Level B3 Speaking and Listening

The student work samples on this page are also available to download:

B3 Speaking and Listening proficiency levels and Achievement Standard

The students' performance in these tasks suggest that they are working within the range of Level B3 in Speaking and Listening. The assessing teacher will need to consider a range of student samples in order to determine whether each student is at the beginning of B3, consolidating B3 or at the B3 standard in Speaking and Listening.      

At beginning Level B3 students:   

  • interact more confidently in an increasing range of informal social situations
  • attempt to explain and express complex ideas related to their classroom learning and experiences but are still drawing on limited language resources to do so
  • participate in and contribute to academic learning activities where the teacher provides suitable levels of contextual support through modelling and scaffolding of language and structures.

At consolidating Level B3 students:   

  • participate actively in most social situations
  • engage more actively in classroom learning activities on familiar and unfamiliar topics using topic specific language but are still limited by their developing language resources in the extent to which they are able to contribute specific details or explanations of more complex ideas.

At Level B3 Achievement Standard students:   

  • generally respond to and use the structures and features of English appropriately in an increasing variety of familiar formal and informal contexts
  • demonstrate awareness of the register requirements of spoken English necessary for a variety of purposes
  • understand the essential meaning of unfamiliar topics expressed in familiar spoken English, and extract specific information
  • use appropriate sequence markers and consistently use most common irregular past tenses
  • provide greater detail through the use of longer noun groups and adverbial phrases
  • use comprehensible pronunciation, stress and intonation
  • access English from a range of oral and written sources, and extend their oral skills by incorporating new vocabulary from these sources into their own repertoire
  • are able to self-correct some errors, reformulate language to convey meaning more clearly, and add essential details.

Imaginative text - Role-playing Peter and the Wolf (1)

Student information

The student was born in the Congo and is 11 years and one month old. The main language spoken at home is Swahili. She had no previous experience of schooling before arriving in Australia. She has been in Australia for one year and eleven months and spent all but one month of this time in school. She completed Year 4 in an English language school and is currently in Year 5.   

Task

Students have studied a range of multicultural stories and read picture books and radio scripts in learning activities such as modelled, shared and independent reading. They watched a movie of Hansel and Gretel and listened to a recording of Peter and the Wolf. Students then made puppets based on their learning. In this task students are required to describe their puppet, explain how it was made and then retell a story in groups using their puppets.    

The teacher was assessing the student's ability to:    

  • use descriptive language, prepositions, correct use of verbs and article
  • follow short instructions and answer relevant questions, including understanding adverbial phrases of place and location
  • use time markers and beginning use of more complex language using conjunctions, e.g. because, when

The student being assessed is having a conversation with her peers.    

In the transcript, the words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold. The words spoken by the other students are in normal font. 

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Contribute information, express ideas and give reasons for opinions in group tasks or classroom discussions (VCEALC401)
  • Self-correct and improve aspects of pronunciation that impede communication, and focus on correction (VCEALL423)
  • Use longer descriptive phrases (VCEALL417)
  • Understand increasingly de-contextualised and more complex spoken language (VCEALC405)
  • Assess the grammatical correctness of own utterances and attempt some self-correction (VCEALL419)

Overall, this student can also:

  • Initiate and participate in casual exchanges and in learning contexts (VCEALC404)
  • Adapt speech to suit a variety of registers (VCEALL413)
  • Use appropriate sequence markers (VCEALL414)
  • Use basic and some complex verb forms accurately (VCEALL416)
  • Use pronunciation and a range of non-verbal features to convey meaning and enhance communication (VCEALL422)

Possible next steps for this student's learning

  • Using intonation to clearly differentiate between direct and indirect speech, including the use of expression and volume (VCEALL422)
  • Providing more details or information in speech to clarify and elaborate on aspects of the retell (VCEALC401)

Pathways and transitions considerations

Assuming that this Year 5 student is consistently demonstrating the final achievement standard in Pathway B (Level B3) in the other two language modes, she will need to demonstrate that she is also consistently working at the achievement standard in Speaking and Listening in order to transition to the English curriculum.     

