Definitons

Evaluation: Is part of the assessment, it occurs when we give a qualitative value to the students performance.

Assessment: is the gathering of all the information that can lead us to know the student development.

Testing: is a tool a method that teachers have to “measure” abilities or knowledge on the students.

Teaching: Is to educate people and in this case is to make sure that our knowledge on the area we develop gets to the students mind and abilities for life. And to realize what have we reach is why we need to know how to assess our students.

Assessment Audit

Objectives and Content

Reflection of the unit

Informal assessment

Harris and MacCann first draw us to informal assessment. The positive aspects of it is that we are able to measure the student advance in a relax atmosphere and many times we can have surprises, because some students express better informally than on a test, when they feel comfortable it could be within a “friends” talk or in a game. However it should never replace formal testing because we can only make an informal test to some students on a classroom not all of them, and of course if we want the students to feel free to talk we need to be careful about the mistakes they make, it depends on the teacher, how he/she correct the mistakes (I rather make notes and make a review of general mistakes of the group at the next class or have an individual feedback after class to a student in particular of course respecting the student privacy and not putting him on the spot).

How often a teacher uses informal assessment depends only on her/him although if it’s a well observer he/she can make this kind of assessment even when students are participating ether orally, written or when reading. We should be careful and not base our assessment on mere rough impressions or favoritism. This can be done in or out of the classroom we can create opportunities or necessities to the students so they have to use the language in a fan and attractive way.


The weighting we give to each area of the language can vary as the school or student needs for example there are several schools that focus mostly on speaking or in reading/writing grammar (I think that’s not correct because the student is having only the language in part and even if he/she needs an specific area at the moment sooner or later he/she is going to need the all the skills, in other words why should we teach only part of the language when the student can lean all of it) however in some units from the curse we are giving the information is focus in a specific part of the curse and we should grade according to what we teach. All in all assessment weighting will depend on our needs and information involved.

I think that a teacher should take in consideration everything to notice if a student is showing some progress and when you are in the class and you see the minimum advancement in a child (well I personally teach children) you feel so proud of him/her and its really noticeable just by the look in the eyes, that’s what really make motivate me to keep going. But in this reading we are talking about a qualitative and quantitative measurement and not just to notice the student advancement bt give them a grade in base on it and when we talk about informal testing we are talking about take in consideration this assessment to give grades, which is hard if we don’t have very clear what we are taking in consideration, we need to be really specific inhere otherwise we could be in serious trouble when we give grades to students and when they ask reasons about the grades; this can be applied in all four skills reading, writing, listening and speaking.

In order to have the appropriate assessment grades both qualitative and quantitative we need to be careful and include in our lesson planning a specific day or activity in the week that we can use to grade our students informally this way we will have four different informal tests that we can use to complement our monthly or bimonthly formal test and with the correct feedback each week we can advance more in our program and when we receive the surprise that we must give grades ahead on the due date we don’t have to worry that much we just take in consideration the informal tests (I don’t mean that all the times we can do this, it’s only for an emergency).

Introduction to chapter 1 Harris, M and McCann P. (1994) Assessment. Hong Kong: Macmillan Publishers.

What is teaching? Emotional Intelligence?

On the classroom there is many information that we need to take in consideration for the assessment, in fact what I understand now with the term assessment is that it is the capture many things that occur in and out of the classroom that can lead us to know how much our student is learning, evaluation is to give a quantitative value to that information.

Trussell clearly states that teaching is much more that just give information to the student but it is to make sure of what is the student understanding both theoretical and practically a we as teachers can find in the information taken from the assessment the clues that can lead us to analyze what can we do about it, not by doing the same thing over and over but looking for strategies to the active and interactive learning on the student, as well as values and attitudes that the student has, for instance if the student believe in himself, the learning will occur in a normal and natural way (in most cases) and nowadays its recognized and accepted that thoughts and emotions are inter-dependents, which coexist and collaborate with the capabilities to comprehend and adapt and when we stimulate the development of the emotional intelligence we achieve better school performance as well as happy and healthy students therefore we can stimulate self-knowledge, self-control, cooperation, perseverance, communication and empathy. That way the student will learn to work within groups, learn to listen others suggestions, develop empathy for those with lesser ability, develop conflict resolutions strategies, expand emotional vocabulary, etc.

