EFL classroom debates: a format and assessment (in English)

the opportunity to practice skills and test their knowledge in a “safe” way and create a reflective culture of assessment that is focused on learning rather than on grades (C. Ives). This type of assessment offers students the opportunity to reflect on their work and consider further steps to develop their learning (S. Payne). However, this type of assessment can be used effectively for summative purposes and become a Part of summative assessment at the end of the term.

Students’ performance at the debate is usually evaluated, but not graded, however, participating in this activity is a must for students who expect high grades at the end of the term. Assessing a class debate can be challenging, so an assessment rubric is usually designed to:

• •    establish standards which will set expectations of what skills and abilities students should show;

Table 1

9 steps to prepare a classroom debate

Steps	Activity to be done
Step 1	The issue to be debated is introduced and the motion is presented to the class
Step 2	Students are put into two groups of five. The members of the teams are selected systematically so that students with different abilities can be distributed evenly. Then students are encouraged to choose an affirmative or negative position on the topic and assigned different roles to perform in their groups. The first, the second and the third speakers are chosen in each group. It is important to make sure students are aware of the responsibilities and individual tasks they must do to complete an activity successfully as a group
Step 3	Students conduct research and sort through information to collect the arguments on both sides of the issue. While developing arguments, students can collaborate and share ideas in groups to identify the strongest arguments. We provide assistance appropriate to the aptitude of each group. We help them to find the material, highlight relevant information and explain how they can use it effectively in a debate
Step 4	Three arguments are identified and presented to the opposing team. Each argument is presented in the form of a statement. No explanations or illustrations are provided
Step 5	Students develop counterarguments to refute the arguments of the opposing team. Teams are encouraged to brainstorm and anticipate the list of the other side’s counterarguments in order to provide reasonable responses
Step 6	Students gather the information and prepare their speeches, make posters to illustrate their position and rehearse their presentations
Step 7	Debate. The first round. The first speakers of the teams take turns presenting three arguments to support the position of their teams. Stated reasons are followed by clear explanations and ample illustrations. The crossfire . The opposite team responds with three questions trying to identify crucial weaknesses of the arguments presented by the first speakers of both teams. The first speakers must respond, and their teammates help to support the position of the team. The second round. The second speakers of the teams present three counterarguments to refute the arguments of the other team. The crossfire. The opposite team responds with three questions to reveal the inconsistency of the counterarguments presented. The second speakers must respond, and their teammates help to support the position that was presented. The third round. The third speakers of the teams take turns summarizing the positions their teams hold. Their task is to show why the arguments and counterarguments provided by their teams are stronger and more consistent than the arguments and counterarguments provided by the speakers of the opposite team. They can also show why the counterarguments presented by their opponents are not strong enough to refute their arguments
Step 8	Assessment The judges evaluate both teams and select their choice for the winner by assigning points based on the assessment criteria we provide. Students are scored individually as well as by teams, with each individual’s score contributing toward their grade
Step 9	Self-assessment Students reflect on what they have learned and on the ways their opinions may have been reinforced or changed. They try to decide arguments of which side were more convincing and why. They are encouraged to comment on the most persuasive arguments presented on either side of the debate. Class members vote by secret ballot for the best speaker of the debate

• •    encourage students to develop their argumentation and oratory skills;

• •    motivate cooperation and participation;

• •    define the winning side and encourage competitiveness that keeps the activity exciting;

• •    give students an opportunity to reflect on their performance and understand how well they performed.

While developing assessment rubrics it is necessary to take the key assessment principles into consideration. A useful assessment must meet minimum standards of practicality, reliability, validity and beneficial consequences. Therefore, before creating our own rubric we have observed and analyzed the rubrics created by other teachers. We have found out that usually, rubric has four to six categories to measure student performance. The following aspects of the performance are often assessed:

• •    Preparation and Knowledge of topic

• •    Organization and Presentation

• •    Use of Argument

• •    Use of Cross-examination and Rebuttal

• •    Evidence

When we tried to apply these rubrics to assess the performance of the students, we realized that all the rubrics we have observed have two important flaws that make the objective assessment difficult or even hardly possible.

