Student Peer Assessment

  Student Peer Assessment

Assessment can be highly subjective, and without guidelines or agreement among teachers, inter-rater reliability may be negligible. It is essential that we label and explain each item carefully so that students can better understand each point and how to use the peer rating sheet. We instruct the students on each item, have them practice each item as a speaker, and then train them to evaluate the items according to the rating scale we have set, using a video of previous speeches or in-class practice of model speeches. It is best to introduce each point one at a time and allow students to practice and master a few points during each class meeting (see Appendix) so that they will not be overwhelmed or confused.

Voice Control

After explaining the importance of voice control in public speaking, it is essential for the students to practice each point and then to follow up with an in-class performance rated by the instructor and peers. A simple activity for teaching projection (Point 1) is to split pairs of students and have them line up across the room to practice a dialogue or a new grammatical structure. Teach students useful classroom expressions, such as "please speak louder," to provide the speaker with constructive feedback. Likewise, students could read aloud original writing or journal entries in small groups to practice pace (Point 2), intonation (Point 3), and diction (Point 4). As before, teach useful classroom expressions, such as "please speak slower," "please speak faster," "please speak more smoothly," or "please speak more clearly." From an educational point of view, this is contextualized language use that serves a real purpose and has real world application beyond the classroom setting.

Body Language

It is imperative for students to experiment with body language in order to find a delivery style that is both effective and comfortable. Constructive feedback from the instructor and peers is invaluable to the speaker when practicing. While doing the "across-the room" speaking activity, ask students to become aware of their posture (Point 5). Demonstrate good posture with the feet spread about shoulder width, weight even between the feet, and no swaying or leaning. Ask them how posture affects their impression of other speakers. When teaching students to make eye contact (Point 6), the insructor could ask each student to stand at the front of the class and make eye contact with each person in the class. Another useful technique is the "read-and-look-up activity." In pairs, one student should first read a sentence silently, then look up and make eye contact with his or her partner while saying as much of the sentence as possible. When the students are successful working in pairs, move them into small groups before having them speak in front of the whole class. Playing games like charades, teaching some sign language, or teaching a few simple gestures like indicating one, two, and three using fingers (Point 7) helps students to understand how their hands can enhance communication.

Content of Oral Presentation

Content in public speaking has obvious parallels with academic essay writing; however, the key difference lies in the nature of the task. Because the information is being conveyed orally, it is imperative for students to organize their material very clearly and to use transition words as landmarks for guiding the listener to the main points and supporting statements in their speeches. With practice in academic essay writing, students can learn how to introduce and develop arguments to present information effectively. With practice in reading and listening skills, students can learn to catch the main idea of an essay or speech and to follow the organizational structure by identifying transition words (Points 8-10). The four skills can be integrated as students learn to skim and scan references to find evidence for their arguments, research and write their speeches, use points 1-7 to practice delivery, and employ listening skills to judge their peers' and their own speeches.

        Excerpts from Yamashiro & Johnson (1997)*

*  Amy D. Yamashiro & Jeff Johnson, Public Speaking in EFL: Elements for Course Design

                             

More Links

 ◆ Student Peer Assessment in Higher Education: A Meta-Analysis Comparing Peer and Teacher Marks

 ◆Student Perspectives of Peer Assessment for Learning in a Public Speaking Course