Assessing Grammar through Speaking

Recently I taught a course in high intermediate grammar. One of the SLOs (student learning objectives) was "Students will be able to ... produce in writing and speaking... [certain structures, such as present perfect with question formation and basic subject-verb agreement]." It is relatively straightforward to assess for grammatical structures in a writing assignment, but how does one objectively assess the "natural" production of certain structures in a speaking task? You can have students give prepared presentations, but this is somewhat "unnatural" in my view. What I would want to know if I were an English student is whether or not I can control certain structures in a "normal" conversational situation.

To get students to practice target structures in a conversation mode, I gave pairs of students a game board, with die. They also received a speaking rubric for the task so that they could see what they were being evaluated on. The game board has more than 50 squares with the base form of both regular and irregular verbs in each square.

Below you can preview the rubric and directions and decide if you like it before going to the pdf file link above. You can also see the game board which uses a bogglesworld's board template, which I like a lot. I modified slightly with with my own words.

BOARD GAME - SPEAKING ASSESSMENT

Target Features	4	3	2	1
Present perfect (questions, statements, short answer)
Subject-verb agreement (singular/plural)
Simple past (question formation, statements)
Irregular verbs (present perfect and simple past)
Pronunciation of -ed endings (present perfect and simple past)

Name___________________                                                                       Score______/20

Comments:

PRESENT PERFECT (questions, short answer, statements in positive/negative):

4 = Error-free use and production of the structures

3 = Occasional errors in use and production of structures

2 = Frequent errors in use and production of structures    

1 = Lacks control of use and production of structures

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT:

4 = Always follows rules of subject-verb agreement

3 = Occasional errors in subject-verb agreement

2 = Frequent subject-verb agreement errors

1 = Almost no control of subject-verb agreement

SIMPLE PAST (Wh-Q, statements)

4 = Error-free use of the structures

3 = Occasional errors in use of structures

2 = Frequent errors in use of structures                

1 = Lacks control of structures

IRREGULAR VERBS (present perfect and simple past):

4 = Error-free use of the structures

3 = Occasional errors in use of structures

2 = Frequent errors in use of structures                

1 = Lacks control of structures

PRONUNCIATION OF -ed ENDINGS (present perfect and simple past):

4 = Error-free pronunciation of verb endings

3 = Occasional errors in pronunciation of verb endings

2 = Frequent errors in pronunciation of verb endings       

1 = Lacks control of pronunciation of verb endings

A Verb Game board** was used to elicit questions and responses in present perfect and simple past.  Students practiced for part of one period and "played" again the following meeting. They needed to practice "yes/no" questions in present perfect, short answers, and follow up wh-questions in the simple past. Answers to the wh-questions needed to use the simple past form of the verb in the original question. The paired speaking activity was recorded and rated for accuracy in use and production of target structures (about 2.5 to 3 minutes). 

**A partial view of the game board is attached at the bottom. It is not in landscape format. I printed boards and handed out dice for students to share for this activity.