First, the rubrics of some categories are not described accurately and clearly enough to ensure reliability of the assessment. For example, we think that the category Argument needs special consideration and further development. According to the authors of the debate rubrics this category will score students on how con-

ДЕБАТЫ НА ЗАНЯТИЯХ ПО ИНОСТРАННОМУ ЯЗЫКУ: ФОРМАТ И ОЦЕНКА vincing and clear their arguments were. This is the most important category to be assessed as the result of the debate mostly depends on which side’s arguments were stronger and more convincing. The authors of the rubrics usually describe this category like this: “Students who exhibit an optimal score present very strong and persuasive arguments” or “most relevant reasons given in support” or “all supporting arguments are relevant” [2].

The problem, however, is how we can assess the power of the argument and decide if the arguments provided are strong and convincing enough, and if one argument is stronger than another. It is very difficult to assess objectively which of the arguments presented during the debate had a stronger power of persuasion. So, such rubrics, in our opinion, lack reliability.

Second , as the main goal of most activities done in EFL classes is to develop speaking skills as one of the main components of the student’s foreign language communicative competence, when we assess speaking performance during the debate, it is important to assess the level of foreign language speaking ability besides assessing Presentation Style that is how convincing the speaker was while producing his/her speech. This criterion is not included on the rubrics that we have observed. We have created our own scale to evaluate students’ performance at the debate. The following categories will be assessed:

• 1.    Arguments and counterarguments (The power of persuasion).

• 2.    Speaking performance

• 3.    Presentation Style (How convincing the speaker is while producing his speech).

• 4.    Crossfire (Answering the opponents’ questions).

Four aspects of speaking performance are assessed: vocabulary, accuracy, fluency, speech organization.

• 1.    Arguments

The power of persuasion the argument is evaluated.

The argument’s power of persuasion results from the combination of several things: the relevant idea, its explanation, the air of confidence the speaker shows, and the facts presented to support the idea. We will evaluate the air of confidence while assessing Presentation Style. All the rest characteristics of the argument are taken into consideration. So, the argument which is strong enough:

• 1)    comprises the idea which is a) relevant – there must be clear cause-and-effect relationships between the position that the speaker supports and the argument that is provided-and b) clear – it can be easily understood by most people

• 2)    must be presented in the following way: statement, explanation, illustration (F. Dobranic).

• 3)    To provide strong support in the form of illustration the facts which are universally recognized as strong evidence must be presented.

According to LeBeau, Harringdon, Lubetsky [6] the four kinds of evidence are:

• Example: from your own experience or from what you heard or read.

• Common Sense: things that you believe everybody knows.

• •    Fundamental scientific axioms.

• •    Laws of nature.

• Expert Opinion: the opinions of experts – this comes from research. • References to recognized authorities.

• •    Quotations from famous sources.

• •    Findings revealed in the course of experiments.

• •    Laws and regulations that can be found in official documents.

• • Statistics: numbers – this also comes from research.

• 4) At the end of the argument the speaker should explain why the argument is important in the debate.

Topic to be debated – So, if you live in the village, you live in a healthy environment and it is very important as your comfort, the possibility to enjoy life and your lifetime depend on whether you are healthy or not.

So, the rubric category Argument can look like in Table 3.

So, the argument that gets maximum score is relevant and presented in a clear way that follows the pattern Statement – Explanation – Illustration. The importance of the argument is explained. The argument is supported with several relevant facts or statistics and examples.

The next category to be assessed is Presentation or Performance . We divide this category into two subcategories: Presentation Style and Speaking Performance.

Speaking Performance

As one of the aims of the debate activity is to develop speaking skills as one of the main components of communicative competence, we introduced this category to assess students’ foreign language speaking skills. To do it, we borrowed the Analytic scale used to assess speaking performance demonstrated by the candidates who take IELTS and rubrics used to assess English speaking skills demonstrated by Russian school leavers at RNE and adapted them to fill our needs [7]. Four aspects of speaking performance are assessed:

• •    Vocabulary

• •    Accuracy

• •    Fluency

• •    Organization

The rubrics to assess all these categories have been developed.

Vocabulary (Table 4).

So, the speaker will get maximum score if he or she uses a wide range of vocabulary including idiomatic vocabulary and collocations skillfully with fluency.

