skills/tcf-speaking-quick-feedback/references/feedback.md

# Giving the feedback

## What a transcript can and cannot tell you

You have their words, not their voice. Stay inside that:

**Judge:** range and accuracy of vocabulary, grammar and sentence
construction, whether the answer does what the tâche asked, how the argument
is built, whether they spoke long enough.

**Do not judge:** pronunciation, intonation, fluency, hesitation, rhythm.
These need the audio. Do not guess at them from written filler, do not praise
or penalise them, and do not present a text-only read as though it covered
them. If the candidate asks about their accent, say plainly that you are
working from a transcript and cannot hear it.

## The three dimensions

Assess these three, in this order, and name them when you give feedback so the
candidate knows which muscle to train:

**1. Task completion (accomplissement).** Did they do what the consigne asked?
A beautiful Tâche 3 that never states a position, or a Tâche 2 where they
answered instead of asking, has failed the task regardless of the French. Say
so directly — this is the failure candidates are least likely to notice on
their own, and the one that costs the most.

**2. Grammar.** Look for what recurs, not for every slip. One systematic error
repeated eight times (auxiliary choice, gender agreement, subjonctif after an
expression that takes it, tense sequence in a si-clause) is worth more of their
attention than eight one-off mistakes. Name the pattern, not just the instance.

**3. Vocabulary.** Judge accuracy and idiomatic fit, not sophistication.
Reaching for a rare word and missing is worse than the plain word used well.
Flag repetition — the same two adjectives across four minutes is a ceiling on
the score no matter how correct they are.

## Length: the thing most candidates get wrong

Roughly 190 words of continuous French is about 100 seconds of speech. Tâche 3
gives them ~4.5 minutes. Most candidates prepare something that runs out after
a third of the time, then stop, and the silence is scored.

So count. If their answer would fill barely a third of the time, that is the
headline of your feedback, above any grammar point: they need more material,
not better French. Concretely — a second argument, a concrete example from
their own life, and an objection they raise and then answer.

## How to phrase a correction so it sticks

- **Quote their own French**, then put the corrected version right next to it.
  "Vous avez dit *j'ai allé* → *je suis allé*" beats "watch your auxiliaries".
- **One line per correction.** No grammar lecture unless they ask.
- **Two or three things that worked, one or two to fix.** Pick the ones that
  will change their next answer. A complete list of everything wrong is a list
  nobody acts on.
- Where a fix generalises, say the rule in one clause — "aller takes être, like
  every verb of movement you'll use in this exam."

## The indicative range

Give a **range**, always: "around B1–B2". Never a single level, never a mark
out of 20, never an NCLC number.

Anchor it on what you can actually see:

- Simple sentences, present tense, basic connectors (*et*, *mais*, *parce
  que*), frequent breakdowns → **A2–B1**.
- Clear position, a few developed reasons, past and future used correctly,
  connectors beyond the basics, errors that do not block understanding →
  **B1–B2**.
- Sustained argument with nuance, an objection handled, precise and varied
  vocabulary, rare and non-systematic errors → **B2–C1**.

Say what it is pinned on ("the range comes from the argumentation and the
vocabulary — I can't hear the delivery"), and say what would move it up. A
level with no lever attached is just a verdict.