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.