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Discourse Activity

Speaking Skills in KET

The way we speak and listen to others varies depending on our purpose in conversing - whether it is a transaction, such as asking for information, or an interaction, such as developing a social relationship.

In the KET Speaking test, candidates are given different tasks which require them to carry out both transactional and interactional conversations. The tasks are designed to test whether candidates are able to handle basic communication in very familiar situations.

When we speak, we need to operate in a variety of situations, and so be able to perform in short and longer turns, and to recognise when we should speak and signal when others can say something.

In the KET Speaking test, candidates have to demonstrate their ability to convey basic meaning in very familiar or highly predictable situations, and produce rehearsed or formulaic phrases, both when speaking to the interlocutor and to another candidate. Attempts at long turns may lack coherence, but not so that they strain the listener.

Our relative success as speakers is shown in the outcome of our speaking - do we transmit or receive the information we want, or develop a relationship - which depends on using different discourse features and functions in different situations.

The emphasis in the KET Speaking test is on getting the meaning across despite limitations in the language produced, and on communicating appropriately most of the time.

Here are some examples of different features and functions of spoken language at all levels and real-world situations in which you would use them.

• When you meet someone at a party, you ask and respond to questions, expand on your answers, give personal information and talk about your present and past circumstances.
  
  
• If you are in a tourist information centre, you ask direct questions to receive specific information.
  
  
• If you are deciding with a friend what you will do at the weekend you negotiate, suggest, agree and disagree.
  
  
• If you are discussing the political situation in your country with friends, you take turns, exchange and justify opinions, and speculate.
  
  
• If you are telling a story about something that happened to you, you are sustaining a long turn and managing discourse by organising ideas and language, using appropriate vocabulary and keeping the message clear.