Accuracy (Table 5).

The speaker who uses a wide range of structures and grammatical forms flexibly, produces most error-free sentences with very occasional inappro-priacies, or grammatical mistakes (1-2) will get maximum score (3).

Fluency (Table 6).

So, the speaker will get maximum score if he or she speaks fluently with only occasional repetition, self-correction or content-related hesitation.

Table 2

Sample answers

Statement	It is better to live in the country than in a big city as the environment in the country is better for health
Explanation	There are a lot of trees that make the air fresh and much fewer cars in the country, so the air in the country is less polluted and, as a result, better for health
Illustration	According to statistics, people who live in the country are three times less likely to develop serious lung illnesses than people who live in big cities.

Table 3

Argument assessment rubric

Level of performance
Criterion	0	1	2	3	4
Use of arguments (the power of persuasion)	The argument is not provided, or it is not relevant to the debate topic	The argument is presented, but it is not explained clearly enough; relevant facts, statistics and examples are not provided	The argument presented is clear, but it does not follow the pattern Statement-Explanation-Illustration (one Part is missing), it can be supported with examples, but not strong facts like statistics	The argument presented is clear, follows the pattern S-Expl-Ill , Supported with one relevant fact or example; the importance of the argument is not explained.	The argument presented is clear, follows the pattern S-Expl-Ill, Supported with several relevant universally recognized facts (Statistics etc); the importance of the argument is explain
Argument 1
Argument 2
Argument 3

Table 4

Vocabulary assessment rubric

Score	1	2	3
Vocabulary	Uses a range of everyday vocabulary with frequent errors of word choice	Uses a wide range of vocabulary, but using idiomatic vocabulary and collocations is limited; uses less common vocabulary with some inappropriate choices	Uses a wide range of vocabulary including idiomatic vocabulary and collocations skillfully with fluency

Table 5

Accuracy assessment rubric

Score	1	2	3
Accuracy	Uses basic structures and grammatical forms; makes frequent mistakes (more than 5) that can cause comprehension problems	Uses a mix of simple and complex structures and grammatical forms; complex structures can contain mistakes (3–5), though these rarely cause comprehension problems	Uses a wide range of structures and grammatical forms flexibly; Produces a majority of error-free sentences with very occasional inappropri-acies or grammatical mistakes (1–2)

Table 6

Fluency assessment rubric

Score	0	1	2	3
Fluency	Reads from notes	Speaks with frequent language-related hesitations, repetitions and self-corrections	Speaks at length without effort or loss of coherence; Demonstrates language-related hesitation at times or some repetition or self-correction (more than 2)	Speaks fluently with only occasional repetition or self-correction (1–2); Hesitation is content-related

ДЕБАТЫ НА ЗАНЯТИЯХ ПО ИНОСТРАННОМУ ЯЗЫКУ: ФОРМАТ И ОЦЕНКА

Organization (Table 7).

Thus, the speaker will get maximum score if the speech is organized coherently; a wide range of cohesive devices is used.

The next category to be assessed is Presentation Style (Table 8).

The speaker will get maximum score if he or she makes constant eye contact, shows, and uses rhetorical techniques to convince the audience (Table 9).

Rebuttal

While a convincing argument is an important aspect of any debate, the rebuttal is also incredibly important. This category of the rubric will grade students on how well they addressed their opponents’ points and how clear their rebuttals were. The level of speaking skills is assessed as well (Table10).

So, the counterargument will get maximum score if it successfully counters the other team’s argument and is supported with several relevant facts or statistics and examples.

Speaker 3 is assessed by the same criteria as speakers 1 and 2 depending on whether he uses arguments or counterarguments, but as the speech of speaker 3 is expected to be as convincing as possible, what counts is the number of rhetorical devices used by the speaker. The more devices speaker 3 uses the more points he / she gets.

Presentation Style (Speaker 3) (Table 11).

Crossfire

During the Crossfire period when the teams can ask speakers three questions, teams’ performance is also assessed, and the team members can also participate and earn points for their teams.

