Two differences in twenty-five seconds
A ten-year-old is doing a practice speaking task. The teacher, acting as examiner, puts two similar park pictures side by side and says: 'Look at this one. Now look at this one. What's different?' The child points and says 'Dog.' Then 'No dog.' Then 'Tree.' The exchange lasts about twenty-five seconds, and the child then stops and waits. Six differences were available in the pictures. The teacher is unsure whether to push for full sentences, whether this performance is at the right level, and what she should write down afterwards. The school wants speaking progress recorded in the same report as reading and writing.
1. What is this task assessing, and does a one-word answer meet it?
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It assesses whether the child can find and report a difference - not whether she can build a sentence.
- She did the cognitive work: she located two differences and marked the contrast ('Dog' / 'No dog').
- She did the interactional work: she answered the examiner's question and stopped when she had nothing more, which is appropriate turn-taking.
- At this level a noun plus a gesture is a legitimate way of reporting a difference. Grammar is assessed across the whole test, not extracted from one item.
So the performance is usable - but it is not complete. Two of six differences were found, and coverage is what this task measures.
2. Should the teacher insist on full sentences such as 'In picture A there is a dog but in picture B there isn't'?
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No - it would test the wrong thing and probably reduce her output further.
That sentence pattern is well beyond what this level asks for, and demanding it turns a search task into a grammar drill. A child corrected mid-task usually says less, not more.
Better moves, in order:
- Gesture and repeat the prompt - 'And here?' - so she keeps scanning.
- Recast, don't demand - 'There's a dog here, but no dog here.' She hears the model without being asked to reproduce it.
- Praise the finding, not the form - 'Good, you found one. Any more?'
If the whole class never uses contrast language, teach it in a separate five-minute drill, not inside the assessment.
3. What should the teacher record, and what does the twenty-five seconds tell her?
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Record behaviour, not an impression.
- Differences found: 2 of 6 - a scanning and observation figure.
- Responded to the prompt without needing it repeated - yes.
- Used a contrast form even after a recast - no.
Twenty-five seconds on its own tells you almost nothing. A fast child who finds two differences has an observation problem; a slow child who finds five has the language but needs time. The useful numbers are differences found out of differences available, plus whether she kept going when the examiner stayed silent. Write those two lines; 'speaking: fair' tells the next teacher nothing at all.