One way to elicit spontaneous speech from students is through configuring timing parameters within individual questions. Here's how you can do that on Extempore.

The time to review setting allows instructors to place a set amount of time that a student has to prepare a response to a question. In the question below, the student has 1 minute and 30 seconds to respond to the prompt.

For a standard question with only a text or image prompt, time to review starts immediately once students open a question.

Time to review is configured within the question creation page in the limitations section. When a time to review is set, there will also be an option to show or hide the prompt once time to review has ended. The default setting for this is visible.

When you attach an audio or video file to a question, the time to review will start after the media finishes playing the first time. Once the time to review has started, students can then continue playing the file so long as media playback is on (more below). See the image below.

You can determine if students can replay a media prompt from the question creation page, seen in the image below. By default, replay media prompt is set to yes. If you only want students to listen / see the media one time, click no.

Tip: for teachers looking to control how many times a student can listen to a file, we recommend determining your time to review based on the time length of the file. For example, if you have a 15-second audio clip and want your students to have at least 3-4 attempts to listen, consider providing 60 seconds time to review.

If you want them to have more attempts to listen, simply increase the time to review.

The time to respond setting allows instructors to determine how much time a student has to answer a question. In the question below, the student has two minutes to respond with a minimum response time of 30 seconds.

When time to review is added with a question, time to respond will not begin until time to review has concluded or the student clicks record / begins typing in a written prompt.

When time to review ends or when students click record 🔴, a 3-2-1 will appear on the screen and students can begin speaking.

For written prompts, time to respond begins when time to review ends or as soon as students enter text.

Like time to review, time to respond is set within the question creation page in the limitations section.

When you configure time to respond for a spoken response within the question creation page, a minimum response time option will also appear, as seen above. This is the amount of time that must elapse before students can submit their responses. In the example below, there is a 30-second minimum response time. The student cannot submit their response (the submit button will be greyed out) until meeting the 30 second mark.

Note: you do not have to set a minimum response time. If you do not want a minimum response time, simply set this number to 0.

Timers can place a lot of pressure on students, particularly when they are not accustomed to such pressure. For best results, we recommend slowly using timers on formative assessments and then gradually adding them into summative assessments.

Also, all questions with any type of limitation attached, whether time to respond, single attempt, or time to review, will first alert students of this before they enter the question, as seen in the example image below. Encourage students to read these parameters carefully before beginning.

With enough exposure and practice, your students will adjust and be ready for the challenge that timers offer to fully show off their linguistic proficiency.

For more tips on timers, read our blog on it and watch the corresponding video.

To see how you can accommodate students with time extensions, click here.