Unit 5: Final Reflections

Evaluation is not just a test or an exam that we give to the students at the end of a course or a unit of study and then use the results to give the students a numerical grade. As we have seen in this course, it involves much more.

First of all, we saw that evaluation, assessment and testing are different but related concepts, and that they are all part of teaching and the classroom situation. (See Unit 0 in this blog).

Next we looked closer at both formal and informal assessment (see Unit 1 in this blog). In this course, we have seen that both formal and informal assessments are needed. I would guess that most teachers like me are very familiar with formal assessment in the form of written tests often provided by the institution where we teach. I believe that most teachers perform informal assessment on a regular, continuous basis through observation in the classroom, although we probably don’t do it in a structured way but rather in an intuitive way based on our impressions. In fact, we may do it unconsciously without any criteria. Since informal assessment is every bit as important as formal assessment, we need to define criteria for informal assessments of both linguistic and non-linguistic factors, and use it on a regular, continuous basis.

Using this knowledge of formal and informal assessment, we created an assessment plan, and designed activities and instruments to gather information in order to assess our students. This was quite interesting as we discovered ways to assess the different language skills as well as non-linguistic factors such as participation.

We then moved on to testing (see Unit 2 in this blog) where we discovered that creating a test or exam is not as easy as it seems. First of all, there are different types of tests and different types of testing. We created items to use to assess skills which we then included in a test. In designing a test, we saw the many different things to consider besides the items such as the learning objectives and contents, and the scoring system. And still we weren’t finished with the test. We also had to look at some very important principles– validity, reliability, practicality, authenticity and backwash effects, and analyze the test we created with respect to these aspects.

Next we looked at feedback (see Unit 3 in this blog) and its great importance in teaching-learning. Too often, especially in large classes, students receive feedback in the form of a grade or a word like “good”. But does this really help the students improve their performance? I think not. I think that we really need to give the students continuous, ongoing feedback on their performance in all areas of their language development. The giving of feedback is not just the task of teachers; it can also be provided by classmates. All feedback must be supportive with the goal of encouraging the students and promoting improvement.

Finally we arrived at self-assessment (see Unit 4 in this blog). Who knows better how they are doing and where they need to improve than the students themselves? While initially the students and maybe some teachers may resist the idea of self-assessment, I believe that it is invaluable in promoting autonomy and responsibility in our students. In a world where the students will likely take a distance course at some time in their studies, being autonomous and responsible and being able to self-assess are critical.

This course has been very enlightening for me and now the job is to use all of this information to help my students. Although I cannot change the requirement of the institution where I work to provide a grade for the students, with continuous informal assessment, feedback and self-assessment, I can help my students in reaching the course objectives and overcoming barriers along the way.

Unit 4: Self-assessment

Activity 1: Chapter 3 Self-assessment Harris & McCann (1994)

I absolutely think that self-assessment can be (and should be!) implemented in the language classroom. But most of the students don’t like to do it. For the last few semesters, I have had my high intermediate students assess themselves on their oral skills. I give them the rubric that we use at the school and ask them to select the description that fits their skills. The results are interesting – the students with good oral skills generally rate themselves lower than my rating while the students with poor oral skills rate themselves higher than I would rate them.

Advantages of self-assessment:
· provides a lot of information about the students:
- their expectations, needs, problems, worries
- how they feel about the class – the teacher, the subject, the book, the topics, the activities, etc.
- whether or not they think they are making progress
· direct and efficient
· impacts learning greatly by providing feedback to teaching and learning
· takes what we do subconsciously (thinking about our learning) and makes us do it consciously in a structured way – with guidance and encouragement
· forces students to become (more) autonomous and to reflect on their learning or lack of learning and how they can improve
· reduces students’ passivity with respect to how well they are doing in a course

Disadvantages:
· time-consuming
· students must be trained in both language and learning
· students may not be mature enough to be honest in their assessments i.e. they will give themselves 10s instead of really assessing themselves
· is not always possible – depends on the context and the competitiveness of the students

In spite of the disadvantages, I still think that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and that self-assessment should definitely be done.

