CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT Prepared by Viktoria Levchenko Ludmila Kozhevnikova

CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT Prepared by Viktoria Levchenko, Ludmila Kozhevnikova, Svetlana Borisova Based on material by Stephen Bax

Overview § § Purposes and issues in classroom assessment Types of classroom assessment Designing classroom assessments Classroom assessment techniques

Testing Measures students’ abilities at one time Done by teacher alone; students are often unaware of criteria Conducted outside instruction Assigns student a grade Does not capture the range of student’s language ability Does not include the teacher’s knowledge of student as a learner Does not give student responsibility (Adapted from Barnhardt et al. , 1999, p. 3)

A problem with current practice in classroom-based assessment § “All too often, classroom tests are given, the results reported to students, and instruction remains unchanged…” (Genessee and Upshur, 1996: 258)

Problems with current practice (The Assessment Reform Group, 1999) § tendency for teachers to assess the amount of work completed, diligence, attitude or presentation rather than the quality of learning; § focus on marking and grading rather than providing advice for improvement; § strong emphasis on comparing students with each other, which demoralizes the less successful learners; § feedback to learners often serves social and managerial purposes rather than helping them to learn more effectively; § teachers do not know enough about their students' learning needs.

We are failing… – to assess fully – to link teaching, learning and assessment – to relate classroom assessment to learning aims We should… – promote fair, authentic, non-intrusive assessment In other words, get classroom-based assessment to work properly. (Bax, 2012)

Assessment should have positive effects: § The process and the outcomes of assessment can motivate learners; § An assessment activity can provide a helpful model of language use; § An assessment activity, and feedback from it, can support further learning; § The outcomes of assessment can help teachers plan more effective lessons; § The outcomes of assessment can inform the evaluation and improvement of courses and programs;

Assessment should be a two-way process: The outcomes of assessment should: § help teachers plan more effective lessons; § inform the evaluation and improvement of courses and programs; § motivate learners; § support further learning.

Testing Alternative Assessment Measures student’s ability at one time Measures student’s ability over time Done by teacher alone; students are often unaware of criteria Done by teacher and student; students are aware of criteria Conducted outside instruction Embedded in instruction Assigns student a grade Involves student in own assessment Does not capture the range of student’s language ability Captures many facets of language learning performance Does not include the teacher’s knowledge of student as a learner Allows for expression of teacher’s knowledge of student as a learner Does not give student responsibility Student learns how to take responsibility (Adapted from Barnhardt et al. , 1999. P. 3)

Formative assessment Assessment for learning § ‘Evaluates students ‘in the process of ‘forming ’ their competences and skills with the process of helping them to continue that growth. ’ (Brown, 2004, p. 6) § Uses information from assessment to feed into our teaching and, possibly, to give learners feedback. (Spratt et al. , 2011, p. 105)

Summative assessment Assessment of learning § Summative assessment evaluates performance at the end of a unit of study, a course, or a programme and is often used for purposes of accountability, admission decisions, promotion and selection. It measures or summarizes, what a student has learned (Poehner & Lantolf, 2005: 250).

Informal assessment or formal assessment? § Homework? § Project Work? § Dictation?

Formal vs Informal (Spratt et al. , 2011) Formal Assessment tasks? Marking? Purpose? Age group? Informal

Formal vs Informal Assessment Formal Informal Assessment tasks Tests exams Class activities homework Marking? Grades (%, 1 -5, A-F, pass/fail) Keeping records Purpose? Assess: overall, end of the course, etc Feedback for teacher/ learner: evaluation, Improvement of procedures, etc. Age group? Teenagers and up Very young and young learners, teenagers and up

Formative and summative assessment § Classroom assessment can include: § Formative assessment = assessment that guides teaching and learning: looks forward to what should be done next § Summative assessment = assessment of what a student has learned: looks backward to what was achieved § Continuous assessment = some or all of the work (tests, homework, in-class exercises, journals, projects, presentations…) that students do during a course contributes to a final grade: can have both formative and summative functions

Formative techniques and procedures § give more wait-time after spoken questions - give learners the opportunity to think about answers; § open questions (not yes/no) - get learners to explore their ideas and reasoning; § guided questioning: probe students’ level of understanding – challenge successful learners and explore causes of misunderstandings; § observe learners – listen to how they describe their work and their reasoning in arriving at an answer; § adjust tasks during the assessment - push learners to use targeted skills or apply ideas; § ask learners to communicate their thinking through drawings, actions, role play, diagrams, and writing; § discuss words and structures and how they are being used.

Assessment for learning: Interactive assessment § In interactive assessment, a teacher can probe what the learner is able to do independently and what he/she can do with different levels of support: § provides scaffolding – structured help for learners to complete tasks that they would not be able to accomplish under strict test conditions. § the amount of help needed = indication of students’ level of ability – a long way or close to independent success? The assessment process should also be a learning process. – Interactive assessment helps teachers to judge what students are capable of and to explain why they are able or unable to answer certain questions.

