Skill Align TASC English as an Additional Language or Dialect Level 3 - Free Online Pack 0 Oral Companion
English as an Additional Language or Dialect Level 3 | EAL315120 | External Assessment | Oral Examination | 2026
- Paper
- Oral Examination Companion
- Oral examination duration
- 10–12 minutes
- Assessment
- 1 Criterion 4 extended rating
This practice framework supports a conversation about the candidate's own negotiated task. It does not prescribe the candidate's topic or replace the negotiated report.
Oral Examination - General Conversation - Criterion 4
Participate in a 10–12 minute general conversation with the examiners about your negotiated task. The prompts are adaptable and need not be used in a fixed order.
Question 1
1 extended ratingBring a copy of your negotiated task/report if available. You will not be penalised if you do not have the copy.
The oral examination is a 10–12 minute general conversation with the examiners about your negotiated task and related personal, social and cultural issues.
Adaptable examiner prompts: 1. What led you to choose this issue? 2. What is your main conclusion? 3. Which evidence most influenced your view? 4. What limitation, qualification or counterargument is important? 5. How does this issue affect young adults? 6. What broader personal, social or cultural implication follows? 7. Is there a term or idea from your report that you can explain in more detail? 8. Has your view changed during the research process? Why?
Indicative Response Guidance And Skill Align Practice Marking Guidance
Question 1
A successful candidate demonstrates detailed knowledge of their own negotiated task, explains the issue and conclusions accurately, refers to specific research or examples, responds directly to examiner questions, qualifies claims where appropriate, connects the task to wider implications and maintains an appropriately formal but conversational register. The content will differ for every candidate.
Indicative response guidance - not a model or required answer. Judge spoken-English communication across the complete conversation, not the candidate's choice of topic.
Skill Align practice rating guidance - not an official TASC marking tool
Credit relevant, developed responses grounded in the candidate's negotiated task and responsive to the examiner's questions. Other accurate, relevant and well-supported performances may receive the same or a higher practice result. Knowledge of the task supports interaction but does not replace assessment of spoken-English communication.
Criterion 4 - communicate in spoken English
Assign one independent extended rating using the current Criterion 4 standards. Judge the complete 10–12 minute general conversation, including interaction and spontaneous responses.
Acceptable alternatives: Credit relevant, developed responses grounded in the candidate's negotiated task. A natural self-correction may support communication and is not automatically an error.
Do not credit by itself: A memorised monologue that does not respond to examiner questions; Short answers without elaboration or relevant examples; Pronunciation, sentence control, vocabulary or register that reduces intelligibility
Diagnostic Checklist
| Review focus | Section | Reflection and next action |
|---|---|---|
| TEAL-O-CONVERSATION - Memorised monologue instead of conversation | Oral Q1 | Practise pausing, answering the exact question and building on an examiner's wording. |
| TEAL-O-DEVELOP - Short or undeveloped answers | Oral Q1 | Extend each answer with a reason, a specific example and a brief implication. |
| TEAL-O-TASK - Knowledge of negotiated task is weak | Oral Q1 | Prepare a one-page summary of the issue, method, main conclusion, limitation and key terms. |
| TEAL-O-EVIDENCE - Research evidence not explained | Oral Q1 | State what the evidence shows, why it matters and one limit on the conclusion. |
| TEAL-O-INTERACT - Limited interaction with questions | Oral Q1 | Acknowledge the question, answer directly and invite or respond to clarification naturally. |
| TEAL-O-SENTENCE - Sentence range is weak | Oral Q1 | Practise combining clear simple sentences with controlled because, although and therefore clauses. |
| TEAL-O-REGISTER - Register is too informal | Oral Q1 | Replace slang or vague fillers with conversational but appropriately formal expressions. |
| TEAL-O-INTELLIGIBILITY - Pronunciation, stress or intonation reduces intelligibility | Oral Q1 | Record a practice answer and mark unclear key words, word stress and sentence focus for rehearsal. |
| TEAL-O-FLUENCY - Fluency is limited | Oral Q1 | Practise speaking from key words, using brief pauses and discourse markers rather than memorised sentences. |
| TEAL-O-SELF-CORRECT - Self-correction is absent or disruptive | Oral Q1 | Use a short reformulation such as 'More precisely...' and continue without restarting the whole answer. |
| TEAL-O-IMPLICATION - Examples or broader implications are insufficient | Oral Q1 | Prepare one research example, one young-adult connection and one wider personal, social or cultural implication. |