For many teachers, speaking and listening are skills that come naturally. They are used to standing up and talking in front of people and can parse complex communication cues with ease. The same is not always true for young people studying functional skills (FS) English.

The fact that this part of the FS course is simply called “speaking and listening” must seem, to many students, to be a massive oversimplification of the skills they are being asked to master.

Far from just having to speak and listen, the marking criteria make it clear that this aspect of FS English is much more complicated: the level descriptors state that students must “consider complex information and give a relevant, cogent response in appropriate language” and “make significant contributions to discussions, taking a range of roles and helping to move discussion forward”.

Standing up and presenting to a group of people is something that many functional skills students find incredibly nerve racking to begin with, but to ask them to deliver their presentation “clearly and persuasively” on top of that? It’s no wonder that many FS teachers (and their students) report that speaking and listening is one of the toughest parts of the FS course.

Fe Brewer is an FS English tutor who works in colleges and schools across Leicestershire. She says the skills needed to do well on the discussion and presentation tasks shouldn’t be underestimated.

“The complex demands of interjecting and moving discussions forward is perhaps underrated and very difficult to teach,” she says. “It is especially [difficult] if students don’t come from a background that has socialised them in conducting rational or polite discussions.”

This complexity has led some to argue that FS students are getting a raw deal. After all, speaking and listening is a much smaller component of the GCSE English course (FS students are required to complete more speaking and listening assessments, and to evidence their work in more detail), and yet many consider GCSE to be the more desirable qualification of the two.

What’s more, for FS, every assessment needs to be recorded whereas, at GCSE, teachers are asked to record only a sample. This requirement adds an extra layer of challenge for the teachers and the students - even the most confident of speakers can go to pieces when they are staring into a video camera.

However, Kellie McCord, an English tutor who works with FS students in FE colleges, says it is the GCSE students who are really missing out here.

She says the lower “value” placed on speaking and listening at GCSE only results in those students not having the same chance to continue to develop the oral and aural skills that will be so important in their lives outside the classroom.

“I think the speaking component is highly beneficial for students as it gives them an opportunity to practise their speaking skills, which is vital for most milestones in life: job interviews, interviews for internships or apprenticeships, or colleges and universities, or even mortgage lenders, to name but a few,” she explains.

Given how much of a focus the FE sector places on preparing students for later life, it really pays for teachers to get such an important element of the functional skills course right.

So, what can FE teachers do to make teaching and learning more effective in this area? Overleaf, experienced FS teachers share their tips, hacks and solutions for speaking and listening assessments.

1. Never start the year with the speaking and listening component

With speaking and listening, it’s not just what you do, or the way that you do it - it’s when.

The temptation might be to start the FS course with this element as it carries no weighting of marks and could therefore be considered the component with the lowest stakes. But that would be a mistake, says Samantha Starling, subject coordinator for English Functional Skills at Suffolk One.

Success in speaking and listening depends on students and teachers having the time to build relationships first, she argues.

“Let them get to know each other and practise the skills first before they have the pressure of assessment,” she says.

“Having the confidence to speak in public is something that most students seem to struggle with,” Starling continues. “For this reason, I wouldn’t do the actual speaking assessments at the beginning of the course but, instead, would build in plenty of opportunities for discussion and group presentations.”

2. Minimise stress

Clarissa Ford is head of English at The Sixth Form College, Colchester. Her students are studying FS English alongside preparing for their GCSE English resits. The benefit of this is that it allows students to use the same speaking and listening assessments as evidence for their FS and GCSE qualifications. However, the downside is that every assessment then needs to be recorded, which can increase anxiety for students.

Ford says that there are some simple steps that teachers can take to make the experience feel less daunting, though.

“Small changes can make a big difference. Making an adjustment, such as putting more nervous students into groups for the discussion with particularly empathetic and kind students, can really help,” she explains.

Another tip is to allow the most anxious students to take the fourth or fifth presentation slot “so they can see others go first and can reduce their stress”, and to allow them to remain seated when taking their turn rather than asking them to stand to present at the front of the class.

Ford also suggests giving students lots of opportunities to rehearse their speech in the run-up to the day of the presentation.

“We encourage students to practise as much as possible,” she says. “For our EAL (English as an additional language) students, we give them the opportunity to rehearse with our learning support department and their learning support assistants.”

3. Help students to take ownership of assessments

The time demands for the speaking and listening assessment can be really challenging for some students. When presenting in front of your peers, it never feels like “just” 10 minutes.

Starling says that giving students strategies for managing the time can be useful here.

“Students can be intimidated by the length of time they have to talk for,” she says. “To help, students need to be taught how to prepare for a speaking assessment effectively and shown strategies for giving an extended presentation. This can be achieved through looking at exemplars and modelling, as well as plenty of opportunities for practice.”

It also helps, she continues, to give students some freedom over the topics they present on.

“We encourage students to choose presentation topics they already know something about or are personal to them. For example, students might choose to focus on a hobby, their home country or town, or a career aspiration. This year, we had a varied range of presentations, including on São Tomé and Príncipe, a Hot Wheels collection, Dungeons & Dragons, photography and paediatric nursing.”

Ford agrees that offering students choice is a good strategy, adding that it can also be helpful to encourage them to think in a cross-curricular way.

“We suggest to students that they talk about the topics they’re studying in their other subjects. This really helps their confidence and reduces the fear of the ticking clock,” she says.

4. Go digital to improve your admin

Speaking and listening does not only present challenges for the students, though. It can also be a difficult area for teachers to assess. To make the process easier, McCord recommends using technology to cope with the administrative demands: “I have found that recording students and then using an app such as Rev.com or Speechnotes to transcribe the audio files [is helpful].”

Meanwhile, to organise her marks for assessments, she suggests using a list-making app, such as Trello.

“You can create individual cards for each student, and you can archive notes so it helps to keep it clear and easy to follow.”

And when it comes to preparing for the day of the assessment, Brewer says that forward planning is everything.

“Get as prepared in advance as possible. Have forms and files for recordings ready before the event - rather than scrabbling around afterwards - and read through the forms and requirements in detail beforehand so that the phrasing is in your mind before writing the forms out.”

Grainne Hallahan is senior content writer at Tes. She tweets @heymrshallahan

This article originally appeared in the 30 July 2021 issue under the headline “Hacks to master speaking and listening skills”