Importance of scaffolding § how well learners respond to help is important for understanding their cognitive ability; – provides insight into the person’s future development (the ‘zone of proximal development’ - Vygotsky); • what individual is able to do one day with help, s/he is able to do tomorrow alone; • potential development varies independently of actual development; – the latter cannot be used to predict the former. (Poehner and Lantolf, 2005)

DESIGNING ASSESSMENTS FOR THE CLASSROOM

Designing assessments for the classroom § § § § a) purpose b) criteria c) grading d) practicality e) reliability f) validity g) impact on learning and instruction

Steps § Purpose: What you would like to assess (linguistic skills, knowledge, cognitive skills, etc) § State the objectives clearly § Identify criteria and decide how you are going to report outcomes – commentaries, scores, grades

e s a n § CEFR can-do statements d § Russian National Exam: assessment parameters c and criteria r i t e r i

Can-do statements § I can plan before I write § I can write compositions with a beginning, middle, and an end § I can write neatly § I can use cohesive devices

Steps (cont’d) § Decide when you are going to assess and who you are going to assess § Communicate assessment criteria to students

Steps (cont’d) Think about… § the connection between course objectives and assessment criteria – is it clear… • what students should be able to do • how well they should do it and under what conditions? § how to report the results – feedback to improve teaching and learning § the effects of results and feedback on teaching and learning

Challenges for classroom assessment § Lack of teacher education (Hamp-Lyons, 1996) – only recent graduates have had any formal training in alternative assessment § Does not easily translate into a traditional score to report to people outside the classroom (school, government authorities, parents) § Wide variability among tasks makes it difficult to compare and combine results § Control is less centralized – are results from different teachers comparable?

More Limitations § Difficult to standardize tasks & testing conditions – amount of teacher support – time allowed on drafts – use of external sources § Evaluation criteria and scoring standards are difficult to develop and implement – very labor intensive and costly § Scoring can be a dilemma – achieving inter-rater reliability requires training – more time-consuming

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENTS TECHNIQUES

Alternative assessment techniques: § § § § § Observation by the teacher Learner profiles Interviews/Conferences/Questionnaires Progress cards Journals Reading/ listening logs Project work Self-assessment Peer-assessment Portfolios

Observation by the teacher § What kinds of student performance can usually be observed?

Observation by the teacher § Sentence-level oral production skills (pronunciation, stress, grammatical features, vocabulary) § Discourse-level skills (e. g. in speaking: turntaking; in writing: register, cohesion, coherence, etc) § Evidence of listening comprehension § Evidence of learning styles and strategies, etc.

Journals/logs § ‘A journal is a log (or ‘account’) of one’s thoughts, feelings, reactions, assessments, ideas, or progress toward goals, usually written with little attention to structure, form, or correctness’ (Brown, 2004, p. 260)

A reading journal / log When you read… Ask questions of yourself and the author. Realize when your focus has gone astray and get back on track. Reread. Do not rush through a word or section you don’t get. Try to figure it out. Title & # of pages or time (at least 15 mins /day) HOW do you read? 1. I was distracted by. . 2. I started to think about… 3. I got stuck when… 4. I was confused today because… 5. I was focused today because… 6. When I read today I realized that… 7. I’ll read better next time if…

Respond to WHAT you read. 1. Three things I learned are… 2. The setting is important because… 3. (Name a character) surprised me when… 4. A really good description is… 5. This reminds me of… 6. (name a literary device) was used in the line… 7. The best part of this section was. . . 8. I predict ____will happen… Evaluate your reading Excellent o Read the whole time (15 minutes) o Read actively o Understood what I read Successful o Read ALMOST the entire time o Tried to use strategies - they helped a little o Understood most of what I read Inconsistent o Read only half the time o Used some strategies - they didn’t help Unsuccessful o Read little or nothing o Did not read actively o Did not understand what I read

The listening log is a variation on a journal (Nunan, 2004: 157) in which learners record listening experiences outside class (e. g. movies, TV shows or serials, radio shows, etc) and reflect on them. (Nunan, 2004, p. 157)

Guidelines for using journals/ logs as assessment instruments § § § § Introduce students to the concept of journal writing State the objectives Give guidelines about what to focus on Specify the criteria for assessing logs Provide feedback Designate timeframes and schedules for review Provide formative feedback, consider washback - giving final comments (Brown, 2004, pp. 262 -264)

Interviews / conferences § ‘This format typically involves the student visiting the teacher’s office, usually by appointment, to discuss a particular piece of work or learning process, or both. ’ (Brown and Hudson, 2002, p 78)

Conferences - advantages: § § ‘Can help students understand learning processes and learning strategies; help students develop a better self-image; teachers can elicit specific skills or tasks that need review; can be used to inform, observe, mold, and gather information about students’. (Ibid, p. 79)

Conferences - disadvantages: § Require a lot of time; § Difficult to use for grading purposes; § Typically not rated or scored at all. (Ibid, p. 79)

Questions that may be useful to pose in a conference § What did you like about this work? § What do you think you did well? § How does it show improvement from previous work? § Are there things about this work you do not like? Are there things you would like to improve? § …. (Genesee and Upshur, 1996, p. 110)

Stages of project work § Stimulus (initial discussion of the idea) § Definition of the project objective § Practice of language skills § Design of written materials § Group activities § Collating information § Organization of material § Final presentation (Tudor, 1996, p. 220)

Designing classroom assessment When designing classroom assessments, you should: § determine the purpose; § specify objectives; § decide how many students will be observed/assessed at a time; § decide on the logistics for assessment, identify the number of elements assessed; § set criteria; § evaluate the results and determine how you are going to use them. How can you improve on the technique next time?