Activity 2: Choosing one of Harris & McCann's self-assessment instruments

The instructions said to pick only one. I think many of the self-assessment instruments in Chapter 3 can help me in my classroom situation.

But if I have to choose only one, I'll pick counseling sessions (under descriptions) where the teacher and each student get together to talk about the students progress in the course.

Activity 2 Part 2: Designing an instrument or technique for self-assessment

For the unit that I have been working on, I have designed the following questionnaire using can/cannot questions for the students to complete.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Based on the objectives for Unit 11: In your dreams, mark which of the things below you can do in this way:
a) I can do this well.
b) I can do this.
c) I can’t do this.

· Hypothesize in the present to express regrets and wishes using:
o wish
o second conditional
o if only
o ’d rather

· Hypothesize in the past to express regrets and wishes using:
o wish
o third conditional
o if only
o ’d rather
o should (not) have + past participle

· Recognize when to use first, second or third conditionals.
· Use word pairs (for example wait and see) appropriately.
· Use word pairs (for example wait and see) accurately.

· In speaking:
communicate your own wishes and regrets.
contribute to class discussions.

· In listening:
grasp the main idea.
catch specific information or details.

· In reading:
grasp the main idea.
find specific information or details.
understand new vocabulary by context.

In writing:
use linking words and expressions in a narrative.
organize well with introduction, body and conclusion.check spelling, punctuation and

grammar.

Once the student has completed the questionnaire, we (the student and I) would have a counseling session to discuss the information of the questionnaire. The idea of the counseling session would be for the student to make a plan for any further studying needed with respect to the contents of this unit.

Activity 3: Design an Instrument to Self-Assess my Performance in this Course

Progress Questionnaire

Use your portfolio to complete the table of the areas covered in this course. Then grade yourself using the following scale:

3 - I have no problems with this.
2 - I am not completely sure of this.
1 - I don’t understand this or I was unable to do this.

Unit Description
0 What is assessment?
· Define terms: evaluation, assessment, testing, teaching
· Understand how terms relate to classroom situation
· Understand what a portfolio is

1 Informal Assessment
· Define informal assessment
· Understand the difference between formal and informal assessment
· Adapt and/or design instruments and techniques to collect assessment data
· Create an assessment plan

2 Testing
· Understand the different types of tests
· Explain the types of testing
· Design test items to assess skills to include in a test
· Design a test which includes all parts
. Revise a test in terms of validity, reliability, practicality, authenticity, and backwash effect.

3 Feedback
· Define feedback and explain its importance.
· Make a plan for giving feedback including when and how
· Adapt and/or design instruments and techniques for collecting information for giving feedback

4 Self-Assessment
· Understand the advantages and disadvantages of self-assessment
· Design an instrument for self-assessing

Adapted from Harris & McCann (1994).

My Reflections on Unit 4: Self-Assessment

I have used self-assessment with my students but as a way to give a grade. Like feedback, this should be a continuous, ongoing activity. I think it is a very useful way to promote autonomy throughout a course.

At the beginning of a course, it would be valuable for the students to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses in the different skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking as well as grammar and vocabulary. With this reflection, an awareness of the areas that they need to work on would be created right from the start.

Throughout the course, continuous self-assessment would reveal any shortfalls in order for the students to plan extra activities to complement the class activities in their ‘weak’ areas.
At the Language Faculty at UABC, we have a self-access centre, CEMAII. If the students have an awareness of what areas they need to work on, the time they spend at CEMAII could be focused on these areas.

At the end of the course in planning for future studies, self-assessment could assist the students in selecting the appropriate course of study. For example, if a student sees that he needs to work on speaking, he could join a conversation class.

Unit 3: Feedback

Activity 1: Chapter 14 Feedback, Penny Ur.

In this chapter, Ur (1996) asks us to examine and reflect on what we think and how we provide feedback to our students. She provides ideas and examples for providing oral correction and written feedback.

So what is feedback and why is it important? It’s letting the students know how they are doing and involves both assessment and correction. It’s important because the goals of providing are to promote learning and to improve performance. Although feedback is primarily provided by the teacher, it can also be provided by other students. How feedback is provided varies in different theories of language learning ranging from avoidance to acceptance of mistakes.
Ur writes about both formative and summative assessment and the gathering of information. As we saw in Unit 2 of this course, if we use tests for assessment, the issues of validity and reliability must be carefully addressed. And we must look also at criteria and assignment of grades.