Pages 6-9 Trussell-Cullen Alan (1998) Assessment in the Learner-Centered classroom. California, USA: Dominie Press Inc
http://www.amcoonline.net/

Informal assessment

Informal Assessment

·        Speaking : areas viewed on speaking are going to be evaluated by class observation, participation and Daily Routine in which every day we are reviewing a specific phonetical sound in word list and review the meaning of those words so the student can acquire that as vocabulary that he can use it in daily  life here we assess:   

o   Pronunciation

o   Fluency

o   Relevance

o   Intonation

o   Accuracy

We have also “Home Schooling” in which a word list is giving to the student and the parent can review with the student is on:

o   Pronunciation

o   Intonation

·        Listening:  We only assess listening informally, on reading for example we play the reading on a cd player and the student needs to answer comprehension questions.

·        Reading: This is a subject and its informal evaluation we do it with students participations and fluency, there are quizzes in which students need to answer comprehension questions and it also includes the silent reading.

·        Writing: Most of it is focus on grammar and here we take in consideration every day activities and participations, however there are some sections in reading in which the student is asked to write a “different ending for the story” for example, or “write a personal experience” etc.

Formal Assessment

We have monthly formal assessments for all subjects and for instance all skills. For Grammar and Reading Comprehension there is a written test that includes fill in the blanks and multiple choice questions, for spelling we have monthly spelling bee in which we ask also to the student to say an invented sentence including the word given.

Non linguistic factors:

·        Participation

·        Effort

·        Behavior

·        Attendance

Weight:

Informal Assessment         40%

Speaking                      10%            Reading                        10%          

Writing                           10%           Listening                       10%

Formal Assessment  60%

Speaking                      20%           Reading                        10%

Writing                           15%           Listening                       15%

ASSESSMENT PLAN

Baxter touches an issue I personally have had problems with, the so called “teacher criteria” this is like the black hole in which we introduce all the things that are hard to measure such us “the ability to make useful contributions to the class”, it often happens when trying to give a numeric value to skills, and in many times I dear say that we unconsciously change the data and give a different value to those type of skills that the reality. For example in one of my classes I have a student who is always participating correctly and making contributions to the class, and on the other hand there is another who doesn’t speak that much but when he does he is assertive and sometimes even if he doesn’t participate I know and realize he understand the class, Does he deserve a lower numeric value just because he doesn’t participate that much? I know the knowledge is there that he can understand and practice what he knows but the girl who participates gives me more info to assess.

Chapter 2: Baxter, A. (1997) Evaluating your Students. London: Richmond Publishing.



TESTING

We’ll see 4 types of tests,

1.  Proficiency  I think we can divide this kind of test in two

Seeking proficiency in a specific area, these tests are designed to measure people’s management on the language, and its objective is based on a specific purpose there was an example about a proficiency test to see if a student was able to study at a university and in this case it was  necessary to have as an objective the rubrics, vocabulary and subjects that the student will have, by this the school would notice if the student’s “proficiency” was enough or if the student would struggle because of the language and for instance didn’t have the proficiency required.

 The other kind of proficiency tests are more general and these are the ones that sometimes are required by employers to investigate on what level an employee has domain on the language and, or, compare different candidates abilities, however since these are more general they will say only what a student or applicant of test is able to do, the people, institutions and, or companies must establish a fair profile of what they need and have the ability to interpret correctly the test’s results.

2.    Achievement

These kind of test is also divided on two

 Final achievement; unlike the “proficiency” test this it’s directly linked to a curse and it has a base the syllabus of the curse however the results may be misleading if something in the language curse, syllabus, etc is badly designed, that is why it’s better to have as reference the objectives pretended to achieve as a basis for the test designed.

