Feedback Hacks for Oral Exams

One of the areas I’ve most evolved in as a teacher is how to do exams, and specifically, how I give feedback after exams. Over the years, I’ve reduced and re-worked my systems to make things easier for me, while still being beneficial for students. In other words, I got tired of spending hours and hours and hours working on grading and feedback when there was a better way.

 First, let me tell you how I used to grade exams and give feedback on spoken exams.

On exam day, I would arrive at my classroom with a legal pad and pen. Students would be chosen at random to take their spoken exams. As students would present their conversations or presentations, I would take notes about their performances on a legal pad. I divided the page in half and wrote down each positive or negative comment. Of course, it ended up looking like chicken scratches (which was okay because I didn’t want other students to see their classmate’s feedback). At the top of the page next to the student’s name, I would write their approximate score. (If I needed to, I would go back and change it.) When I got home, I would record their final score, then re-write the feedback on a piece of paper and give it to my students next time. That meant hours and hours of writing (and rewriting the same phrases again and again!)

Time spent: Hours and hours and hours

Then, we moved into the world of technology. I moved from a remote village where we didn’t have stable electricity, and most people didn’t have smart phones to one of the biggest cities in the country. I started bringing my laptop to class, where I could type up my feedback, and send the feedback individually after class. One big bonus was that I realized I could copy and paste certain feedback that often got repeated. I would open up a Word document with my feedback form and have my notes app open next to it with commonly-used feedback. For example, if a student didn’t reach the time requirements, I would copy and paste, “You were short on time. Next time, try to reach the time requirements.” Or if a student was struggling with pronunciation, I could copy and paste, “Keep working on your “th” sound. Sometimes when you said “th,” it sounded like “s.” In class, I would type my positive and negative comments, and after grades were posted, I would copy the feedback into individual Word documents and send each document to each student individually. As I sent the feedback out, I noticed some students would respond enthusiastically, but others didn’t respond at all.

Time spent: Hours and hours

Now, I’ve streamlined this. I bring my laptop to class and still take notes. Instead of just writing down the comments as they come to me, I have a simple feedback form that separates positive and negative feedback. The week before, I have students sign up to choose the order, so I’m able to come to class on exam day with names already filled out in the document. I have space to record the time they spoke, and space to record positive and negative comments. I don’t worry about recording the grade on the feedback form (since I can’t release that information until grades have been officially posted). Instead, I just tell the students that this is specifically about feedback. I don’t create Word documents, since the time it takes to create a new document, copy and paste the feedback, and save the document all really adds up. Instead, I screenshot the feedback from my original feedback document and send the screenshot to students. I also don’t send feedback to each student anymore. At the beginning and end of the exam time, I tell students that I am typing up feedback on my computer, and if they want to see the feedback, they should send me a message. The message can just be a simple, “Hi, Megan! I want to see my feedback!” Then, I go through my messages screenshotting and sending the feedback. This saves me hours and hours each exam season. Another tip is about timing. I used to do two-minute exams, but I found that quite stressful. It was hard to listen carefully and write thoughtful feedback in such a rushed time. A three-minute presentation gives me some wiggle room in typing up feedback, and a four-minute presentation is even easier. It gives me the time to write something like, “Keep working on your vowel sounds. Sometimes your “u” sounds more like an “a” sound—for example, in the word “culture.” Instead of “Keep working on your vowel sounds.” Another help tip is that I started saving about ten minutes at the end of class for feedback. I tell students that they can come directly to me and my computer to look at the feedback immediately. Since there’s no information about grades on the form, I can do this without anyone seeing other people’s grades. In this ten-minute period, I’m able to share feedback with most of the students who approach me. Many students will even pull out their phones and take a picture of my screen. It’s nice to have the chance to speak face to face and make the feedback feel more personal. By the end of the ten-minute period, if students still want me to send them their feedback, they can still message me and ask, but the number of students who message me is reduced, since many of them already got their feedback.

Time spent: Minutes

In summary, here are my feedback hacks for oral exams:

• Use a computer to type up notes rather than writing by hand

• Use a simple form to organize the feedback

• Don’t record grades on the form; focus on feedback

• Copy and paste commonly-given feedback

• Give yourself more time by extending the exam requirement time

• Allow a few minutes at the end of class to give feedback face to face

• Ask students to message you if they want feedback

• Screenshot the form to send feedback, rather than sending individualized documents

Exam time is a trying time for all of us. Hopefully you can use some of these tips and not waste as much time as I have over the years. Happy testing!