She will need to be equally capable across all three language modes to be able to meet the learning expectations in the English curriculum at the level taught to their mainstream peers, and without substantial language support.    

She will need to be sufficiently proficient in understanding and using the academic language across the learning areas to participate in learning activities across the Victorian curriculum.    

She will also need to be able to understand and use the academic English of the curriculum in subsequent years without substantial language support, when the cognitive and linguistic demands of the Victorian curriculum increases.

Imaginative text - Role-playing Peter and the Wolf (2)

Student information

The student was born in Australia and spent the first five years in Australia. The main language spoken at home is Greek. He completed the first two months of Foundation in Australia before moving to Cyprus where he continued learning in Greek until six months into Year 4. Since his return to Australia he has been in school for seven months, and he did not attend an English language school or centre. He is currently 10 years old and in Year 4 in a primary school.    

Task

Students have studied a range of multicultural stories and read picture books and radio scripts in learning activities such as modelled, shared and independent reading.  They watched a movie of Hansel and Gretel and listened to a recording of Peter and the Wolf. Students then made puppets based on their learning. In this task students are required to describe their puppet, explain how it was made and then retell a story in groups using their puppets.    

The teacher was assessing the student's ability to:    

  • use descriptive language, prepositions, correct use of verbs and article
  • follow short instructions and answer relevant questions, including understanding adverbial phrases of place and location
  • use time markers and beginning use of more complex language using conjunctions, e.g. because when

The student being assessed is having a conversation with his peer.    

In the transcript, the words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold. The words spoken by the other student is in normal font. 

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Use appropriate sequence markers (VCEALL414)
  • Understand increasingly de-contextualised and more complex spoken language (VCEALC405)
  • Rehearse or role-play a spoken text, such as negotiating a problem or giving a short talk (VCEALC407)

Overall, this student can also:

  • Respond appropriately during different classroom activities (VCEALA408)
  • Initiate and manage interaction appropriately in social and learning situations (VCEALA409)
  • Identify and use features of formal and informal spoken texts (VCEALA410)
  • Adapt speech to suit a variety of registers (VCEALL413)
  • Use basic and some complex verb forms accurately (VCEALL416)
  • Use pronunciation and a range of non-verbal features to convey meaning and enhance communication (VCEALL422)
  • Contribute information, express ideas and give reasons for opinions in group tasks or classroom discussions (VCEALC401)

 Possible next steps for this student's learning

  • Creating a character map and brainstorming longer descriptive phrases for his puppet (VCEALL417)
  • Brainstorming and practising adverbial phrases to use in retelling the story (both orally and written) (VCEALL414)
  • Creating a word list of synonyms for different verbs and practising using them orally and in writing, for example, said, shouted, cried (VCEALL416)

Pathways and transitions considerations

Assuming that this Year 4 student is consistently demonstrating the final achievement standard in Pathway B (Level B3) in the other two language modes, he will need to demonstrate that he is also consistently working at the achievement standard in Speaking and Listening in order to transition to the English curriculum.     

He will need to be equally capable across all three language modes to be able to meet the learning expectations in the English curriculum at the level taught to their mainstream peers, and without substantial language support.    

He will need to be sufficiently proficient in understanding and using the academic language across the learning areas to participate in learning activities across the Victorian curriculum.    

He will also need to be able to understand and use the academic English of the curriculum in subsequent years without substantial language support, when the cognitive and linguistic demands of the Victorian curriculum increases, for example in Year 5 and 6.

Informative text – Explaining a volcanic eruption (1)

Student information

The student came to Australia 2 years and 10 months ago from Sudan, where their schooling was interrupted. They attended a new arrivals program for 12 months before entering mainstream school in Australia, where they are now in Grade 5. Their home language is Arabic.  