 Progress achievement; these are the test teachers in times made at a determined time to measure student’s achievement and they are also linked to the objectives, to have better results in the students achievement and for instance on the test results it is useful to set short term objectives that are need to be covered, and it can be done as an option by applying quizzes, for example or informal tests. 

3.    Diagnostic

 This type of test will indicate the weakness or area to work on a student, however is difficult to make this analysis because it exist the possibility that the student answer by chance the correct answer and not for the knowledge this is why several items for each aspect to measure, making the test in most times very large and impractical for short times of class, there are tests made by a computer program this may be more precise in times and instructions, however it is hard to build or use this type of programs.

4.    Placement

These have the purpose of place the student is a specific lever (in most cases) when studying a language curse and it is vital to have as basis the key features at the levels of the school or English curse.

Direct tests: Are focus to a specific skill and development.

Indirect tests: are used when we test an underlie skill, grammar thru reading comprehension or reading with speaking etc.

When discrete point testing is used we are talking about testing an specific area of language in contrast with integrative testing when the student needs to use several elements of the language and skills.

Criterion and norm referenced tests: the norm test provides the student’s performance compared with others students or applicants. The criterion referenced test is design to provide information if applicants are able to perform a task or skill in specific and is based on the tasks or knowledge that the student must achieve.

Objective testing: in this there is one possible answer and it doesn’t reflect the student’s thoughts or opinions. Subjective testing: the marks depends on the scorer opinion or judgment and are common on skills like listening, speaking and even reading comprehension in times.

Computer Adaptive Testing: In this type of test a computer gives the questions to the student and these questions will be according to the student’s performance, the better the student answers the harder the question will be.

VALIDITY-RELIABILITY-PRACTICALITY

 AND BACKWASH EFFECTS.

Refers to the connections between the test items and the subject-related tasks. The test should evaluate only the content related to the field of study in a manner sufficiently representative, relevant, and comprehensible.

CONSTRUCT VALIDITY

It implies using the construct correctly (concepts, ideas, notions). Construct validity seeks agreement between a theoretical concept and specific measuring device or procedure. For example, a test of intelligence must include measures of multiple intelligences, rather than just logical mathematical and linguistic ability measures.

CRITERION RELATED VALIDITY

Also referred to as instrumental validity, it states that the criteria should be clearly defined by the teacher in advance. It has to take into account other teachers’ criteria to be standardized and it also needs to demonstrate the accuracy of a measure or procedure compared to another measure or procedure which has already been demonstrated to be valid.

PREDICTIVE VALIDITY

Estimates the relationship of test scores to study future performance as a master or not to dominate it. Predictive validity considers the question, “How well does the test predict future status as masters or not to control it?” For this type of validity, the correlation that is computed is based on the test results and the analyses’ later performance. This type of validity is especially useful for test purposes such as selection or admissions.

FACE VALIDITY

Like content validity, face validity is determined by a review of the items and not through the use of statistical analyses. Unlike content validity, face validity is not investigated through formal procedures. Instead, anyone who looks over the test, including examinees, may develop an informal opinion as to whether or not the test is measuring what it claims to measure.

RELIABILITY

Is the extent to which an experiment, test, or any measuring procedure shows the same result on repeated trials. Without the agreement of independent observers able to replicate research procedures, or the ability to use research tools and procedures that produce consistent measurements, researchers would be unable to satisfactorily draw conclusions, formulate theories. For researchers, four key types of reliability are:

Equivalency related to the co-occurrence of two items

Stability related to time consistency

Internal related to the instruments

Inter-rater related to examiners’ criterion

EQUIVALENCY RELIABILITY

Equivalency reliability is the extent to which two items measure identical concepts at an identical level of difficulty. Equivalency reliability is determined by relating two sets of test scores to one another to highlight the degree of relationship or association.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VALIDITY &

 RELIABILITY

Validity and reliability are closely related. A test cannot be considered valid unless the measurements resulting from it are reliable. Likewise, results from a test can be reliable and not necessarily valid.