In correcting oral work, the distinction is made between fluency work and accuracy work. During fluency work, the usual advice is not to correct although as Ur suggests “supportive intervention” should be given. The teacher is only one source of correction. The student himself as well as the other students can also provide correction. Ur poses the question as to whose ideas about the ways of correcting in the classroom are best. While the teacher has knowledge from experience, the students have “reliable intuitive knowledge about what kind of correction helps most” (Ur, 1996, p. 248). The suggestion that correction should be tactful, encouraging and given with sensitivity seems like good advice.

In my experience with conversation class, I always asked the students how they wanted to be corrected during oral work. It’s interesting to note that some students wanted to be corrected right away; others wanted to be corrected at the end; and finally the others didn’t want to be corrected as long as their message was understood. So it appears that the technique for correcting is not ‘one size fits all’ but an individual preference.

With respect to written feedback, Ur provides us with nine points to consider. These points range from what colour of pen to use when correcting to putting ourselves in the students’ place to imagine how you would feel reading the corrections.

Activity 2: Plan for Feedback

In my assessment plan, I wrote that I would have a data collection form for each student where I would record my observations with respect to linguistic and non-linguistic factors of 4 or 5 students in any given class session. Then this would be used to provide feedback to the students. So the fast answer to when should I provide feedback would be continuously. But let’s get specific. Following through the unit (11) in the book, there are many opportunities for the teacher to provide feedback. I think that whenever we are assessing the students, we can also provide feedback either in verbal or written form.

With respect to the grammar point in this unit which is different ways of hypothesizing about the present and past, when we do the book’s grammar exercises in class, we often check the answers verbally or by writing them on the board. In reviewing these answers, I (and the students) can provide verbal feedback regarding both what’s right and what’s wrong. Before I provide feedback on work that students have written on the board, I always give the students the chance to provide feedback by making changes before I do.

There is also an exercise called Talking about you where the students have to make personal wishes and share them with the class. The idea is for the students to use the grammar point to write sentences about themselves. This provides me with an opportunity to give verbal feedback both as to content and the correctness of the grammar structures used.

The reading in this unit is called Have you ever wondered? After the reading, there are some comprehension questions which can be used to assess the students’ understanding of the text. This gives me the opportunity to call on the students whose data I am collecting in that class session to check their understanding using my Reading Assessment instrument. Also after the reading, there is a section called What do you think? to promote discussion about the reading. This discussion, which could be done in small groups or as a whole class, would provide an opportunity for me to assess oral skills. In these group/class discussions, I try not to interrupt the discussion except when someone is stuck or when they are faltering and need some help to keep the discussion going. I agree with the idea that if we continually interrupt to correct, the students may lose their enthusiasm or concentration. And if we are indeed promoting the communicative approach, what we want to focus on is that message is understandable not that it is 100%. I like to make notes about errors (and good and/or interesting things) that I hear and after the discussion, provide feedback to the whole class. During these discussions, I could also collect data for the Oral Assessment Scoring Guidelines instrument.

Other opportunities for discussion and providing feedback occur both before and after the listening exercise. Before the listening there are some guiding questions for a discussion about dream interpretation and after the listening there is a What do you think? to promote discussion about the listening. As in the above reading example, these discussions provide an opportunity to assess oral skills. In addition to the discussions, there are some true/false and comprehension questions. As with the reading, I cold use this as an opportunity to call on the students whose data I am collecting in that class session to check their understanding using my Listening Assessment instrument.

In each unit of our book, there is a writing exercise. In this unit, the focus is on narrative writing using linking words and expressions. The students are required to write a narrative in the context of something that they looked forward to for a long time. The requirement of writing a first draft and then a final version both provide opportunities for feedback. On the first draft of their narrative, I like the suggestions from Ur (1996). She suggests for feedback, we show that there is an error but don’t offer the correction as they will be writing a final version and will be looking to make it as correct as possible. She suggests that with the first draft of this kind of written work, we also provide the students with feedback in the form of constructive ideas to be used in their final version. I would use the Writing Assessment Scoring Guideline instrument to provide suggestions for the first draft and to give comments and provide a grade for the final version.

