Designing Speaking Task by Ofelia M. Sison

1. DESIGNING SPEAKING TASK I. CONSIDERATIONS: 1. Language proficiency level of the students –
tasks must be within their level 2. Types of speaking tasks to be organized a) Tasks that challenge students - to
arouse their interest and motivate them to participate b) Tasks that do not dominate outspoken students in the
discussions c) Tasks that set clear objective that must be reached II. CONDITIONS TO MAXIMIZE
AUTONOMOUS LANGUAGE USE: 1. Productivity – a speaking activity needs to be maximally language
productive in order to provide the best conditions for autonomous language use 2. Purposefulness – often
language productivity can be increased by making sure that the speaking activity has a clear outcome, especially one
which requires learners to work together to achieve a common purpose. 3. Interactivity – activities should require
learners to take into account the effect they are having on their audience. If not, they can hardly be said to be good
preparation for real-life language use. 4.Challenge – the task should stretch the learners so that they are forced to
draw on their available communicative resources to achieve the outcome. Of course, if the degree of challenge is too
high, this can be counterproductive. The teacher needs to be sensitive to the degree of difficulty a task presents. 5.
Safety – while learners should be challenged, they also need to feel confident they can also do so without too much
risk. The classroom should provide the right conditions for experimentation, including a supportive classroom
dynamic and a non-judgmental attitude to error on the part of the teacher. Also, learners need to be secured that the
teacher will always be there to act as a guide. 6. Authenticity – speaking tasks should have some balanced relation
between real-life language in use and learner’s needs and interests. If not, they are poor preparation for autonomy.
III.CHECKLIST/CRITERIA FOR TASK DESIGNERS: 1. Simulating "Real" Conversation - Classroom
tasks are simulations and can only approximately real-life communication, but real-life skills, such as adjusting to an
interlocutor's contribution can be built in. Tasks designed to practice interactive ability should be an appropriate task
for the students. They must be able to imagine themselves in the situation. 2. Exchanging - An interactive task
should require students to exchange information, opinions, attitudes, but not for its own sake. There should be a
real purpose; each participant should need to find something out from the others in order to complete the task. 3.
Checking Understanding- The task should require the participants to make sure they fully understand what the
others tell them and to make themselves fully understood to the others. In this way, students will need to adjust to
each other's contributions. 4. Improvising - The task should require both predictable and unpredictable
communication. Real conversation always involves unpredictability so an ability to improvise needs to be practiced.
For example, an attempt to come to an agreement is unpredictable. There is no requirement to actually reach an
agreement, so the participants may develop the conversation freely. On the other hand, they must exchange the
information for an agreement to be possible and cannot easily avoid asking questions. 5. Equal Opportunity -
Where possible, the task should allow participants an equal opportunity to structure the conversation. Ideally, they
should have equal access to important features of turn-taking such as self-selection and nomination and should be
able to initiate, negotiate and follow up other participants` contributions. Care must therefore be taken not to devise
assessment tasks that require or encourage the adoption of unequal roles in conversation (unless, of course, it is
specifically designed to practice unequal social roles, such as boss-employee, etc). 6. Mixed-Ability - For mixed-
ability courses, tasks should favor the production of contributions of all kinds. They should allow both weak and
strong participants to extend themselves to their full ability. For strong participants, making themselves understood
to students with less linguistic ability is a useful skill in itself. Less able students should still be able to accomplish at
least the first part of the task at their own level. 7. Models - Models of performance can be provided by making
recordings of tasks using competent speakers of the language (not necessarily native speakers). These can be used
for listening activities that focus on skills such as turn-taking or pronunciation, and language that students
themselves can use. 8. Time Constraints - Reasonable time constraints should be imposed. A group of three
students would normally require about 15-20 minutes to do the sample task below, although up to one hour of class
time may be needed overall, taking preparation and follow-up activities into account. 9. Outcomes - Interactive
activities should have outcomes or results. Tasks for classroom instruction should have the potential for either a
performance or a "report-back" phase, during which students could write a report or (a) group spokesperson(s) could
report back to the class. At this stage, the teacher may wish to engage in techniques for correcting language and
might want to correct even the smallest errors in pronunciation, lexis or grammar. 10. Language Practice - The
tasks will normally have some predictable features of language. Vocabulary on the topic has probably been taught
using a textbook/worksheet, probably in a reading and/or listening activity. Students can be given intensive practice
in language functions such as giving advice, expressing opinions, asking different kinds of questions. Interactive
tasks provide practice, but are unlikely to lead to long-term learning if taught in isolation. They are integrated into
courses involving all language skills. They support and are supported by exercises that focus on form or literacy
skills. 11. Simple and Re-Usable - As far as possible, tasks should be designed so that they are simple and self-
explanatory. They should be modifiable (on a word-processor) and re-used, possibly even with the same class for
revision or assessment. While they may be simple, it is useful to build in a feature to help the teacher discover how
well an independent task has been done at the report back stage. 12. Student Input - After using the teacher-
written sheets, students should have the opportunity to make their own sheets for a future activity on the same topic.
Task repetition is an important feature of a learning cycle and student input improves motivation. IV.
GUIDELINES IN DESIGNING SPEAKING TASKS: A. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 1. Always ask global
questions for they provide more scope. 2. Do not ask for specific information. 3. Use Wh-Questions instead of
Yes-No questions. 4. Never ask questions the answer to which requires specific background knowledge 5. Avoid

2. misleading, confusing, embarrassing and distressing questions. 6. Do not ask display questions (questions to which
we know the answer already). QUESTIONS THAT ELICIT PERSONAL INFORMATION: Sample Set 1:
1. Where are you from? Tell me about your town. 2. How do you spend your free time? 3. What do you
like most about television? 4. Tell me about your family. 5. What kind of films do you like? Why?
Sample Set 2: 1. Where do you live? 2. Do you have friends? 3. Do you like watching TV? 4. Do you have
any brothers or sisters? 5. What is your favorite film? B. ROLE-PLAY TASKS 1. PROMPTS/CUES a.
Select prompts/input text and design the task so that it generates the appropriate amount of varied language at the
required level. b. Use prompts that are clear, black and white or color, photocopiable and appropriate for the target
age. c. Limit input text so that processing is not too long. d. The language level of verbal prompts should be
below the tested level. e. Do not use distressing, offensive, violent or taboo topics. f. Do not use surreal, abstract,
puzzling or symbolic pictures at lower levels. 2. SITUATIONS, ROLES, INTERACTIONS a. Create
situations that are life-like, suitable for the target age-group and in which it is realistic for them to speak English.
b. Students should not be required to take unfamiliar roles. c. Use different questions and tasks of different
complexity if using the same prompt for more than one level. d. Task should not require students to use their
imagination or creativity as these are not to be tested. e. Role- plays should involve real interaction and have an
outcome. f. Create an information-gap in role-play tasks. g. In the individual format, when the student has to
speak to the interlocutor, the latter does not have to speak more than the student. h. Restrict the use of yes/no and
alternative questions. i. Always try out the task yourself to see whether you can speak for the required length of
time. 3. RUBRICS/INSTRUCTIONS a. Use standardized questions b. Instructions must be given in English
c. Instructions should be simple.