Preparing CBSE School Students for ASL (Assessment of Speaking and Listening)

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• Assessment of Speaking and Listening, CBSE Assessment of Speaking and Listening
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CBSE Assessment of Speaking and Listening - Good communication skill is the objective of any language learning. That the learners of any language are able to interpret what is being said and are able to express themselves well are important parameters while assessing their proficiency level in the said language.

To ensure that the learners have achieved the desired proficiency level towards the end of their school years, CBSE decided to conduct assessments for listening and speaking for the secondary classes.

This Assessment of Speaking and Listening (ASL) has been made mandatory by CBSE since 2012. All CBSE affiliated schools now require having summative as well as formative assessments for English in classes IX and XI.

Recognising the tremendous responsibility of the teachers in bringing up the standards in communication skills of the learners, CBSE provides them with relevant support material and conducts training sessions regularly.

These help the teachers get familiar with the objectives and the formats of the assessments, both formative and summative. The parameters for testing and their measurement base works on pre-determined standards. However, it is expected that whatever the learners will be tested in should be practised and learnt in class. The teacher hence needs to ensure that these skills are consciously addressed in the day-to-day classroom sessions. The learners have to be guided to develop and hone these skills of speaking and listening.

Although, it is expected that learners going through an English medium education are reasonably proficient in speaking in English, the harsh reality is that this may not be true. Many a learner or even entire classes needs the assistance of stimulated speaking sessions, wherein a safe environment for speaking in the target language is created.

The case with their listening skills is not any different. Reading between the lines and understanding what is being meant is a skill that is lacking in most. The art of looking for hints to interpret and deduce meaning if consciously taught to the learners, can enhance their listening skills manifold. Words Worth English Language Lab, provides ample teaching material in enhancing the learners' speaking and listening skills.

To assist them, the learners can be provided with a bank of vocabulary or expressions best suited to a relevant topic. This hand-holding instils in them the confidence needed to speak and express themselves with assertion. Also, if guided towards contextually analysing a given audio file, they develop a knack for interpreting speech.

The ASL content in Words Worth English Language Lab provides ample opportunity to the teachers and learners to use and consciously enhance their listening and speaking skills.

The importance of listening and speaking as language skills cannot be undermined. With their assessment being made mandatory, a structured teaching to that effect becomes all the more profound. A guided and appropriate teaching content thus becomes the need of the hour.