Assessing Young LearnersChristine Coombe

Dubai Men’s College

Presentation agenda Issues in assessing children’s language learning Lexical distinctions Social & classroom realities of YL assessment Principles for assessing children’s language learning Current views about YL assessment How YLs learn Techniques for assessing YLs Questions and discussion

Issues in assessing children’s language learning The following make assessing YLs different

from assessment practices in other F/SL situations Age: children’s motor, linguistic, social and

conceptual development must be taken into account

Content of language learning: a focus on oral skills, vocabulary development and language use at discourse level

Issues in assessing children’s language learning

Methods of teaching: interactive use of games, songs, rhymes, stories

Aims: programs for YLs often cite social and cross cultural aims as well as language learning ones

Learning theories: learning centered approach, learning through social interaction (Cameron, 2001)

A survey of the sparse info that is available on YL assessment suggests that assessment practices to not take these factors into account (Rea-Dickins, 2000)

Lexical distinctions A helpful distinction between ‘testing’ and

‘assessment’ when teaching children English is made by Vale & Feunteun (1995) Testing: a means of checking that learning has

taken place with respect to specified teaching context/input, often by a particular task. Results are usually concrete and can be expressed

quantitatively as a mark or %

Lexical distinctions cont.

Assessment: an attempt to analyze the learning that a child has achieved over a period of time as a result of classroom teaching/learning. Not based on a particular task nor expressed as a

mark. A subjective (teacher) opinion of the achievement of a

child in terms of attitude, participation, socialization and general cognitive/physical development

Progress measured against individual starting points & abilities rather than compared against skills/abilities of others as in traditional testing

Social realities of assessment Political, commercial & cultural dynamics

underlie conflicts around the role of assessment in language teaching/learning

It is reasonable to require that assessment serve teaching by providing feedback on pupil’s learning, this

will make the next teaching event more effective Known as ‘washback’

Social realities of assessment In theory, teaching & learning need to dictate

the form and timing of assessment In practice, the scenario is quite different

assessment often drives teaching forces Ts to teach what is being assessed an example of negative washback

This is a reality not only with YLs but other learners as well

Classroom realities

Survey conducted by Rea-Dickins and Rixon (1999) asked 120 Ts and teacher trainers in Europe about their assessment practices Vast majority (92%) of the Ts do assess children

with the stated purpose of helping their teaching (87%).

Most of this assessment was prepared by Ts who were responsible for marking and record keeping

Classroom realities When investigating ‘what’ was being assessed

mismatch between curricular aims, pedagogy and test content found to exist

the most frequently used method was the paper and pencil test testing single items of vocabulary and grammar through one

sentence contexts

This contrasted vividly with how children were being taught tests found to neglect speaking what was being assessed was what was ‘easy’ to assess

Principles for assessing children’s language learning Assessment should be seen from a learning centered

perspective A Vygotskyan perspective on learning emphasizes that

learning occurs in social contexts and through interaction with helpful adults or other children

Vygotsky (1962) insisted that we do not get a true assessment of a child’s ability by measuring what he/she can do alone and without help what a child can do with helpful others both predicts the next

stage in learning and gives a better assessment of learning

Principles for assessing children’s language learning

Assessment should support learning/ teaching If learning is our central focus, assessment

should contribute to the learning process for both the individual child and for the class

Known as instructionally-embedded assessment

More principles Ts need clear understanding of language learning processes

and of socio-cultural context in which they operate With this knowledge, they can predict the impact of assessment on

their teaching and plan accordingly Assessment should not disrupt learning

Assessments often criticized because they replace instructional time

Ts who use daily teaching events to collect data are not taking away valuable teaching time The key is understanding what will be the focus of assessment data

collection and which tools will produce the best or most useful information

Children need to be assessed in an anxiety-reduced or anxiety-free environment

This can be achieved only if a child perceives assessment as an integral component of the teaching/learning process

More principles Assessment is more than testing

It is not necessary to test children to know how well they are doing

there are other more supportive ways to assess learning that go beyond testing

alternative assessment techniques like observation, portfolios and self-assessment (O’Malley & Valdez Pierce, 1996)

More principles Assessment should be congruent with learning

Assessment should fit comfortably with children’s learning experience

Assessment should be interactional rather than an isolated, solo experience

Children and parents should understand assessment issues Transparency must exist Parents often feel that they way they were assessed is the

best way.

