oralperformance

Oral performance, sometimes written as oralperformance in technical texts, is the execution of spoken language in real time. It encompasses articulation, pronunciation, prosody, fluency, and discourse management, as well as the ability to convey meaning and intent through tone, rhythm, and pace. In linguistics, performance denotes actual speech acts produced by speakers, as opposed to linguistic competence; studies of oral performance examine how speakers produce and organize language under cognitive and social constraints.

In language education and testing, oral performance tasks are used to assess speaking ability, including interviews, presentations, and spontaneous conversation. Assessments often rate fluency, accuracy, coherence, range of vocabulary, pronunciation, intelligibility, and interaction strategies. Authentic tasks and rating rubrics aim to reflect real communicative effectiveness rather than mere grammatical correctness.

In cultural and performance studies, oral performance refers to the dramaturgical and ritualized delivery of oral literature, storytelling, poetry, and rhetoric. It emphasizes audience engagement, memory, and performative conventions of specific communities, and is central to the study of orality and performance arts.