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Assessing Young LearnersChristine Coombe
Dubai Men’s College
Presentation agenda Issues in assessing children’s language learning Lexical distinctions Social & classroom realities of YL assessment Principles for assessing children’s language learning Current views about YL assessment How YLs learn Techniques for assessing YLs Questions and discussion
Issues in assessing children’s language learning The following make assessing YLs different
from assessment practices in other F/SL situations Age: children’s motor, linguistic, social and
conceptual development must be taken into account
Content of language learning: a focus on oral skills, vocabulary development and language use at discourse level
Issues in assessing children’s language learning
Methods of teaching: interactive use of games, songs, rhymes, stories
Aims: programs for YLs often cite social and cross cultural aims as well as language learning ones
Learning theories: learning centered approach, learning through social interaction (Cameron, 2001)
A survey of the sparse info that is available on YL assessment suggests that assessment practices to not take these factors into account (Rea-Dickins, 2000)
Lexical distinctions A helpful distinction between ‘testing’ and
‘assessment’ when teaching children English is made by Vale & Feunteun (1995) Testing: a means of checking that learning has
taken place with respect to specified teaching context/input, often by a particular task. Results are usually concrete and can be expressed
quantitatively as a mark or %
Lexical distinctions cont.
Assessment: an attempt to analyze the learning that a child has achieved over a period of time as a result of classroom teaching/learning. Not based on a particular task nor expressed as a
mark. A subjective (teacher) opinion of the achievement of a
child in terms of attitude, participation, socialization and general cognitive/physical development
Progress measured against individual starting points & abilities rather than compared against skills/abilities of others as in traditional testing
Social realities of assessment Political, commercial & cultural dynamics
underlie conflicts around the role of assessment in language teaching/learning
It is reasonable to require that assessment serve teaching by providing feedback on pupil’s learning, this
will make the next teaching event more effective Known as ‘washback’
Social realities of assessment In theory, teaching & learning need to dictate
the form and timing of assessment In practice, the scenario is quite different
assessment often drives teaching forces Ts to teach what is being assessed an example of negative washback
This is a reality not only with YLs but other learners as well
Classroom realities
Survey conducted by Rea-Dickins and Rixon (1999) asked 120 Ts and teacher trainers in Europe about their assessment practices Vast majority (92%) of the Ts do assess children
with the stated purpose of helping their teaching (87%).
Most of this assessment was prepared by Ts who were responsible for marking and record keeping
Classroom realities When investigating ‘what’ was being assessed
mismatch between curricular aims, pedagogy and test content found to exist
the most frequently used method was the paper and pencil test testing single items of vocabulary and grammar through one
sentence contexts
This contrasted vividly with how children were being taught tests found to neglect speaking what was being assessed was what was ‘easy’ to assess
Principles for assessing children’s language learning Assessment should be seen from a learning centered
perspective A Vygotskyan perspective on learning emphasizes that
learning occurs in social contexts and through interaction with helpful adults or other children
Vygotsky (1962) insisted that we do not get a true assessment of a child’s ability by measuring what he/she can do alone and without help what a child can do with helpful others both predicts the next
stage in learning and gives a better assessment of learning
Principles for assessing children’s language learning
Assessment should support learning/ teaching If learning is our central focus, assessment
should contribute to the learning process for both the individual child and for the class
Known as instructionally-embedded assessment
More principles Ts need clear understanding of language learning processes
and of socio-cultural context in which they operate With this knowledge, they can predict the impact of assessment on
their teaching and plan accordingly Assessment should not disrupt learning
Assessments often criticized because they replace instructional time
Ts who use daily teaching events to collect data are not taking away valuable teaching time The key is understanding what will be the focus of assessment data
collection and which tools will produce the best or most useful information
Children need to be assessed in an anxiety-reduced or anxiety-free environment
This can be achieved only if a child perceives assessment as an integral component of the teaching/learning process
More principles Assessment is more than testing
It is not necessary to test children to know how well they are doing
there are other more supportive ways to assess learning that go beyond testing
alternative assessment techniques like observation, portfolios and self-assessment (O’Malley & Valdez Pierce, 1996)
More principles Assessment should be congruent with learning
Assessment should fit comfortably with children’s learning experience
Assessment should be interactional rather than an isolated, solo experience
Children and parents should understand assessment issues Transparency must exist Parents often feel that they way they were assessed is the
best way.
