning to acquire ideas quickly helps a lot with Part 2 and Part 3, so that you don't dry up halfway through.

Familiarity with the format of the Speaking test usually helps you give a more effective performance. Practise! Practise! Practise!

• You must know that attempts to dominate the test, e.g. by not giving your partner an opportunity to speak in Part 3, will be penalized; this will not be regarded by Oral Examiners as advanced spoken proficiency. You should respond appropriately to each other’s utterances, not cut across what your partner is saying, interrupt impolitely, or indulge in long monologues during the collaborative task.We mark 'Interactive Communication' and this is not consider to be 'interactive'. 

• On the other hand, if you find yourself paired with a reticent partner, you are advised
  to try to draw out your partners by trying to include them in the conversation and 
  by creating opportunities for them to speak,e.g. ‘What’s your opinion?’ / 
  ‘Do you agree with me?’ / ‘Maybe you have a different point of view?’ 

• You should be made aware that over-rising intonation can sometimes sound
  rather aggressive and interrogating. it is good to practise appropriate intonation.

• You should speak clearly and loudly enough for the Oral Examiners to hear them, 
  especially when looking at the visual stimuli in Part 2, and during the collaborative 
  task in Part 3. Examiners cannot assess candidates who they cannot hear.

• You will be assessed on your own individual performance according to the
  established criteria and are not assessed in relation to your partner. You are never
  penalized because you have difficulty in understanding your partner. It is, however,
  important that you do not interrupt your partner to ask for clarification in Part 2,
  the ‘long turn’, where interruption would deprive them of the chance to speak for
  one minute.

Furthermore, you should be aware that you cannot ask the examiner to rephrase or

simplify instructions in an attempt to explain their meaning. 

 


DOs and DON’Ts for CAE PAPER 5 – SPEAKING

DO take a deep breath as you enter the examination room, and smile at the examiners as

you sit down. This will help you to relax.

DO take up every opportunity during the test to show what you can do.

DO refer to the written questions on the visuals sheets in Part 2 and Part 3 if you forget

what you have to talk about.

DO listen carefully to the questions that do not appear on the visuals sheets and answer

them appropriately without taking too much time to think of what you’re going to say.

DO speak clearly and loudly enough for both examiners to hear you in all parts of the test.

DO try to use as wide a range of grammatical forms and vocabulary as possible throughout

the test.

DO expand on your answers in the second section of Part 1 and in Part 4.

DO take advantage of the opportunity to speak on your own in the long turn in Part 2 by

keeping talking until the examiner says ‘Thank you’.

DO allow your partner opportunities to speak in Part 3. If necessary, invite your partner to

make a comment.

DO remember that there are no right or wrong answers for the Tasks in Part 2 and Part 3

so you can express your opinions freely.

DON’T begin your Part 2 long turn by saying: ‘I’m going to choose this picture and this picture.’

This wastes precious time and prevents you from changing your mind should you wish

to do so. Just start to do the task and it will become obvious which pictures you are

talking about, or point to the picture you are describing and say ‘In this picture’, etc.

DON’T talk about all the pictures in Part 2. Talking about all the pictures instead of only two

will not give you enough time to do the more speculative parts of the task properly.

DON’T give just a one- or two-word answer to the question about your partner’s pictures in

Part 2.

DON’T cut across what your partner is saying in Part 3. If you wish to interrupt, wait until

he/she has finished their sentence, then do so politely.

DON’T reach a decision too early about the second part of the task in Part 3. Do the first part

of the task and evaluate all the visuals before making your final decision.

DON’T ask the Oral Examiners to comment on how you have performed in the test. Examiners

are not allowed to make any comments on candidate performance.

DON’T worry if you find yourself being examined in a group of three at the end of an

examining session. The examiner will make sure you have the same opportunities as

the other two candidates to play a full part in the test.