Speaking Test | Video analysis B1+

The speaking videos show two students being assessed on Cambridge First (FCE) for Schools style tasks.
On pages 140–143 of the Student’s Book, you will find accompanying exercises for students to complete before,
during and after watching.
In most speaking examinations, students are assessed on a variety of criteria including Grammar & Vocabulary,
Discourse management, Pronunciation, Interactive communication and also their overall performance.
The tasks in the Student’s Book encourage students to analyse elements of these criteria, but you could also use the
information below if you want to give students further opportunity to focus on the content and the comments that
an examiner may write. After the comments, the ➝ shows a way they can improve in that area. For more confident
students, you could have them complete an empty table with the information. For less confident students, you could
work together as a class to complete the positive and negative elements for each of the criteria, and then have
students work individually to come up with suggestions for improvement.
Below the table for each task is an extension activity where students can reflect on how the students
performed in the video and then have the opportunity to do the task themselves.
Part 1
Grammar & Vocabulary
LAURA JULIO
She gave an adequate response to the question about He offered some detail about the climate of his city in
her city using interesting vocabulary such as ‘ambience’, the first question: ‘It has a mild climate … it’s not too
and when discussing the second question she referred hot, but not too cold.’
to ‘stable friendships’. He used ‘because’ incorrectly at the start of his answer
In answer to the third question she missed out auxiliary to the first question. He missed the opportunity to use
verbs: ‘a lot of people [are] working, having their free future tenses in the third question.
times there’, and would sound more natural using the ➝ He could have answered questions in a way that used
present simple for this answer. more complex grammar structures and more advanced
➝ She could have shown a wider use of tenses in the vocabulary.
third question (e.g. I’ve lived here for most of my life,
etc.).
Discourse management
LAURA JULIO
She expressed her ideas clearly and in an organised He attempted to give reasons for his opinions in
way; she answered each question with the relevant questions 1 and 2. He trailed off in his answer to the
information. second question: ‘I like wifi, but internet … hmm …’ His
➝ She should continue practising speaking clearly and response to 3 did not address the question correctly.
for the appropriate amount of time. ➝ He needs to practise organising his thoughts before
speaking, and listen carefully to the question asked.
Pronunciation
LAURA JULIO
In general, her pronunciation was good and word stress The majority of words were pronounced correctly. He
accurately placed, but she could be more confident occasionally trailed off at the end of sentences.
when speaking. He mispronounced ‘wifi’ in the second question. His
She mispronounced ‘sociable’ in the first question and accent obscures some words.
‘friendships’ in the third question. ➝ He needs to work on speaking clearly for entire
➝ She needs to work on speaking more confidently and sentences.
on the pronunciation of the /ʃ/ sound in particular.
Interactive communication
LAURA JULIO
n/a for this part n/a for this part

Extension Ask students to make notes for how they would answer the questions from the video for part 1.
Then ask them to work in pairs and interview each other.

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 Speaking Test | Video analysis
Part 2
Grammar & Vocabulary
LAURA
She used some interesting vocabulary in question 1 and
speculated on what the people in the photo might be
feeling as well as what they were doing.
She missed out prepositions in the first question: ‘they
can talk [to] each other’; missed the opportunity to use
more advanced language to speculate (could be, might
be) or to contrast (however). She used the incorrect
relative pronoun in the first question: ‘without someone
which tells them they have to be silent’.
➝ She could think of ways to incorporate more
advanced structures into her comparisons and
discussion on the two photos.
Discourse management
LAURA
She talked equally about each photo in the first
question and gave relevant reasons for her opinion in
the second question.
➝ She could extend her answer in length for the second
question.
Pronunciation
LAURA
She mispronounced ‘nature’ in the first question; in the
second question, some of her words got obscured by
her pronunciation: ‘the music is very [?], sounds very
perfect’. She trailed off at the end of her final response.
➝ She needs to ensure that she maintains clarity and
confidence throughout her answers.
Extension Ask students to think of their favourite venues/places for eating food and listening to music
and to make notes comparing them with the places shown in both sets of photos.
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B1+
JULIO
He gave reasons for his answers in the first and second
questions using a good level of vocabulary: ‘it’s in an
auditorium so is more expensive’. He made a good
initial comparison between the photos in his second
question: ‘I think it’s more formal music than the one
in the picture below.’ He used ‘but’ to make further
comparisons between the photos. He used modals of
speculation correctly and appropriately in the third
question: ‘there might be a lot of people watching you
and you might get nervous’.
He formed the comparative incorrectly in the first
question and used the wrong preposition: ‘it’s much
[more] comfortable to me’, and added ‘s’ incorrectly to ‘it
can rains’.
➝ He needs to focus on accuracy at times, so he does
not make small errors with simple structures.
JULIO
He organised his thoughts well and communicated
clearly in the second question when comparing the
photos.
He needed prompting in his answer to the first question
to offer more information.
➝ He needs to ensure he speaks for the appropriate
amount of time for each question and to offer relevant
information in the first instance.
JULIO
He had slight difficulty with the /v/ sound, pronouncing
it closer to a /b/, e.g in ‘violin’.
➝ He should practise the positioning of the teeth and
lips to produce the /v/ sound correctly.
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 Speaking Test | Video analysis B1+

