Assessment of oral communication skills in elementary school reading circles

For teaching staff, the evaluation of oral communication skills remains a complex practice, since it is intangible and characterized by a variety of uses and standards. Teaching oral communication skills also poses an array of challenges. Combining them with a new learning device, the reading circle, adds another level of complexity. Difficulties arise in the evaluation of oral communication skills for this teaching tool because the interactions are spontaneous and mainly in peer groups. In reading circles, students discuss their personal reading practices, their preferences and the reasons they chose a particular book based on their knowledge, ideas and reading strategies. The objective of the article is to identify the perceptions and challenges of oral communication evaluation in the context of these reading circles. The results of an ongoing action research conducted with 10 Quebec primary school teachers show their initial perception of the evaluation of oral communication and reading. Semi-directed interviews help refine the understanding of challenges involved in evaluating oral communication skills in the context of reading circles, as well as the implementation of referential mechanisms for evaluation. The discussion presents didactic proposals for assessing oral communication competence in spontaneous and multi-managed situations.