PRACTICALITY

It refers to the economy of time, effort and money in testing. In other words, a test should be

Easy to design

Easy to administer

Easy to mark

Easy to interpret the results.

BACKWASH EFFECT

Backwash effect is the influence of testing on teaching and learning. It is also the potential impact that the form and content of a test may have on learners ‘conception of what is being assessed (language proficiency) and what it involves. Therefore, test designers, delivers and raters have a particular responsibility, considering that the testing process may have a substantial impact, either positive or negative.

LEVELS OF BACKWASH

It is a subset of a test’s impact on society, educational systems and individuals. Thus, test impact operates at two levels:

The micro level (the effect of the test on individual students and teachers).

The macro level (the impact of the test on society and the educational system) Content related to objectives and their sampling.

 Brief Summary

Construct: Refers to the theory underlying the target

Criterion: Related to concrete criteria in the real world. It can be concurrent or predictive.

Concurrent: Correlating high with another measure already validated

Predictive: Capable of anticipating some later measure.

Face: Related to the test overall appearance

QUESTIONS MEASUREMENT DEVICES

Validity: Does it measure what it is supposed to measure?

Reliability: How representative is the measurement?

Practicality: Is it easy to construct, administer, score and interpret?

Backwash: What is the impact of the test on the teaching/ learning process?

Hughes, A. (2003) Testing for Language Teachers. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

TESTING

This unit have helped me to focus more on my students and here I understand that I must focus on what I need and want to assess, specifications are vital for this purpose and it is necessary to see the test as a tool and that a test is not just a group of questions taken from the textbook changed a bit and place it on separated sheets, but implies much more than that and to really make it work we as teachers must really plan the test carefully and give the appropriate value for each aspect of the test create our own bands according to the needs from our students’ circumstances.

Depending on the test I like for example for oral tests monologues, pre-recorded conversations live dialogue, reading aloud, as for written I like sentence order, word, set of words among others like fill in the blank, short answers, multiple choice to mention a few examples that I have take into practice.

TEST SPECS

The following is an achievement test I made. Here are the specs.

Grammar: students answer questions from prepositions and simple present tense

Oral Production: being able to explain feeling and/or thought using small short sentences at least.

Additive comprehension: Identify different words using long and short vowels viewed within unit.

Reading: Understand Reading by context and demonstrate the comprehension they have from the reading

Speaking (_5_ minutes)

Format: individual oral interview – 5 minutes

Task: Students explain story drawing about a pet they ever had or will invent a pet

Listening (_10_ minutes)

Format: Oral

Task: the teacher will dictate sentences and students will write words in the sentences and a separate dictation of individual words

Reading (_15_ minutes)

Format: 5 comprehension questions from reading.

Task: open questions

Writing (_25_ minutes)

Format: students answer open questions from different aspects of grammar seen on unit

Task: students answer open questions.

Quantitative vs. qualitative measurement

The formal test will show us just rhetorical information (if the student did or did not know or remember the class) but it won’t tell us why? What do we need to do? And I think it’s linked to odd results such as the fact that our best student gets lower grade on a test than someone else that we know doesn’t have the same knowledge and understanding of the language not to talk about how much he can perform in real life.

Chapter 2: Baxter, A. (1997) Evaluating your Students. London: Richmond Publishing.

Enumeration equals Illumination

Here I can bet that our parents and/or teachers make clear the issue that the bigger the number you get the more you know, and it can be frustrating to know and realize that someone on your classroom (as student) receives better or bigger grade than you do when you know that you manage the subject three times better than the other, speaking for myself that was frustrating, all in all the number on the finl grade does not necessarily represent the intelligence and/or learning of a person.

Chapter 2: Baxter, A. (1997) Evaluating your Students. London: Richmond Publishing.