The questions are asked to the speaker, so the speaker is the first to answer. If he or she answers the question, he or she will get 2 points if the answer is relevant and clear, 1point if the answer is not clear enough, if he or she fails to answer, then he does not get any points. Then the members of the team can also give their answers and if the answer is relevant and the

idea is fresh and does not repeat the idea that has already been contributed, then the team gets one more point. If all members of the team participated answering the question of their opponents, they will get additional 10 points. This criterion is called Team Participation . We introduced it to motivate all students in the team, even shy ones, to cooperate and participate in the discussion.

Post-debate reflection

Members of the audience should be given an opportunity to ask questions and to contribute their own thoughts and opinions on the arguments presented.

After the debate students from the audience are asked to answer the following questions as a written exercise. They get familiar with the questions before the debate.

• 1.    Which side do they agree with?

• 2.    Why are the arguments of one side more persuasive to them than the arguments of the other side?

• 3.    What argument do they find the most persuasive and why?

• 4.    Are there areas where compromise is possible?

Class members in the audience vote by secret ballot for the best speaker of the debate.

Then some students can be asked to comment on the arguments presented during the debates, choose the strongest ones, and explain what, in their opinion, makes these arguments strong. Other students can be asked to comment on students’ speaking performance, choose the best speaker and explain their choice.

Participants and observers may be asked to write an argumentative essay on the topic giving their own arguments and arguments presented during the debate.

In conclusion, the debate activity is not only an effective and powerful method to develop communication and argumentation skills. It is also a valuable tool that can contribute to a range of wider outcomes that help to develop more confident and well-rounded individuals. It can be used in any subject class to provide a meaningful and engaging encounter with subject knowledge.

Being an essential Part of the debate activity, the assessment serves an important purpose to help students understand how they can improve their performance. We share a common opinion that the quality of the learning outcomes to a great extent depends on the quality of the assessment used in the activity, so it is extremely important to make efforts and think hard while creating an assessment rubric.

One can say that the assessment rubric like one we have developed lacks practicality as there are too many things and details to be taken into consideration while assessing student’s performance. We must admit, surely it does. But, on the other hand, we firmly believe that the more elaborate and accurate the assessment rubric is the more reliable and objective the results of the assessment are and, what is even more important, the more likely the students are to understand what is being required from them and improve their learning.

Table 7

Organization assessment rubric

Score	1	2	3
Organization	Speech lacks coherence. Only basic high-frequency linking words are used	Speech is generally well-organized and coherent; The number of basic linking words and cohesive devices is limited (2–4)	Speech is organized coherently; a wide range of cohesive devices is used

Table 8

Presentaion Style assessment rubric

Score	0	1	2	3
Presentation Style	No style features were used	Only one style feature was used	Speaker makes constant eye contact; tone of voice and level of enthusiasm are convincing; no rhetorical techniques are used to convince the audience	Speaker makes constant eye contact; tone of voice and level of enthusiasm are convincing; some rhetorical techniques are used to convince the audience

Table 9

Presentation style elements

Presentation Style	Score
The air of confidence and the level of enthusiasm	2/0
The tone of voice	2/0
Eye-contact	2/0
The number of rhetorical devices	1------

Rebuttal assessment rubric

Table 10

Score	0	1	2	3	4
rebuttal	Counterargument is not provided	Counterargument does not counter the other team’s argument successfully	Counter-argument successfully counters the other team’s argument, but it doesn’t follow the pattern SEI or/and no supporting facts are provided	Counter-argument successfully counters the other team’s argument, one supporting fact is provided (not universally recognized as an evidence)	Counter-argument successfully counters the other team’s argument; it is supported with several relevant facts or statistics or examples
Counterargument 1
Counterargument 2
Counterargument 3

Table 11

Presentation style assessment rubric (speaker 3)

Score	0	1	2–10
Presentation Style	No style features were used; only one style feature was used; no rhetorical techniques are used to convince the audience	Speaker makes constant eye contact; tone of voice and level of enthusiasm are convincing; no rhetorical techniques are used to convince the audience	Speaker makes constant eye contact; tone of voice and level of enthusiasm are convincing; some (1–5) rhetorical techniques are used to convince the audience (each device gets 2 points)

ДЕБАТЫ НА ЗАНЯТИЯХ ПО ИНОСТРАННОМУ ЯЗЫКУ: ФОРМАТ И ОЦЕНКА