Task

The students have been learning to read and write explanations in class. They have watched videos, read a model explanation, ordered pictures, sequenced text and written their own explanations of the process before completing this task.  The student being assessed is having a conversation with their EAL teacher.  

The teacher is assessing the student’s ability to:  

  • use the structures and features of an explanation appropriately
  • use appropriate sequence markers
  • incorporating learned vocabulary into a spoken text
  • demonstrate an awareness of the register requirements of spoken English.

The words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold. The words spoken by other student are in italics.  

Transcript

00:06 – 03:48  

   

What we're going to do now is we're going to do an explanation of how a volcano erupts. Okay? And we're going to do it talking. We've done it in writing, haven't we?  

Yes.  

We've been writing about the process of a volcanic eruption and what causes a volcano to erupt. So this time you're going to do the same thing but you're going to be speaking. We're going to use the same features as we used in our writing. So you'll need to use sequencing words to tell us the order of how things happen. And I also would like you to use some cause words to tell us why things are happening. Okay? So let's work together. So what happens at the beginning of the process, Abdirahman? What's the first thing that happens?  

The magma. It starts to melt the rocks, yeah?  

What melts the rocks?  

The magma.  

But the heat  

The melted rock is called magma.  

Oh. The heat.  

What causes the rock to melt.  

The heat.  

The heat. Okay. Okay. What happens next then, Ahmed?  

So gas bubbles form and they rise up to the surface but they are not stable, they're unstable.  

Excellent. What do we also know about magma that makes it go up?  

It's lighter and it's less dense.  

Excellent. That's exactly right. It goes up through the cracks and crevices towards the surface. Then what happens?  

They build up in a place called the magma chamber.  

Okay. How do you feel about doing an explanation from start to finish?  

I think I'm comfortable.  

You think you're comfortable doing it?  

Yeah.  

Okay. Do you want to go first then?  

Yeah.  

Abdi, are you happy for him to go first?  

Yes.  

All right. Okay. Ahmed, tell us, how does a volcano erupt?  

So at the start, underneath the earth's crust is a layer called the mantle. The mantle is so hot that it can melt rocks and it can reach up to 1000 degrees Celsius. But, and then, when the rock melts it turns into a liquid called magma and the magma is hot and it's light. Because the magma is lighter than other rocks around it, if it tries to float up upwards through the cracks and crevices. And as it goes up the bubble, while it goes up bubbles of gas form and it picks up ash and rocks and when it reaches, if it finds a big place to stay, it's… they call it a magma chamber. But then the magma still wants to rise up. So it goes up through to the surface but then the pressure builds up and magma explodes out through the surface.  

Yeah. Excellent explanation.  

  

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Understand increasingly de-contextualised and more complex spoken language (VCEALC405)
  • Contribute information in group tasks or classroom discussions that elaborates or clarifies the topic (VCEALC401)
  • Contribute information in classroom discussions using a range of topic vocabulary and sentence structures that connect ideas (VCEALC401)
  • Understand a new topic delivered with extensive contextual and teacher support - paraphrasing or briefly explaining the topic, using key words and sequencing ideas to reflect the lesson (VCEALC406)
  • Initiate and participate in casual exchanges and in learning contexts (VCEALC404)
  • Respond appropriately during different classroom activities (VCEALA408)
  • Self-correct or reformulate language to convey meaning more clearly (VCEALC403)
  • Understand increasingly de-contextualised and more complex spoken language - preparing and presenting a short talk to a group or the class (VCEALC405)
  • Replicating features of the selected situation, for example formal expression in a talk (VCEALC407)
  • Identify and use features of formal and informal spoken texts - developing an appropriate style of speech for the purpose(VCEALA410)
  • Use appropriate sequence markers (VCEALL414)
  • Use basic and some complex verb forms accurately (VCEALL416)