More principles Employ multiples measures of assessment

No one assessment tool can provide all the information that Ts need to plan instruction, make instructional decisions or determine success or mastery of Ss

Use a variety of assessment tools The composite view provided by these multiple

measures allows Ts to make generalizations about student learning

Current views about YL assessment Standardized tests are problematic for children

Growth is most uneven and idiosyncratic Skills needed for success are at their most fluid Failure in these years can be devastating

Standardized tests put tremendous pressure on YLs No Child Left Behind Act Pressure can inhibit thinking (Jensen, 1998) and decrease

the accuracy of assessment “ YLs are notoriously poor test takers…..the younger the

child being evaluated, assessed, or tested, the more errors are made and the greater the risk of assigning false labels to them (Katz, 1997).”

How YLs learn Traditional types of assessment are often

insufficiently sensitive to the ways YLs demonstrate their competencies also interrupt the learning process in active,

engaging classrooms. Research shows that children in preschool

years and early primary grades learn best through active, engaged, meaningful experiences

How YLs learn

Through these experiences YLs construct their own knowledge by interacting with their environment and others work of Piaget has demonstrated importance of

sensory experiences and concrete learning activities

importance of direct, first-hand interactive experience confirmed by National Association for the Education of Young Children

these experiences are difficult to assess

Techniques for assessing YLs Observation

One of the most useful assessment techniques does not disturb the child and allows him/her to be assessed in

the process of ordinary classroom activities

Ts continually observe and utilize the “observe-notice-adjust teaching” process

Not realistic to observe every child on every occasion better to focus on 6/7 during one lesson results in better quality information being collected

Most common way of recording observations of children’s performance is through a checklist

More techniques Self-assessment

A child who learns to assess his/her own work moves from being ‘other-regulated’ to ‘self-regulated’ or autonomous

commonly recognized that autonomous learners will be at an advantage in continuing to learn and adjust throughout their lives

How feasible is it with groups of five-year olds? we tend to underestimate the potential for self-assessment

in our children see them as empty vessels in need of being filled with

knowledge wild in need of taming

More techniques Portfolio assessment

A collection of work that reveal both the capability and the progress of a learner

Requires close cooperation between T and S in selecting the contents

What to include: samples of writing, lists of books read, audio taped or videotaped recordings, conference or observation notes, artwork, self assessment checklists like K-W-L charts, samples of tests and quizzes

More techniques K-W-L Charts

what they know, what they wonder or want to know and what they have learned

Learning logs A record of Ss experiences with English outside the

classroom including the when and where of language use why certain experiences were successful and why others were

not

Dialog journals Ongoing written dialog between teacher and student

More techniques Interactive writing charts

Observation charts that document the presence or absence of a variety of different writing conventions and/or abilities

Running records A simple checklist used during reading aloud activities Ts code the presence or absence of a word or a miscue A mechanism exists for self correcting (Frey & Fisher,

2003)

A final word on standardized tests Cambridge ESOL created the Cambridge Young

Learners English Tests in 1993 A series of tests for children of all nationalities aged 7 to

12 who are learning EFL whatever their L1 Designed with a high interest level for test takers and on a

pass/fail basis Four-skills tests available at 3 levels: Starters, Movers

and Flyers (equivalent to the KET) All sections graded on a scale from 1 to 5 (represented as

‘shields’) http://www.cambridge-efl.org.uk

Conclusion Documenting the growth of YLs presents many

challenges Assessment practices not only determine children’s

futures and how their time is spent, but also carry messages for children about what parents and Ts consider important in language learning and in life

Research shows that children live up to the expectations of their Ts whether they are high or low expectations are perhaps more clearly revealed through

assessment practices than anywhere else

Conclusion

For YLs, what matters is a solid base in spoken language confidence and enjoyment in working with the

spoken and written forms of the language a good foundation in learning skills

We should be looking for assessment practices that will reinforce the value of these skills to learners and to their parents

Presenter contact Christine Coombe Dubai Men’s College, HCT PO Box 15825 Dubai, UAE christine.coombe@hct.ac.ae or

christinecoombe@hotmail.com http://taesig.com or http://ctelt.com