Oral expression: between holistic and analytical assessment

Abstract

The article focuses on a reflection on the processes of assessment of the oral expression in the classroom. Starting from the hypothesis that in the context of oral teaching-learning there are common practices adopted by many teachers and mirrored in teaching materials, it is argued that the approach to this competence is processed above all in a holistic way. Based on data from empirical observation and analysis of the assessment grids of oral expression proposed by different school textbooks, it can be deduced that the school tends to treat oral presentations in all their domains in each intervention, from the verbal to the kinesic and paralinguistics, without dedicating itself to specific contents. An analysis of the "Aprendizagens essenciais" ("Essential Learning", programm of study) is also carried out in order to identify both the contents/knowledge taught in each year/school cycle, and the oral plans contemplated and their organization throughout the school career. It is argued that this conception of current oral teaching has consequences for assessment practices that are also oriented towards a holistic observation that considers the globality of the parameters that involve an oral presentation.