The second question I asked all my informants was; what is tested in the exam? When asking this question I wanted to find out what the teachers actually assess in an English oral exam. I wanted to find out whether it was language skills or content knowledge that was considered to be most important. In the following I will go through what I found out and give examples of what the informants told me.
55 Out of my 16 informants, 14 said that it is the competency aims from the subject curriculum that are assessed. The two teachers who did not mention the competency aims explicitly, instead referring to competences that are actually a part of the subject curriculum and the competency aims. The main finding is that it is obvious that the competency aims are important to all the teachers, and that is important for oral examinations in Norway. Many of the informants give examples of what is assessed, in the following I will present some of these examples.
To start with, one informant, Birgitte, told me that the students have to show that they can go in depth on the topic and show that they are capable of using sources in a critical and independent way. Furthermore, the students have to show that they can relate texts they have worked with earlier in the school year to the topic they present on the oral examination. Next they have to show that they are able to use the knowledge they have in a relevant manner for the exam. Birgitte also mentioned that it is important that the students are able to give their own opinions. To sum it up, she feels that knowledge, understanding and language skills are tested in the oral exam, and that they all should count the same when assessing. Several teachers mention the same elements.
One of the informants who used a listening test in the examination, said that this makes it possible to test both how well the students can communicate about topics they have gone through earlier, but also how well they can discuss new information and material through the listening test.
Several of the informants give examples of language skills are tested in the exam. For example Silje said: “The students have to be able to use an advanced and varied vocabulary and it is important that they use correct grammar. I also think it is an advantage if the students speak either British English or American English, rather than mixing them.” Silje is the only teacher that mentions this aspect. In addition she pays especially attention to the use of voiced s/z, to diphthongs, and to other phonological elements that can help place the students on the correct level in language knowledge and skills. Other informants also mention that
vocabulary, fluency and grammar are important, while one informant emphasized the importance of intonation and pronunciation and said that it is also tested how well the students are able to listen and have a conversation in English as well as the skill of giving a presentation.
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In addition to language skills, many informants mentioned content, reflection and communication skills as aspects that are tested in the exam. Mari said: “I think it is very important that both informal and formal communication skills are tested in the exam”. To ensure this she uses the listening test in groups in order to test their informal communication skills. Only one informant said that they also test how well made the presentation is made. I understand this the way that they evaluate the students' digital skills in the oral exam, and it is interesting that they do so, since the Directorate of Education has pointed out that it is the students' performance in the examination that is to be tested, not what they have done in the preparation period. Finally, several of the informants mentioned that they also assess how well the students solve their problem formulation.
Above I have given a selection of examples of what the informants said is assessed in the examination, and as we see there are several elements that according to the informants are assessed. Consequently, I think that what the above findings show is that it might not be completely clear to all parties what should be assessed in the examination. When the informants present so many things that should be assessed in the examination, it to me does not seem easy for the students to know what they are tested in. Some of the informants mentioned that the competency aims that are going to be tested are given to the students together with the topic for the preparation period, while others do not mention this. I would think that this is the case in more schools, but maybe not all. The fact that the informants mentioned so many different elements that are assessed in the examination shows that there might be confusion even among the teachers as to what should be assessed in an oral examination. My question is therefore, how should the students understand what they are tested in if the teachers do not really know? This is an interesting point that I will come back to in the discussion. In the following I will go through the informants' answers concerning who is responsible for making the examination.