Informal Speaking Rubric
Dimension
The student: 4 3 2 1
Initiation
Eagerly initiates speech, uti-
lizing appropriate attention-
getting devices. Easily asks
questions and speaks sponta-
neously.
Is willing to initiate speech,
utilizing appropriate atten-
tion-getting devices. Asks
questions and speaks evenly.
Sometimes initiates speech,
using attention-getting
devices. Sometimes asks ques-
tions and speaks hesitantly.
I
s reluctant to initiate speech
and struggles to ask ques-
tions. Speech is halting.
Response
Almost always responds
appropriately to
questions/statements.
Frequently responds appro-
priately to questions/state-
ments.
Sometimes responds appropri-
ately to questions/statements.
Rarely responds appropriately
to questions/statements.
Conversational
Strategies
Clarifies and continues con-
versation, using all or some
of the following strategies:
• circumlocution
• survival strategies
• intonation
• self-correction
• verbal cues
Uses all or some strategies,
but may need occasional
prompting.
Uses some strategies and
needs frequent prompting to
further the conversation.
Uses few strategies. Relies
heavily on conversation part-
ner to sustain conversation.
Rarely responds even with
frequent prompting.
Vocabulary
• Incorporates a variety of
old and new vocabulary.
• Uses idiomatic expres-
sions appropriate to topic.
• Speaks clearly and imi-
tates accurate pronunciation.
• Utilizes a variety of old
and limited new vocabulary.
• Attempts to use idiomatic
expressions appropriate to
topic.
• Speaks clearly and
attempts accurate
pronunciation.
• Relies on basic vocabulary.
• Speech is comprehensible
in spite of mispronunciations.
• Uses limited vocabulary.
• Mispronunciations impede
comprehensibility.
Structure
Makes few errors in the fol-
lowing areas:
• verbs in utterances when
necessary with appropriate
subject/verb agreement
• noun and adjective agree-
ment
• correct word order and
article adjectives
Errors do not hinder compre-
hensibility.
Makes several errors in struc-
ture which do not affect over-
all comprehensibility.
Makes several errors which
may interfere with compre-
hensibility.
Makes utterances which are
so brief that there is little evi-
dence of structure and com-
prehensibility is impeded.
Cultural
Appropriateness
Almost always uses/inter-
prets cultural manifestations
when appropriate to the task
(e.g., greeting, leave taking,
gestures, proximity, etc.).
Frequently uses/interprets
cultural manifestations when
appropriate to the task.
Sometimes uses/interprets
cultural manifestations when
appropriate to the task.
Rarely uses/interprets cultur-
al manifestations when appro-
priate to the task.
A zero can be given in any of the above dimen-
sions when the student’s performance falls below
the criteria described for a score of “1.”
Conversion Chart
22-24 10 12-13 6 3-4 2
19-21 9 10-11 5 1-2 1
17-18 8 7-9 4
14-16 7 5-6 3
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