Possible next steps for this student’s learning

  • Understand a new topic delivered with decreased teacher support (VCEALC406)
  • Use longer descriptive phrases (VCEALL417)
  • Understand and use the features of an increasing range of formal and informal spoken texts (VCEALA410)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A student in Year 3 – 6 who has achieved the B3 standard consistently in all three language modes will transition to the English curriculum when they are:  

  • capable of meeting the learning expectations in the English curriculum at the level taught to their peers, and without substantial language support
  • sufficiently proficient in understanding and using academic language to participate in learning activities across the curriculum
  • capable of understanding and using the academic English of the curriculum in subsequent years without substantial language support, when the cognitive and linguistic demands of the curriculum increase.

At the end of Year 6, students who are working within the B3 range transition to Pathway C in Year 7. Students who have achieved the B3 standard may transition to Pathway C or the English curriculum, depending on what is developmentally appropriate for the individual learner.  

Informative text – Explaining a volcanic eruption (2)

Student information

The student is 11 years and 5 months old and in Grade 6. They experienced some interruption to their schooling in Somalia before coming to Australia 4 years and 8 months ago. They attended a new arrivals program for a year before returning to their mainstream school. They speak Somali at home.  

Task

The students have been learning to read and write explanations in class. They have watched videos, read a model explanation, ordered pictures, sequenced text and written their own explanations of the process before completing this task.  The student being assessed is having a conversation with their EAL teacher.  

The teacher is assessing the student’s ability to:  

  • use the structures and features of an explanation appropriately
  • use appropriate sequence markers
  • incorporating learned vocabulary into a spoken text
  • demonstrate an awareness of the register requirements of spoken English.

The words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold.  

Transcript

00:06 – 04:53  

What we're going to do now is we're going to do an explanation of how a volcano erupts. Okay?  

Okay.  

And we're going to do it talking. We've done it in writing, haven't we?  

Yes.  

We've been writing about the process of a volcanic eruption and what causes a volcano to erupt. So this time you're going to do the same thing but you're going to be speaking. We're going to use the same features as we used in our writing. So you'll need to use sequencing words to tell us the order of how things happen. And I also would like you to use some cause words to tell us why things are happening. Okay? So let's work together. So what happens at the beginning of the process Abdirahman? What's the first thing that happens?  

The magma, it starts to melt the rocks, yeah?  

What melts the rocks?  

The magma. But…  

The melted rock is called magma.  

Oh, the heat.  

What causes the rock to melt?  

The heat.  

The heat. Okay. Do you remember how hot it gets in the mantle?  

Thousand degrees?  

Yeah, up to a thousand degrees. So that extreme heat is what causes the rock to melt. And... what does that make?  

Magma.  

Magma. Okay. So can you put that in a sentence?  

The extreme heat, yeah? The extreme heat melts the rock and it turns it to magma.  

Fantastic. Can you add a bit that tells us where this is happening? Where does this happen?  

Under the earth's crust.  

Under the earth's crust. Okay, so add that in to your sentence.  

The extreme heat melts the rocks under the earth's crust. The extreme heat melts the rocks and turns it into magma under the earth's crust.  

Yeah. So what does the magma do? How does it go up? Where does it go Abdirahman?  

It tries to like find any space in the earth's crust.  

Exactly, exactly. What were those two words? Those two nice tier two words that we used instead of crack, instead of spaces. Have a look on our tier two list.  

Crack, crack.  

What was that other word for cracks? Cracks and...  

Crevices.  

Crevices, Yeah. Okay. So the magma wants to go up. What does it do? Can you help him?  

Yeah. So it goes through cracks and crevices.  

Ah through, yeah. So it finds the cracks and crevices and it goes through them. How do you feel about doing an explanation from start to finish? All right. So, Abdirahman tell us how does a volcano erupt?  

So, um... So under the earth's crust, there's the mantle and it's extremely hot that it can reach a thousand degrees. When... the mantle, it can melt rocks and when the rocks melt, it turns into magma. The... The, mm...  