Part 3
Grammar & Vocabulary
LAURA
Some interesting vocabulary used: ‘inspiration’,
‘eliminate’.
She made some basic errors such as adding an
unnecessary preposition (‘ask [to] him’) and missing
out an object pronoun (‘they could tell [us] a lot of
things’).
➝ She needs to work on eliminating basic errors
and look for opportunities to include more advanced
vocabulary. There were many opportunities to use
comparatives and conditionals in this task which were
missed by both students.
Discourse management
LAURA
She didn’t always address the question directly, e.g. at
one point she talked about who she would prefer to
talk to (‘I would prefer the explorer’), rather than what
students in general could learn.
She reacted well at times to her partner’s answer and
extended the discussion: ‘Yes, that’s true, but …’ She
initiated the discussion well in the second question: ‘I
think it’s better if we eliminate the others and keep only
➝ Julio should also work on adding some variety to
two …’ the ways he communicates with his partner (agreeing,
Some answers were quite vague: ‘because it’s something asking opinion, etc.) and on minimising hesitation mid-
new and different to know and more interesting’. sentence.
➝ Laura could work on keeping her answers focused on
the question.
Pronunciation
LAURA
Most words were clear, but a few were lost because of
mispronunciation: ‘I think there’s a difficulty to learn
the things that he could say in this [word inaudible]’.
The word stress on ‘inspiration’ made it a little unclear.
‘Clothes’ needed a stronger ‘s’ at the end.
➝ Laura could work on maintaining clarity throughout
her sentences.
JULIO
He used some more complex grammar forms: ‘I think
people who might want to listen to …’ and a range of
vocabulary: ‘a makeover’.
Incorrect use of tense meant that meaning was
obscured: ‘I think if they listen to scientist it’s because
they will like science.’ Incorrect pronoun used on
occasion: ‘to get to a course of science’.
➝ He needs to revise the use of pronouns so that they
come naturally when he is speaking.
JULIO
He says ‘What do you think?’ to invite his partner to
talk.
Quite hesitant at times – he could fit more language in
if he didn’t hesitate so much. He didn’t quite answer
the question directly at all times (the focus should
have been on what students could learn from the
individuals).
Note: In the second question, the students didn’t reach
an agreement on the two people to choose, but they
aren’t penalised for this in the exam.
JULIO
Pronunciation of most words was acceptable. There
were a few instances where the word stress was
incorrect: ‘makeover’.
He said ‘erm’ and ‘um’ quite frequently which disrupted
the flow of his sentences at times.
➝ He needs to minimise hesitation within sentences.

Extension Ask students to make notes on each of the speakers listed in the task, considering the pros and cons
of having each one as a speaker in their school. Then give students 1 minute to discuss their notes in pairs.

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 Speaking Test | Video analysis B1+

Part 4
Grammar & Vocabulary
LAURA
A range of grammatical structures used correctly. She
incorporated the future simple tense and superlatives
appropriately (‘It’s going to happen’, ‘I think the most
important thing is …’).
Word order occasionally obscured meaning, e.g. in her
second answer: ‘which future can make this’. She used
an infinitive instead of a gerund: ‘it’s important that
you enjoy do it’. She missed the opportunity to use
conditionals and probably intended to use a negative
rather than positive: ‘You have a lot of money and you
don’t know how to spend it, it does[n’t] make you happy.’
Incorrect use of future tense: ‘it could be happening’.
➝ She needs to work on general accuracy and look for
ways to incorporate more advanced vocabulary.
Discourse Management
LAURA
She gave a coherent answer to the first question, though He didn’t address the first question coherently: ‘to talk
didn’t directly address the question (she seemed to
assume the speaker would be an English speaker).
She spoke fluently in answer to the second question
and addressed the question directly.
She reacted to her partner’s opinion in the third
question and added information: ‘I agree with him and I
have to add …’
➝ She needs to continue to find ways to respond to her
partner’s answers.
Pronunciation
LAURA
Her pronunciation and intonation were mostly good.
However, ‘astronaut’, ‘medicine’ and ‘original’ had
incorrect word stress.
In the fourth question, her answer was obscured by
mispronunciation of a word: ‘in the future it could be
happening also because [word inaudible] makes it
easier’.
➝ She should work on pronunciation of individual
words and should focus on confident delivery of
sentences so that parts aren’t unclear.
JULIO
Some basic structures used correctly. He incorporated
conditionals into his answer (‘if you are not happy, you
will be very sad’) and gave sufficient reasons for some
of his answers (‘I would be a lawyer because I like
helping people’).
He used some incorrect expressions: ‘I think yes’ (not ‘I
think so’).
➝ He needs to look for opportunities to use more
advanced language.
JULIO
about a job is [?better] that someone to talk about a
job is better than someone talks to you who works in
the job’, and didn’t provide any reasons to clarify his
position.
He didn’t answer the second question fully, but
responded as though the question was about schools
preparing students for university rather than the
workplace.
➝ He needs to practise listening carefully to the
question asked, and think through his answer before
speaking.
JULIO
He occasionally pronounced ‘job’ with a /j/ sound and
added an additional schwa sound at the beginning of
words such as ‘study’.
In the fourth question, his answer was unclear because
of his pronunciation: ‘In the future there will be
[inaudible] robots’.
➝ He should also work on pronunciation of individual
words and should focus on confident delivery of
sentences so that parts aren’t unclear.

Extension Ask students to reflect on the performance of the two students in the video and think of ways
they could learn from them to improve their own speaking skills.

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