After a class where I have collected data about a student, I think I should provide feedback to the student about my observations both in writing and verbally in a face to face meeting. As this could easily become time consuming and tedious, these would be short informal meetings. I think a more formal meeting would be appropriate to provide feedback on all the skills after the formal written and oral tests which occur after every two units.

This assessment and feedback plan might be a little too ambitious although with my small class of 11 students, I think it might be possible. I look forward to trying it in the future.

(The instruments that I refer to were provided in Unit 1.)

My Reflections on Unit 3: Feedback

Feedback is very important yet I think that it is often overlooked or treated casually. I think I have been very lax in providing feedback to my students. Often I have provided just a grade in numerical form or a single word like ‘good.’ After this unit, I can see that I need to provide more meaningful feedback about what is good, what needs to be improved, and the contents. And not just feedback from me but also from the other students.

In real life when we try to communicate verbally, we usually receive immediate feedback. We can see by our listener’s body language and their facial expressions as well as their verbal response whether or not they have understood. And with that feedback, we take the necessary steps to make repairs. But without feedback, we don’t really know and often just assume that our communicative intent was successful.

In the classroom, without feedback either positive or negative, students are left in a ‘no man’s land’, not sure whether they have been successful or not. For the more confident students, this might not be a big problem as they would assume they were understood without any indication to the contrary. However, most students need the feedback, both positive and negative.

Unit 2: Testing

Activity 1: Types of Tests

Chapter 3 divides language tests into four different kinds: proficiency, achievement, diagnostic and placement.

Proficiency tests are a way of measuring what the test-taker can do in the target language without reference to any particular course or textbook. A proficiency test can be specific, testing the test-taker’s specific purpose for using the language, or it can be general, testing to find out what the test-taker can do in the target language.

An example of a proficiency test would be the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) managed by the University of Cambridge ESOL, the British Council and IDP: IELTS Australia. This test uses nine bands with descriptors of increasing proficiency for each of the four skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. The results of this test are used by test-takers to show their proficiency in English for the purpose of studying, working and/or immigrating to countries where English is the main language of communication.

Achievement tests are meant to show whether the students have accomplished or learned what they were supposed to. These tests can be broken into two different subtypes: final or progress. Final achievement tests can be broken down even further between tests based on the syllabus content (meaning the detailed content of a course) or tests based on the attainment of the course objectives. In contrast, progress achievement tests are based on short term objectives rather than the course objectives, and are used in formative assessment. Achievement tests are the ones that we are probably most familiar with.

Examples of achievement tests are the tests that we use at the Language Faculty of UABC in Ensenada. Our tests are given after completing two or three units in the textbook and are based on the content of these units in the skills of listening, reading, writing and grammar.

Diagnostic tests are used to find ‘holes’ in the students’ knowledge so teachers are aware of what the students already know and what still needs to be learned to aid in lesson planning.

In the textbook that we use for Level 6 at UABC, Ensenada each unit begins with a section called “Test Your Grammar” with the aim that the students can show the teacher “how much they already know” (Soars & Soars, 2005, p. ix) with respect to the grammar focus of that particular unit.

The purpose of a placement test is to ascertain a student’s abilities in the target language in order to be able to put him or her in the correct level of the language program.

At our campus, we have a placement test provided by the publishers of the textbook (American Headway series) that we use in our English courses. Anyone who has not studied at English at our school must take this test so that we can determine the best level in which to place him or her.

Soars, J., Soars, L. & Sayer, M. (2005). American headway 4 teacher’s book. New York: Oxford University Press.

Activity 2: Types of Testing

As Rocío mentioned, Hughes presents the types of testing as opposites. Just looking at the name direct testing, we can guess that in this type of testing the student has to do the communicative skill that we want to test while trying to keep it as much like real-life language as possible. For example if speaking is the skill to be tested, then the test-taker must speak. Hughes mentions that the productive skills of speaking and writing are easy to test in this manner and that the tests are easier to construct than indirect. On the other hand, in indirect testing we’re trying to measure the student’s knowledge and abilities that we think a student needs in order to be able to speak, write, read or listen in the target language. In this type of testing, we use controlled items like multiple choice questions. Hughes mentions that one of the doubts about indirect testing is that the relationship between the skills we want to test and the abilities that we indirectly test might not be strong which means that our results may not be as meaningful as we think or hoped for.

