Secondary Years 7-10 - Speaking and Listening Stage S4

Indicators of progress – Stage S4: Texts and responses to texts

At the end of Stage S4, students can routinely use spoken English to do the following things:

Receptive

demonstrate essential understanding of a wide range of mainstream spoken texts
extract some key information or ideas from a variety of audiovisual materials in use in mainstream classes across the curriculum using guide questions
obtain the gist of an unfamiliar speaker where relevant background knowledge has been provided beforehand

Productive

negotiate with peers and teachers when planning work and exchanging information
justify a point of view with mainstream peers with increasing independence, e.g. by rebutting, or clarifying, ‘No, I mean we should keep the forests to slow down the global warming’
present an extended talk organised to reflect a clear progression of ideas and information and respond appropriately to audience reaction
present complex ideas and information in a sustained, organised way.

At the end of Stage S4, students’ understanding of the contexts and purposes of spoken texts is shown when they:

Receptive

identify simple examples of bias in speech, e.g. through emotive expressions, such as ‘It’s rubbish to say ...’
identify the overall intention of an accessible but unfamiliar speaker, e.g. identify whether the speaker was for, or against, a particular issue

Productive

take account of purpose and context
move with ease between formal and informal register in response to purpose and context
express and qualify opinions, e.g. using expressions such as I disagree, I think that …, in my view etc.; through modality: may, might, in some cases etc.; and through conditional expressions: but what if ...? why would …?
use intonation, volume and stress to emphasise an opinion or emotion, e.g. ‘that is NOT what happened’.

At the end of Stage S4, students’ understanding of the linguistic structures and features of spoken English is shown when they:

Receptive

show an understanding of texts which use complex grammatical features, e.g. infinitive, gerund, conditional, passive voice, reported speech, relative clauses and question tags
show an understanding of how the use of modality can affect a speaker's intended meaning

Productive

show sufficient control of basic structures and features of spoken English to participate effectively in a supportive mainstream classroom
identify aspects of their pronunciation that impede communication and focus on correction of them with teacher support, e.g. the articulation of final consonants, a specific vowel sound or inappropriate word stress
extend speech, using generally appropriate connectives and signal words, e.g. unless, in that case, however, this/that shows …
plan and deliver an extended talk following an organised structure appropriate to its purpose and audience
qualify opinions through modality, e.g. ‘may’, ‘might’, ‘in some cases’, etc. and through conditional expressions, e.g. ‘but what if ...?’, ‘Why would …?’
use the language of prediction and hypothesis in a group problem-solving task, e.g. ‘If we use this one then ...’, ‘That won’t work because of the ...’.

At the end of Stage S4, students may use the following strategies to maintain and negotiate spoken communication:

Receptive

take notes from a range of texts from across the curriculum, e.g. guest speaker’s talk, video, audio tape
ask teacher or fellow student for clarification to check understanding, e.g. does that mean …?

Productive

develop speaking and listening strategies to participate effectively in a supportive mainstream class
identify problems in pronunciation specific to themselves which need attention, e.g. ‘I can’t tell the difference between walk and work.’
discuss a point of language, e.g. ‘Why is it the car door and not the car’s door?’
revise plans for a formal extended talk in response to feedback.