Guide · For language teachers

Prepare the whole class for the oral, not just the confident few.

An oral assessment might happen a few times a year, so each one carries a lot of weight. Students who have spoken the most do best, and in a class of thirty the speaking time before the assessment is never evenly shared. The run-up is where you can change that.

See how it works for teachers

Teachers can set up a class for free. Schools can ask about a pilot.

The problem

Why oral assessments are hard to prepare for

Written assessments have a natural rehearsal: homework, quizzes, drafts you can mark. Speaking has nothing like it at scale. You can run a practice round in class, but each student gets a turn or two at most, and you can only listen to one at a time.

So many students arrive at their oral having said their answers out loud a handful of times. They are being tested on fluency they have not had the chance to build, and the nerves of a rare, high-stakes event do the rest.

A run-up plan

Four weeks before the assessment

Week 4: share the format
Give students the topics and the marking criteria, and release the first practice questions in the same format.
Week 3: everyone answers
One or two practice questions a week as homework. Check who has answered and who has not, and follow up early.
Week 2: reteach the patterns
Look at the class’s most common mistakes and put real sentences, without names, on the board. Reteach those, not the whole unit.
Week 1: rehearse under pressure
Unexpected follow-ups, timed answers, and recovery phrases. Ask students to say an answer again after fixing it.

What to rehearse

Formats you can set as practice

Opening question + follow-ups

The classic oral. Practise the opening most: it is where students freeze.

Describe a picture

Attach an image to the question and ask students to describe it and give an opinion.

Respond to a text or a clip

A short passage or an audio recording, then a question about it.

A conversation on a topic

A few minutes of back-and-forth on a topic from the unit, with a transcript you can read.

Argue a side

A short debate in class for the persuasive or opinion part of an assessment.

Afterwards

After the assessment, keep the loop going

The marks tell you how students did on the day. The mistakes they made in practice tell you why, and they rarely disappear on their own. Release one follow-up question on the same topic a week later and ask students to use the fixes they were given.

Students who struggled most usually benefit from a short drill built from their own errors rather than another full question. It keeps the next assessment from starting at the same place.

Honestly

Where Cadentia fits: the practice, not the assessment

Cadentia gives you the rehearsal: every student speaking several times before the assessment, and a view of the class’s mistakes. The assessment itself stays yours.

Before the assessment (Cadentia)

Practice questions in the assessment’s format, released on your schedule
Fixes on each student’s own words, then “say it again”
Who has practised, and the class’s top mistakes
Transcripts you can read, mark and comment on

The assessment itself (you)

Your rubric and your marks
Your conditions: corrections hidden, timing, follow-ups
Cadentia does not have an exam mode yet, so run the assessment as you do now
Your judgement of each student

Questions

Can Cadentia run or mark the oral assessment itself?

No. It is built for practice: students see fixes as soon as they answer, which is right for practice and wrong for an assessment. An exam mode with corrections hidden is not available yet. Run the assessment as you do now.

How do I know which students have practised?

Each practice question shows how many students answered and who has not, so you can follow up before the assessment.

Can I use my own assessment questions?

Yes. Write your own questions, with follow-ups, target structures and target words, and attach a picture, a short text or an audio clip.

Will it improve my students’ marks?

We do not promise marks. It gives every student far more speaking practice before the assessment, and gives you a view of the mistakes to reteach.

Is it suitable for university courses?

Yes, the same approach works for university language courses with an oral component. For larger departments, ask us about a pilot.

Related guides

See it with your own class.