So what do we know about the magma?  

Uh, it can, It's... it's light and... and it's light and dense. And when the magma is going up and when the magma is going up it carries like little, it carries like bubbles, yeah? And it's trying to like find the space so it can go up and it goes through the cracks and crevices. When... When it goes... When it goes up, yeah? it goes to the magma chamber. And when it goes through the magma chamber, it's um... it's still trying to go up and it carries ash rocks, ash and rocks with it. And once it reaches the surface here, it explodes.  

Excellent. I especially like the once it reach reaches the surface, we hadn't actually talked about that one but that was a really good way of sequencing it. Well done.  

  

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Understand increasingly de-contextualised and more complex spoken language (VCEALC405)
  • Respond to a sequence of instructions (VCEALL420)
  • Beginning to use a range of topic vocabulary (VCEALC401)
  • Understand a new topic delivered with extensive contextual and teacher support (VCEALC406)
  • Rehearse a spoken text (VCEALC407)
  • Respond appropriately during different classroom activities (VCEALA408)
  • Beginning to self-correct or reformulate language to convey meaning more clearly (VCEALC403)
  • Rehearse or role-play a spoken text, such as giving a short talk (VCEALC407)
  • Beginning ton make attempts to formulate appropriate ways of expressing a message to suit a formal situation, using technical vocabulary (VCEALL413)
  • Use appropriate sequence markers (VCEALL414)
  • Use basic and some complex verb forms accurately (VCEALL416)
  • Incorporate vocabulary learnt from classroom activities and texts (VCEALL421)

Possible next steps for this student’s learning

  • Identify and use features of formal and informal spoken texts - developing an appropriate style of speech for the purpose (VCEALA410)
  • Continue to learn about appropriate ways of expressing a message in formal and informal contexts, and adapting their speech to suit a variety of registers (VCEALL413)
  • Use longer descriptive phrases (VCEALL417)
  • Rehearse oral texts with a partner or record using a digital device to self-assess, in order to make improvements (VCEALL423)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A student in Year 3 – 6 who has achieved the B3 standard consistently in all three language modes will transition to the English curriculum when they are:  

  • capable of meeting the learning expectations in the English curriculum at the level taught to their peers, and without substantial language support
  • sufficiently proficient in understanding and using academic language to participate in learning activities across the curriculum
  • capable of understanding and using the academic English of the curriculum in subsequent years without substantial language support, when the cognitive and linguistic demands of the curriculum increase.

At the end of Year 6, students who are working within the B3 range transition to Pathway C in Year 7. Students who have achieved the B3 standard may transition to Pathway C or the English curriculum, depending on what is developmentally appropriate for the individual learner.  

Persuasive text – Which would be better?

Student information

This student is 11 years and 5 months old and in Grade 5. They came to Australia 5 years and 3 months ago from Somalia. Their schooling in their home country was interrupted, so they studied for 4 terms in a new arrivals program before returning to their mainstream school. They speak Somali at home.

Task

Students had been studying persuasive texts in class and practising constructing an oral argument as part of a focus on debating. Students had played this game regularly for oral practice in their EAL withdrawal class, choosing cards and answering the questions as a group. In this task, students demonstrate how to play the game by asking and answering previously encountered questions. The student chose the two questions they wanted to answer. The activity was conducted in a familiar setting with their EAL teacher. The teacher is assessing the student’s ability to understand and use modality.

The words spoken by the student being assessed are in bold.  

Transcript

00.05 – 04:15  

All right, so... Cristina and Zaki, we are going to play the game. What would be better? Which would be better? So, we're going to ask a question and then the other person has to tell us which one they think would be better, okay? And you can tell us why. Cristina, are you ready to ask one to Zaki?  

Mm-hmm. Which would be better? To have a pause button in your life or to have a rewind button in your life?  

To have a rewind button in my life.  

Why?  

