‘Speaking and Listening Success Criteria’ EAL Strategy: Explanation and Rationale

It can be hard to achieve success, although it is much harder if you do not know what criteria you are being judged against.

An athlete, for example, trains with a clear end in mind: they know what the requirements of their sport are, and they know what standard they have to meet to be successful.

This standard may be a rough one (as in Sunday league football) or a precise one (as in the final of the Olympic 1500 metres).

If an athlete were told to train, but the nature of what they were training for was not revealed to them, they would be in a quandary.

Do they take a risk and try to guess what demands will be made of them, or do they aim for the middle and seek a high level of general fitness?

The latter option is certainly safer and may lead to reasonable results.

Even without knowing specifics, an athlete would know they needed to be physically fit, flexible, mentally tough and so on.

But life would be so much easier if the true demands of success were revealed to them.

If we have clarity over what success looks like, it’s much easier to target our efforts effectively.

In the classroom, with learners replacing athletes, success in speaking and listening has the potential to be uncertain. Particularly for EAL learners.

Success criteria can help us change this.

By sharing with learners what it is they are being judged against, our expectations become clearer.

And, as a result, they are easier to meet.

Speaking and Listening Success Criteria: Example One

EAL learners may not be able to access the same success criteria as other learners in the class.

It depends on where they are at with their language development.

Therefore, it can be useful to provide a separate set of criteria, based on your assessment of their current abilities.

Alternatively, you can give them a wide set of success criteria you would like them to meet over an extended period (a term, for example).

The two of you can then review progress at certain points, with the learner keeping hold of the criteria.

This becomes a speaking and listening success tool for them.

Speaking and Listening Success Criteria: Example Two

Use pictures, images or icons to supplement any written success criteria you provide.

This helps your EAL learners to grasp the meaning of what you have written down.

It makes accessing and assimilating the success criteria simpler and easier.

It may also make them more memorable.

Simple examples include a question mark to signify asking questions and an ear with a hand cupped to it to signify sustained listening.

Speaking and Listening Success Criteria: Example Three

Identify learners who have met your speaking and listening success criteria.

Ask them to repeat their performances for the whole class.

You and they can then explain why what they did was good, referencing the success criteria and highlighting specific elements of their speaking and listening.

A development of this is to ask those learners who meet the criteria to work with your EAL learners, showing them what they have done (and acting as peer models).

It is important that the links between their actions and the success criteria are made explicit.

This helps learners who are learning English to equate what they have seen and heard with the written or spoken success criteria that have been otherwise shared.