Humanising the Oral Exam

Secondary adult
Paul Bress, Whitstable, UK

Several decades have now passed during which a strong core of dedicated people have endeavoured to humanise the process of teaching foreign languages. Yet, despite the frenetic rise in students wishing to take ELT examinations, I see no such concern for humanising the examination process.

It's my view that it's crucial to break down the fossilised roles of examiner/examinee in oral ELT examinations. Why? In my experience, examinees:
- achieve a higher grade
- communicate more naturally
- xperience less stress
if they sense that they are talking to a human being who just happens to be an oral examiner (rather than an oral examiner who bears an uncanny resemblance to a human being).

Let's consider, then how the ELT examiner can humanise the examining process, thereby achieving the results listed in the bullet points above.

1. Be prepared to deviate form any script' (or timing guidelines) - if useful
Such flexibility is likely to cause examinees to reveal their real abilities (which may be absent in any rehearsed language that they may have prepared beforehand). Note: such 'deviation' cannot be applied when working for existing examination boards!

2. Look at the examinees
Eye contact is essential. If you don't look at your examinees, they will feel like they're being diagnosed by a distant, imperious, doctor - and they will feel undervalued and less motivated.

3. Take an interest in the content of what the examinees are saying
This reflects real-life L1/L1 communication. When we speak to our fellow native speakers, we are not assessing e.g. grammar, vocabulary, or phonology - what we are doing is to try to receive (and give) messages. ELT examiners should focus on whether the sending of such messages (both in terms of semantics and pragmatics) is effective. If the examinee senses that the examiner is focusing on the message, then it's my experience that the message is likely to be more successful as a result.

4. If you feel emotions - show them!
I don't know why this is a taboo subject - but it is. A peal of laughter from an examiner (derived from content, not linguistic failure) is a natural human response, and, moreover, it is likely to have an extremely beneficial effect on the relationship between examiner and examinee. Such laughter can relieve tension, dispel nerves, and lead to a more genuine interaction.

5. Assess global competence
If the examinee thinks that you've got one eye on his/her grammatical accuracy, he/she may well speak in a very stilted way and become less confident and less fluent. The same applies to other discrete items, like vocabulary and phonology. The examiner should be asking him/herself "How well is the examinee getting the overall message across?" and "How well is he/she getting my overall message?"

6. Shake hands at the beginning and end of the examination
If a handshake is culturally acceptable with the 'target examination group', I'd strongly recommend using it. It only takes a second, but it's rich in symbolism. The handshake is supposed to represent the absence of weaponry. For the modern age, a more pertinent translation might be "I'm not here to do you any harm…in fact, I'm here to help you get the best result you possibly can."

It should be noted, at this point, that the humanisation of the oral examination process works two ways. The examiner must do his/her bit, but the examinee (and, just as important, his/her teacher/trainer) must too. If the examinee can be encouraged to converse a lot (without any agenda), to have good eye contact, to focus carefully on the content of the other speaker's language, to be emotionally real, and to have open body language - then this will make the task of the examiner much less onerous.

Can you imagine what it would be like if we had such two-way humanisation? The ELT oral examination would be an occasion to be really welcomed by both examiner and examinee alike!

Paul Bress can be contacted at paulbress@tiscali.co.uk

His website is at www.bemycoach.co.uk