More principles Employ multiples measures of assessment
No one assessment tool can provide all the information that Ts need to plan instruction, make instructional decisions or determine success or mastery of Ss
Use a variety of assessment tools The composite view provided by these multiple
measures allows Ts to make generalizations about student learning
Current views about YL assessment Standardized tests are problematic for children
Growth is most uneven and idiosyncratic Skills needed for success are at their most fluid Failure in these years can be devastating
Standardized tests put tremendous pressure on YLs No Child Left Behind Act Pressure can inhibit thinking (Jensen, 1998) and decrease
the accuracy of assessment “ YLs are notoriously poor test takers…..the younger the
child being evaluated, assessed, or tested, the more errors are made and the greater the risk of assigning false labels to them (Katz, 1997).”
How YLs learn Traditional types of assessment are often
insufficiently sensitive to the ways YLs demonstrate their competencies also interrupt the learning process in active,
engaging classrooms. Research shows that children in preschool
years and early primary grades learn best through active, engaged, meaningful experiences
How YLs learn
Through these experiences YLs construct their own knowledge by interacting with their environment and others work of Piaget has demonstrated importance of
sensory experiences and concrete learning activities
importance of direct, first-hand interactive experience confirmed by National Association for the Education of Young Children
these experiences are difficult to assess
Techniques for assessing YLs Observation
One of the most useful assessment techniques does not disturb the child and allows him/her to be assessed in
the process of ordinary classroom activities
Ts continually observe and utilize the “observe-notice-adjust teaching” process
Not realistic to observe every child on every occasion better to focus on 6/7 during one lesson results in better quality information being collected
Most common way of recording observations of children’s performance is through a checklist
More techniques Self-assessment
A child who learns to assess his/her own work moves from being ‘other-regulated’ to ‘self-regulated’ or autonomous
commonly recognized that autonomous learners will be at an advantage in continuing to learn and adjust throughout their lives
How feasible is it with groups of five-year olds? we tend to underestimate the potential for self-assessment
in our children see them as empty vessels in need of being filled with
knowledge wild in need of taming
More techniques Portfolio assessment
A collection of work that reveal both the capability and the progress of a learner
Requires close cooperation between T and S in selecting the contents
What to include: samples of writing, lists of books read, audio taped or videotaped recordings, conference or observation notes, artwork, self assessment checklists like K-W-L charts, samples of tests and quizzes
More techniques K-W-L Charts
what they know, what they wonder or want to know and what they have learned
Learning logs A record of Ss experiences with English outside the
classroom including the when and where of language use why certain experiences were successful and why others were
not
Dialog journals Ongoing written dialog between teacher and student
More techniques Interactive writing charts
Observation charts that document the presence or absence of a variety of different writing conventions and/or abilities
Running records A simple checklist used during reading aloud activities Ts code the presence or absence of a word or a miscue A mechanism exists for self correcting (Frey & Fisher,
2003)
A final word on standardized tests Cambridge ESOL created the Cambridge Young
Learners English Tests in 1993 A series of tests for children of all nationalities aged 7 to
12 who are learning EFL whatever their L1 Designed with a high interest level for test takers and on a
pass/fail basis Four-skills tests available at 3 levels: Starters, Movers
and Flyers (equivalent to the KET) All sections graded on a scale from 1 to 5 (represented as
‘shields’) http://www.cambridge-efl.org.uk
Conclusion Documenting the growth of YLs presents many
challenges Assessment practices not only determine children’s
futures and how their time is spent, but also carry messages for children about what parents and Ts consider important in language learning and in life
Research shows that children live up to the expectations of their Ts whether they are high or low expectations are perhaps more clearly revealed through
assessment practices than anywhere else
Conclusion
For YLs, what matters is a solid base in spoken language confidence and enjoyment in working with the
spoken and written forms of the language a good foundation in learning skills
We should be looking for assessment practices that will reinforce the value of these skills to learners and to their parents
Presenter contact Christine Coombe Dubai Men’s College, HCT PO Box 15825 Dubai, UAE [email protected] or
[email protected] http://taesig.com or http://ctelt.com