Speaking is possibly one of the most important aspects of learning a language. Whether we are travelling, conducting meetings, making transactions, or socialising, we are likely to engage in spoken interactions. Speech, after all, pre-dates the written word by some distance!

And yet, speaking is one of the most difficult aspects of language learning to assess. The competing demands of understanding the task or question, producing spontaneous answers with accurate yet fluent language, appropriate vocabulary, and effective pronunciation, and conveying meaning are considerable. Practicing such activities in a class environment also presents challenges, mainly how to prepare 20+ students for a one-to-one or small group assessment scenario.