Because you can go back in time and you can visit your uh, your grandpa, or like... You can go back to like...ah…  

Where would you go back to?  

To my country.  

You would go back in time to when you lived in Somalia? Okay, why would you go there?  

AH, because I wanna visit my old friends.  

Ah-ha, okay! That would be really nice, wouldn't it? To be able to go and visit your old friends. I wonder if one day you can hop on a plane and go and visit them all grown up instead of going back in time. Cristina, turn the card over and ask him the what if.  

What if you were 100 years old?  

Which would be better if you were 100 years old? A pause button or a rewind button?  

A rewind button.  

Why?  

Because you can, like, you can go back to when you were 20 years old or like, when you were young.  

Mm-hmm. Why would you want to do that?  

Because like... If you are old like you can't like... like you can do most stuff. When you are like 20, you can do like a lot of stuff.  

All right, thank you. Cristina, can you ask your last one.  

Which would be better, to be beautiful, or…but stupid, or to be unattractive, but a genius?  

Which would be better?  

To be beautiful and stupid.  

Why?  

Why?  

Because if you are stupid, you can like, you can learn more stuff and like, it's easy to like, be smart again. But if you're ugly, it's like, hard to be beautiful.  

Hmm, okay. I've got one for you. Which would be better? To live in a cave or to live in a tree? Which would you choose?  

To live in a cave.  

Why would you choose the cave Zaki?  

Because the cave, you can like, you can stay in there and, but like the, if you live in a tree, the tree can get chopped off and like your house can break down and you might die.  

Mm-hmm, so you think a cave might be safer.  

Yeah.  

What if there was a bear in the cave and a snake in the tree? Zaki, would you still live in the cave, or would you change your mind?  

Change my mind.  

Oh, you can live in the tree, why?  

Because bears are fast and like, they can catch you and they're big. But snakes like, you can get away really fast.  

Hmm, it might be easier to escape the snake.  

  

This sample of student work demonstrates that the student can:

  • Contribute information, express ideas and give reasons for opinions in group tasks or classroom discussions (VCEALC401)
  • Respond appropriately to structures through word order and vocabulary rather than through intonation (VCEALL415)
  • Respond appropriately during different classroom activities, for example formulating a structured response in a class discussion (VCEALA408)
  • Understand how modal verbs express probability and possibility (VCEALL418)
  • Rehearse or role-play a spoken text, such as negotiating a problem or giving a short talk (VCEALC407)
  • Use basic and some complex verb forms accurately (VCEALL416)
  • Understand increasingly de-contextualised and more complex spoken language (VCEALC405)
  • Beginning to use modal verbs to express a point of view (VCEALL418)
  • Beginning to assess the grammatical correctness of own utterances and attempt some self-correction (VCEALL419)

Possible next steps for this student’s learning

  • Continue to explicitly teach modal verbs and practise using them to express a point of view (VCEALL418)
  • Continue to build a varied vocabulary to convey shades of meaning (VCEALL421)
  • Practise using a range of non-verbal features to enhance communication, including stress and intonation, eye contact and gestures (VCEALL422)

Pathways and transitions considerations

A student in Year 3 – 6 who has achieved the B3 standard consistently in all three language modes will transition to the English curriculum when they are:  

  • capable of meeting the learning expectations in the English curriculum at the level taught to their peers, and without substantial language support
  • sufficiently proficient in understanding and using academic language to participate in learning activities across the curriculum
  • capable of understanding and using the academic English of the curriculum in subsequent years without substantial language support, when the cognitive and linguistic demands of the curriculum increase.

At the end of Year 6, students who are working within the B3 range transition to Pathway C in Year 7. Students who have achieved the B3 standard may transition to Pathway C or the English curriculum, depending on what is developmentally appropriate for the individual learner. 

Related pages

Student work samples: Level B3 Reading and Viewing
Student work samples: Level B3 Writing
Student work samples: Level B2 Speaking and Listening