In discrete point testing we test each item, one by one. For example we might ask the student to choose the correct tense of a verb. This type of testing is usually done by indirect testing. On the other side, there is integrative testing where we test many different things at the same time and expect the student to use a variety of language. This would be the case when doing an oral test involving a conversation or when writing a composition. This type of testing is generally direct testing.

When we compare a test-taker’s results to the results of all other test-takers, we call it norm-referenced testing as opposed to criterion-referenced testing where we compare a test-taker’s results to a standard. In norm-referenced testing, the results don’t really tell us what the test-taker can do in the target language. It only tells us what the test-taker can do compared to other test-takers. However in criterion-referenced testing the results tell us how much of the test items the test-taker can do.

Finally we have objective and subjective testing. These refer to ways of scoring tests. In objective testing, the idea is that there is only one correct answer to a question like in a true-false or a multiple choice question. So the test-taker’s answer is either correct or incorrect and the test scorer does not use his or her judgment because the answer is clear. This produces greater scorer reliability. In subjective testing, the opposite is true as the answer is not a straight-forward, clear-cut answer like in objective testing and so the test scorer has to use their judgment.

Activity 3: Assessing Skills

In my assessment plan, I chose to formally test grammar and vocabulary from each unit. So for this activity, I have chosen to design items to assess these skills to be used on a formal progress test from unit 11 in our textbook American Headway 4 (2005). The grammar focus in this unit is hypothesizing about the past and present using wish, if only, would rather, conditional sentences and should have to express regrets and wishes.

Here are some items I selected for testing:

I. Multiple Choice:

Underline the correct answer in the following sentences.

1. I really wish I can / could / had speak another language.

2. Our vacation was a disaster. I’d rather we didn’t go / hadn’t gone / weren’t going.

3. The party was great after you left. You should stay / had stayed / have stayed.

4. If I hadn’t been nervous, I passed / had passed / would have passed the exam.

5. If only I could / can / should speak Japanese, but I can’t.

II. Matching words followed by sentence completion.

Match a word pair in A with a definition in B.

A (word pairs)
off and on
then and there
take it or leave it
slowly but surely
sick and tired
B (definitions)
accept it or refuse it, I don’t care
gradually
occasionally
fed up with
immediately

Complete the sentences with a word pair from above.

1.Ok you can have it for $50. That’s my final price. __________________.

2.We have tacos every day. I’m ________________ of eating them!

3. They saw the house and bought it _________________________.

4.Writing this essay is taking a long time. I’m getting it done __________________.

5. He’d been visiting Mexico ____________ for years before he finally moved there.

III. Sentence Transformation

Rewrite the sentences so they have similar meanings. Use the words in parentheses.

1. I’m sorry I didn’t invite him to the party. (wish)
____________________________________________________________

2. Why weren’t you watching the road? (should)
____________________________________________________________

3. I regret saying that to her. (If only)
____________________________________________________________

4. I don’t want you to tell him. (‘d rather)
____________________________________________________________

5. He didn’t learn to ski until he was 40. He’s not very good. (if)
____________________________________________________________

6. My 16-year-old sister wants to be older. (she/wish)
____________________________________________________________

7. I get up at five o’clock every morning. I have to go to work. (if/wouldn’t)
____________________________________________________________

8. I shouldn’t have hit him. (wish)
____________________________________________________________

What I wish I’d known when I was 20.

Complete the paragraph with the words in the box (I couldn't create a box in the blog) using each word once.

if
's
realized
could
had
hadn't

James Garner, 31, landscaper

I quit school with no degree, feeling like an academic failure. I wish I __________ known then
that I ________________ have decent career in landscaping. It _______________ time
that more young people ___________________ that success can be achieved without passing tests. And ____________ I _____________ eventually realized that my love of plants could get me the job of my dreams, I would still be moving from one dead-end job to another.

