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The assessments
included seven speaking tasks that involved students in giving oral
descriptions, three based on viewing and listening to video recordings,
three based on viewing photographs and one based on experiences during
the NEMP assessments. Five of the tasks used the one-to-one interview
approach, while the other two used the group approach. All of the tasks
were identical for year 4 and year 8 students.
Two tasks are trend tasks (fully described with data for both 2000 and
2004), two are released tasks (fully described with data for 2004 only)
and three are link tasks (to be used again in 2008, so only partially
described here). The tasks are presented in that order.
The performances of year 4 and year 8 students in 2004 were compared
on 66 components of the seven tasks. On average, 14 percent more year
8 than year 4 students succeeded on these components. The largest differences
(averaging 26 percent) occurred on Flags, which required developing
and delivering a complex set of instructions. The smallest differences
(averaging 10 percent) occurred on Pet Line, a task that largely required
description.
Changes in performance between 2000 and 2004 could be examined on the
two trend tasks. Averaged across the 23 components of these tasks, there
was no change in the performance of year 4 students between 2000 and
2004, but three percent fewer year 8 students succeeded in 2004 than
in 2000. A very similar pattern was found four years ago, for the trends
between 1996 and 2000. Taken together, these results suggest no change
in oral description skills at year 4 level over the eight years from
1996 to 2004, but a small decline at year 8 level.
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