TSL3103LINKING THEORY TO PRACTICE

Formative Assessment

and Feedback

Strategies

ASSESSMENT?

•Assessment refers to the process of data analysis that teachers use to get evidence about their learners’ performance and progress in English

•Teachers want to be able to check whether students are achieving the target objectives

•Formative assessment – to inform and improve teaching

•Summative assessment – taking stock of what has been learnt and achieved at the end of a longer period, for example at the end of the semester or a year.

KEY CONCEPTS IN ASSESSMENTAssessment – Testing – Evaluation

Formative and Summative Assessment

Diagnostic and Achievement Test

Criterion-referenced and Norm-referenced Assessment

Validity

Reliability

Fairness

Planning the assessment of children’s language learning

TEACHER ASSESSMENT OF LANGUAGE LEARNING

Assessing in relation to goals

Selecting an assessment focus

Assessment by observation

Creating opportunities for assessment during classroom activities

Record keeping

ASSESSMENT TECHNIQUESObservation

Self-assessment

Portfolio

Project work

Interview and conferencing

Video/ audio recording and photographs

Presentation

Role play

Combination of assessment instruments

DESIGNING AN ASSESSMENT TASKIdentify the target group

Decide the purpose of the assessment

Decide the type of assessment

Decide the assessment opportunities in a ‘normal’ teaching and learning activity

Decide what kind of task will most fittingly serve the purposes of the assessment

Decide whether the activity is an individual or group activity and how you will assess it.

Decide the attainment target(s) to be assessed

Decide the range of levels in which the activity will enable you to place students as result of the assessment

Decide how to render the activity as close as possible to everyday classroom practice

Decide the time and the scale of the activity

Decide what assessment evidence you need to collect

Decide the most appropriate ways of gathering the assessment evidence

SELF-ASSESSMENT AND LEARNER AUTONOMY

Self-assessment

Goal setting

Portfolio Assessment

GIVING FEEDBACK•Aim - to bring about self-awareness and improvement

•Giving positive feedback•Always lookout for positive points to comment upon

•Successful communication

•Accurate use of grammar

•Use of new vocabulary – appropriate expressions

•Good pronunciation – expressive intonation

•Language in the appropriate style – good use of colloquial expressions in conversations

•Good use of fluency strategies in conversation

•Handwriting, spelling and punctuation in written work

•Correction techniques

•Distinguish between mistakes and errors

•A mistake can be thought of as a slip of the tongue or pen

The student is able to correct it him/herself

•An error is much more deeply ingrained. The student might

Believe that what he/she is saying or writing is correct

Not know what the correct form should be

Know what the correct form should be, but not able to get it right

•How do you correct?

Aim to maintain a co-operative working atmosphere

Don’t let students think they are picked on

Try not to ‘echo’ the errors

Main stages in the process of correcting students’ errors

1 the student must know something is not accurate

2 the student must know where the error is

3 the student must know what kind of error it is

Who corrects?

Self correction

Student-student correction

Teacher correction

REFERENCESCameron, L. (2001). Teaching languages to young learners.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cohen, L. Manion, L and Morrison, K. (2004). A guide to teaching practice. (5th ed.) London: Routledge.

Gower, R. Phillips & Walters, S. (2005). Teaching practice: a handbook for teachers in training. Oxford: Macmillan.

Pinter, A. (2006). Teaching young language learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press.