Evaluating students’ speaking and writing

Although direct testing is now widely accepted as the best way to evaluate students’ speaking and writing skills, the fact remains that these types of tests are much more difficult to mark objectively than, for example, multiple choice questions.

Awarding one mark or score for a speaking or writing test based on the examiner’s overall impression is clearly subjective. A more objective alternative involves analyzing different aspects of a student’s speaking or writing and allocating a score for each of these areas.

For example, the IELTS speaking and writing tests use detailed ‘band descriptors’ from 0 to 9, which cover all levels from A1 to C2 on the CEFR.

In the speaking test, candidates are awarded a score for each of the following areas:

* Fluency and coherence

* Lexical resource

* Grammatical range and accuracy

* Pronunciation

Click this link to see full details of the band descriptors:

https://www.ielts.org/-/media/pdfs/speaking-band-descriptors.ashx?la=en

In the writing test, the areas of assessment are:

* Task achievement

* Coherence and cohesion

* Lexical resource

* Grammatical range and accuracy

https://www.ielts.org/-/media/pdfs/writing-band-descriptors-task-1.ashx?la=en

https://www.ielts.org/-/media/pdfs/writing-band-descriptors-task-2.ashx?la=en

IELTS tests are marked by certified IELTS examiners, who undergo extensive training and are required to attend regular training sessions to ensure quality control.