Spoken English Contest Marking Scheme for Impromptu

Spoken English Contest

Marking Scheme for Impromptu

Max points	EXCELLENT	excellent	good	satisf.	limited	unsatisf.	UNSATISFACTORY
10	IDEAS -relevant, accurate details, fresh and original, questions anticipated and answered, an understanding of life, holds the listener’s attention	10	8	6	4	2	IDEAS - Sketchy, still in search of a topic. Still brainstorming, missing details, limited and unclear ideas, repetitious, disconnected, random thoughts
30	ORGANIZATION - structure and presentation moves the listener through the speech, inviting introduction, satisfying conclusion, a sense of closure, smooth transitions, connected ideas, details well placed, logical sequencing, good pace, slows down and speeds up when necessary, aware of the audience and purpose - easy flow, good rhythm, cadence, well built sentences, strong, varied and expressive, vary in length and structure, dialogue sounds natural, different beginnings, creative and appropriate connectors, the listener likes what (s)he hears	30	25	20	15	10	ORGANIZATION - lacks a clear sense of direction, ideas, details and events are loose, random, there is no internal structure, connectors are confusing or absent, random sequencing, speaker crawls slowly, little attempt at separating ideas , the listener finds it difficult to follow the line of the story, - no rhythm, choppy sentences, incomplete, rambling, sentences need work, phrasing doesn’t sound natural, repeated patterns lulls the listener to sleep, no sentence sense, endless connectives – and, and, so, so, or complete lack of connectives
30	LANGUAGE - precise, natural, powerful, engaging, specific, accurate, easy to understand, striking to catch the listener’s attention, linger in the listener’s mind, lively verbs add energy, deep meanings, intensifiers add power, meaning is clear, precision is obvious, correct verb tense, clear references from pronouns to nouns, correct agreement	30	25	20	15	10	LANGUAGE - limited vocabulary, nonspecific, limited meaning, many words don’t work, used incorrectly, misused parts of speech affect understanding, clichés, repetitions, omissions, lack of control of irregular forms – runned, not never, more higher, the listener doesn’t know who is who, the listener is left wondering
30	DELIVERY - lively, enthusiastic, change of volume adds interest and emphasis, rate of delivery varies, pauses add interest and stir curiosity, clear pronunciation, very few disfluencies such as “ahs”, “uhms” and “you knows”, eye contact, body language, meets time limit - speaker addresses the listener directly, in an engaging manner, S connects strongly with the audience, natural language, S includes personal details and opinions that reveal the person behind the words, makes  the listener think of the S’s point of view.	30	25	20	15	10	DELIVERY - volume too loud or too low, rate too fast or too slow, pauses too long or at inappropriate spots, unclear pronunciation, many disfluencies - “ahs”, “uhms” and “you knows”, speaks too little, no eye contact, no body language, the listener is distracted by problems in delivery, the listener has to work to understand the words - Speaker seems indifferent to topic and content, lacks audience engagement, S fails to connect with the audience, has no clear purpose, S speaks in a mechanical, detached manner, lacks accurate information, no point of view can be discerned
100