Activity 4: Designing a Test

In this activity, we actually designed a test including scoring and the answer key. I used the items from Activity 3 above but included the number of points for the correct answers. When I post the test here in the blog, I lose some of the formatting - I haven't figured that out yet.

Here's the test:

Test Items (The Test) Total: 40 points

Grammar

A Underline the correct answer in the following sentences.

1. I really wish I can / could / had speak another language.

2. Our vacation was a disaster. I’d rather we didn’t go / hadn’t gone / weren’t going.

3. The party was great after you left. You should stay / had stayed / have stayed.

4. If I hadn’t been nervous, I passed / had passed / would have passed the exam.

5. If only I could / can / should speak Japanese, but I can’t.

6. What were you doing on that ladder? Supposing you had had / would have / hadn’t had an accident?

7. She’d rather her grandchildren live / lived / had lived nearer. Then she could see them more often.

8. If he wins / had won / won the lottery, he would buy a new car.


B What I wish I’d known when I was 20.

Complete the paragraph with the words in the box using each word only once.


James Garner, 31, landscaper

I quit school with no degree, feeling like an academic failure. I wish I (1)__________ known then that I (2)________________ have decent career in landscaping. It (3)_______________ time that more young people (4)___________________ that success can be achieved without passing tests. And (5)____________ I (6)_____________ eventually realized that my love of plants could get me the job of my dreams, I would have still been moving from one dead-end job to another.

My Reflections on Unit 2: Testing

I didn't realize that there were so many things to consider when designing a test. We have to consider the types of tests as well as the types of testing. Then when we create the items to include in a test, we have to analyze them in terms of validity, reliability, practically, authenticity and backwash effects to ensure that our items comply with these important principles. Another important point is to have someone else, a moderator, revise the test, and if possible, try out the test to get more information.
In my teaching situation, the formal tests are given to me to apply. It would be very interesting to revise these tests using with the information from this unit to see how valid, reliable, practical, and authentic these tests are.

Unit 1: Informal Assessment

Activity 1: Definition of Informal Assessment

In a general sense, informal assessment is the continuous, regular, on-going collection of data about the learner’s performance in the normal classroom environment and also work done outside the classroom. This data is collected through observation with the goal of providing the learner with performance feedback to be used for improvement. The term ‘informal’ can be misleading because it can lead us to believe that the assessment is not structured. However, this is not the case. Informal assessment must be based on criteria which is analytical and/or holistic in nature and not based on teacher impressions and/or intuitions. More specifically in terms of language learning, we must not only include linguistic factors involving the four skills as well as grammar and vocabulary in our informal assessment, but we must also include non-linguistic factors such as attitude, effort and participation. For each of the skills, we must define the criteria to be used in the assessment ensuring reliability and validity. Informal assessment goes hand-in-hand with formal assessment(s) and self-evaluation, with each one given a weighting to arrive at a final assessment of the learner.

Activity 2: Assessment Plan

Preamble

In an ideal world, the teacher would be able to decide how and when to assess the students. In this ideal world, I would base 85% of the mark on informal assessment and 15% on formal assessment. In informal assessment, I would include my observations of students in the classroom as well as student self-evaluations and peer evaluations with respect to both the linguistic and non-linguistic factors. For the formal assessment, I would test grammar and vocabulary as well as listening from the unit covered.

In reality in the institution where I work, I do not have complete liberty in deciding how and when to assess students. In fact 60% of the student’s grade is determined by formal assessment in the form of written tests given after every two units in the book. These tests have four parts: listening, writing, reading and grammar with each part given an equal weight in the scoring. Another 30% of the grade consists of oral assessment. At the same time as the written tests, oral tests are also given. However, I do have the liberty of basing some of this 30% on informal assessment throughout classroom sessions. The final 10% of the grade is called Teacher’s Choice and the teacher is free to determine what factors are used. Some examples of the factors used are participation, homework, attendance, and presentations.

Also, very often in reality the activities and topics chosen for the classroom are selected with the test in mind – the wash back effect as discussed by Harris & McCann (1998).

