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.