Assessing oracy

Chasing the teachers' unspoken oracy construct across disciplines in the landscape between policy and freedom

Abstract

The aim is to capture teachers' implicit oracy construct across disciplines through surveying 495 teachers on a high-stakes oral national exam in the 10th grade. The survey and the results were interpreted with concepts and ideas from rhetorical theory and tradition. The results of the study show that teachers value a complex oracy construct. The teachers' genre expectancy for oracy seem to be a balance be-tween the three modes of persuasion: logos (i.e., subject specific content), ethos (the ability to display character), and pathos (the ability to have an emotional influence on the audience). The constructs have specific discipline characteristics as well as features that are consistent within disciplines. For teachers, a pattern of a unified oracy construct is developed from, and embedded in, their collective everyday prac-tices, culture, and traditions. The discussion raises issues related to future curriculum development and educational sustainability.