Therefore, my assessment plan for the unit is based partly on reality and partly on an ideal world; the former because at the end of the semester both the students and the institution where I work require a grade in numerical form and I do not have the liberty to determine how and when the students are assessed and the latter because my assessment plan differs from the reality of the assessment process where I work.

Assessment Plan

Unit 11: In Your Dreams
Soars, J. & Soars, L. (2005). American headway 4 student book. New York: Oxford University press.

The class meets for two hours three times per week. In addition, the students are required to spend two hours per week at the self-access centre. It is a high intermediate class – the last level of English at this institution. There are usually between 10 and 15 students in the class.

Learning Objectives:
· to be able to hypothesize about the past and present expressing regrets and wishes
· to be able to understand and use common word pairs joined with the conjunction and
· to be able to describe and (try to) interpret dreams
· to read for comprehension and be able to discuss things that people wonder about
· to listen for specific information
· to be able to complain and respond to complaints
· to be able to write a narration using linking words and expressions

Informal assessment: 85%

· Linguistic factors (70%)
o writing 15% group writing & individual writing
o reading 15% comprehension; summarizing to show understanding
o listening 20% specific details; summarizing to show understanding
o speaking 20% describe; hypothesize; complain

N.B. I have given more weight to listening and speaking because in my experience the majority of the students claim that they are more concerned with their listening and speaking than with their reading and writing.

· Non-linguistic factors (15%)
o attitude
o participation & cooperation in class work & group work
o use of English

Formal assessment: written test 15%
· grammar & vocabulary from unit
· listening for specific information

Activity 3: Instruments to Assess and Collect Data

I included seven different instruments for assessing and collecting data. They are:
1. Oral Assessment Scoring Guideline
2. Writing Assessment Scoring Guldeline
3. Non-Linguistic Factors Assessment
4. Group Participation Assessment Rubric
5. Reading Assessment
6. Listening Assessment
7. Summary of Data Collected


My Reflections on Unit 1: Informal Assessment

Every activity in every class is an opportunity for informal evaluation. But I need to be well-organized and prepared to take advantage of these opportunities, and have the instruments to do this. This unit has really strengthened my belief that informal assessment should comprise most if not all of the grade given to the student, if indeed a grade has to be given.

I also really believe that the students know best how they are progressing and that self-evaluation is a very valuable tool. And peer assessment especially for group work is invaluable.

Also timely feedback is vital to a student’s progress. Waiting till the end of the semester or the end of a course to tell the student where or what they need to work on is just too late to make a difference.

Unit 0: What is assessment?

Activity 1: Questions about the course

Activity 2: What is a portfolio?

My definition in 50 words or less: A portfolio is a package containing the work that has been done by a student during a course. It can be in any form and contain any information that the student and/or teacher consider relevant to demonstrate that learning that has occurred.

Rocio's definition: It is in fact a collection of things (pictures, samples, evidences of performance, etc). You can always go back and revise previous work. An important feature of a portfolio is the reflection pieces that should be included after you did something or produced something. It is a reflection of the process and the product Ss do. I think this is the most important element in a portfolio.

Activity 3: What do include in our portfolio for this course?

From Rocio:

CHARACTERISTICS OF A MODEL PORTFOLIO PROCEDURE

Five features typify model portfolios that can be used as a systematic assessment tool in instructional planning and student evaluation. Each of these features has implications for ESL classrooms.
Comprehensiveness. The potential for determining the depth and breadth of a student's capabilities can be realized through comprehensive data collection and analysis. A comprehensive approach (a) uses both formal and informal assessment techniques; (b) focuses on both the processes and products of learning; (c) seeks to understand student language development in the linguistic, cognitive, metacognitive, and affective domains; (d) contains teacher, student, and objective input; and (e) stresses both academic and informal language development.
Although comprehensiveness is a critical component of a good portfolio procedure, a portfolio can too quickly become an aggregation of everything a student produces. A screening procedure needs to be established that will include only selected, high-priority information in the portfolio. The degree of comprehensiveness should be tempered by practical limitations of the evaluation environment such as teacher-student ratios and teacher workload. Setting realistic goals for portfolio assessment increases the probability of sustained teacher interest and use.

