Oral Interaction Activities for All

After watching the Intensive Talks! Web Event, Making C1 Work! Feedback in the ESL Classroom, (MEES, 2016), we are reminded that a solid C1 task must be meaningful/authentic, have an interlocutor(s), have a purpose, and be a two-way exchange that is neither rehearsed nor prepared in advance.

According to the Framework for Evaluation of Learning (Gouvernement du Québec, 2013) the evaluation criteria for C1, To interact orally in English, are listed as follows:

Use of functional language

–  Use of targeted useful expressions and vocabulary
–  Combination of useful expressions and vocabulary to express personal messages
–  Pronunciation of frequently used expressions and targeted vocabulary

Participation in exchanges

–  Participation in classroom routines
–  Perseverance in using English at all times
–  Initiation and maintenance of oral exchanges
–  Reaction to oral messages
–  Support of peers during interaction
–  Expression of personalized messages

Use of strategies

-Use of compensatory (communication) strategies to keep conversation going
-Use of learning strategies to communicate in English

Links to C1 Activities

The following activities will help foster oral interaction in any ESL classroom. They include cooperative learning activities, conversation cards, board games, and group discussions.  All are effective ways for students to practice C1, To interact orally in English.

• Let’s Begin Talking Handbook (2011) A comprehensive guide with lots of suggestions and C1 activities.  Can be accessed at www.speaq.qc.ca and  www.intensive-esl.quebec
• Say Two Things About the Picture Game (ESL Galaxy)
• Non-Stop Questioning Board Game (ESL Galaxy)
• Talking Cards (The Internet TESL Journal)

Additional Resources

To explore the main characteristics of a C1 task and to examine some  examples and case studies, visit ESL Insight’s Making C1 Work! Feedback in the ESL Classroom.

FYI

Since oral presentations, skits, and Reader’s Theater productions are usually prepared and rehearsed, their final product cannot be evaluated as a C1 task. But, they are still valuable C1 activities since, while they are preparing them, students use authentic oral interaction, and have the opportunity to use many or all the criteria listed above.  So in these situations, it is the discussion during the preparation, and not the final product, that is valuable for practice or evaluation purposes.  

-Elizabeth Alloul, LEARN Consultant