Oral and aural assessment

Aural and Oral Assessment Aural refers to the ear or hearing, and oral to the mouth or speaking. Something verbal is expressed in words, either spoken or written. Listen to the aural sensations of songs from outer space when you've been gassed for your oral surgery. Then stay non-verbal because you can't use words for a long time after the dentist wakes you up. Aural is related to the sense of hearing: While the songs may be familiar, the delivery is the aural version of having one's stocking stuffed. (technorati.com). Audio teams capture far-flung aural impressions to set the proper movie mood. Our second word, oral, refers to something spoken (rather than written) or something related to the mouth: There are three typical types of oral assessments: 1. Oral assessment after a direct observation assessment An oral assessment is often used as part of a de-briefing session after a practical has been observed. The time duration is usually 3-5 minutes. There is usually no formal structure, assessors usually ask questions as they foresee, however, assessors may plan some general questions in which all students will encounter during the practical. 2. Oral in the form of a viva voce A viva voce is the Latin name for oral examination, often given for a university examination with spoken questions and answers. It is usually used to describe the oral examination at a postgraduate level, conducted after the submission of the thesis for a research degree to ensure that the candidate knows enough about the subject to make it at least plausible that the dissertation is his own work. Vivas are traditionally conducted by an external and an internal examiner. There is no set time limit for a viva voce, but a full day examination is often normal. 3. Oral/Aural in a language setting Oral in a language setting is a direct speaking test geared at assessing a student's level of speaking proficiency. Aural in a language setting is a listening test (often by devices such as tapes) geared at assessing a student's level of hearing proficiency. Questions ask in classroom setting do not contribute as oral assessments, as not all students have the benefits of being assessed. Structure of Oral Assessment The structure of an oral assessment depends on the type of oral assessment, but in general, the followings are used. 1. Depend on which type of oral assessments, it is sometimes desirable to allow the student to start the oral assessment by giving an account of the analysis of the practice. The sophistication of his spontaneous account can reveal far more than simply his responses to the questions. Questions such as: How do you think you did? 2. Probing questions – to initiate and engage the student in conversation. Questions such as: How did you know that? What method did you use to arrive with that conclusion? 3. Prompting questions – to give hints that point the student to the right direction to clarify his response, this however does not mean the assessor answers the questions himself. Questions such as: Remember the experiment on xx? What do you think this relates to? 4. Challenging questions – to assess the deep understanding - the higher level of Blooms taxonomy. Questions such as: Can you justify why your method is more efficient than Prof. Einstein’s? Advantages of Oral Assessment • There can be no plagiarism or false reports. • Assessors receive immediate reactions and responses. • It complements perfectly with practical assessments. How to design a good Oral Assessment? 1. Ensure the students know what the objectives of the assessment are. 2. Provide students the time period, location, guidelines, requirements, assessment criteria and if there are items that are not to be included. The students should also be aware of who is going to assess them – tutor, peers and/or self? And if peers or themselves are going to assess, would the weightings be the same as the tutor's assessment? 3. Prepare a structured marking sheet for all assessors. 4. Give sufficient time for students to respond. 5. Teacher should incorporate oral assessment into the practice of teaching during class, e.g. how to think out loud.