Predetermined and Systematic. A sound portfolio procedure is planned prior to implementation. The purpose of using a portfolio, the contents of the portfolio, data collection schedule, and student performance criteria are delineated as part of portfolio planning. Each entry in the portfolio has a purpose, and the purpose is clearly understood by all portfolio stakeholders.

Informative. The information in the portfolio must be meaningful to teachers, students, staff, and parents. It also must be usable for instruction and curriculum adaptation to student needs. A mechanism for timely feedback to the teachers and students and a system for evaluating the utility and adequacy of the documented information are characteristics of a model portfolio procedure. In ESL settings, a portfolio can be particularly useful to communicate specific examples of student work to students, to parents, and to other teachers.

Tailored. An exemplary portfolio procedure is tailored to the purpose for which it will be used, to classroom goals and objectives and to individual student assessment needs. Assessment instruments and procedures are adapted to match information needs, to reflect student characteristics, and to coincide with student linguistic and developmental capabilities. With ESL students, assessment procedures are designed to reveal information about student performance in all curriculum areas relevant to the students.

Authentic. A good portfolio procedure provides student information based on assessment tasks that reflect authentic activities used during classroom instruction. In ESL, authentic language may be assessed across several contexts: formal classroom activities, natural settings (such as the playground), and informal classroom settings (e.g., cooperative learning groups). An effective portfolio procedure will include assessment of authentic classroom-based language tasks, i.e., tasks that the student encounters naturally as part of instruction. Focusing on authentic language proficiency across sociolinguistic contexts and naturally occurring language tasks acknowledges the holistic and integrative nature of language development and focuses on communicative and functional language abilities rather than attainment of discrete, fragmented skills.



Activity 4: Definitions and Ideas about Assessment

Evaluation is the big picture. It gets fed by all the assessments that are done including, but not limited to, student assessments, teacher assessments and program assessments with everyone involved in the process participating with the goal of making improvements.

I like how Trussell (1998) defines assessment as “the gathering of evidence and documentation of the learning.” This process of collecting and organizing information about the students’ learning aids in evaluation. When we talk about assessment, there are a number of different types as seen in the readings. While we usually to think of testing as a synonym of assessment, in fact testing is just one part of assessment. We generally do testing, also called formal assessment, in a summative form after learning, for example at the end of a unit, as a kind of achievement test to see if the students have learned what we wanted them to learn. We usually give the students feedback from these tests as a grade either a number or letter.

The authors mention a number of drawbacks to relying solely on testing or formal assessment. For example the summative assessment often occurs at the end of the course when it’s too late for any kind of feedback to help the student succeed. Another example is the danger of the “wash back effect” as mentioned by Harris & McCann (1998) where the teaching choices are governed by what will be on the test rather than what should or need to be learned. Also most tests assess only those skills that are easy to measure which may not be what is the most important. This is not to say that we shouldn’t do testing but we need to balance it with other types of assessment.

Informal assessment is a continuous, everyday, ongoing activity where teachers monitor the students to be able to give them timely feedback about their performance and progress. I think this kind of formative assessment is important so that we can let the students know of problem areas early so then can to work on them before the end of the course.

In self-assessment the students themselves reflect on their progress or lack thereof, and identify any problem areas. I think that this kind of assessment is really valuable because I believe that the students know better than their teachers what they know and what they don’t know, what they have learned and what they haven’t learned, and what they can do and what they can’t do. So doing this type of assessment at regular intervals throughout the course gives students the opportunity to get help or to do whatever is necessary to ensure that learning occurs before the course is over! It also helps the students to become autonomous and responsible for their own learning but it can only be useful if the students really take it to heart and are honest in their self-assessments.

Teaching involves providing activities to help the students learn by working with the process on a day-to-day, class-by-class basis, not just to pass a test.

In summary in the classroom, we do the teaching. During and after the teaching, we do the assessments sometimes informally and sometimes formally in the form of testing. Using the assessments, we evaluate the students, the course, the teacher, the environment, etc., making judgments and decisions based on this information.

My Reflections on Unit O: What is assessment?

There are lots of different terms involved in evaluation and assessment, and it is very easy to confuse them. However having read the different authors,worked with the definitions, and discussed them with my classmates, the explanations and definitions are clearer.