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Error Analysis and Assessment

PORTFOLIO

Sandra FINK

0635156

WS 2011/12

Dr. Elisabeth

PÖLZLEITNER

EAA Portfolio Sandra Anna Fink

Table of Contents

My Corrections ....................................................................................................1

Egg Slicer ......................................................................................................1

3rd and 4th Diary Entry (Oliver Twist) ...........................................................2

Newspaper Article (Oliver Twist) .................................................................4

Letter (Teens in Trouble) .............................................................................5

5§ Essay Monsanto vs. Schmeiser ...............................................................7

My Thoughts on Acquisition and Learning ................................................9

EPOSTL Descriptors on Assessment ..............................................................11

Teacher Interview ..............................................................................................17

EAA Portfolio

Sandra Anna Fink

1

This was the first text I corrected and I have to

say it took me quite some time to correct it. I

was unsure what to correct and what not and I

was also a little bit afraid that I would correct

things that were actually right.

I would give 10/10 points since Hannah

described the gadget clearly, which is definitely

not an easy task.

My Corrections

Egg slicer

It is an object This household gadget is entirely made out of1 metal. It basically consists of

two parts. The lower part, which is the basis base of the whole object, is rectangular and

elevated/heightened2 in the middle. As a matter of fact In fact, it only touches the ground on

the very ends. There is a big part in the middle that is heightened. In this elevated part there

are The heightened part consists of strips where the metal is cut out, so/this means metal

stripes3 alternate with holes. In its middle, this elevated the heightened part has an

deepening4 in elliptical shape egg-shaped/elliptical hollow, so where you can put eggs into it.

The second part of the object consists of a metal frame5 with thin, sharp metals strings/wires

spanned from one end to the other. These strings fit exactly into the wholes of the lower

part of the egg slicer/gadget6. You can move the upper part up and down. So, if you want to

cut an egg, you have to place it in the elliptical deepening hollow and then push down the

frame with the metal strings. Through this process In this way, the egg will be cut precisely

into small pieces/slices.

That’s a good and clear description, Hannah. Describing such things as an egg slicer is definitely not

an easy task, but I think you really did a good job. You described the gadget clearly and logically and I

could easily follow your text.

If you have any questions, comments,… do not hesitate to contact

me! My email address: [email protected].

All the best,

Sandra

1 to be made of sth. (without “out” ☺)

2 elevated is rather used, for example, with “an elevated opinion” or “elevated privileges” (used more

in the sense of “erhaben” than “erhöht”) 3 strips vs. stripes: there is a difference between these 2 words, please check with a dictionary! 4 deepening is usually used as an adjective, not as a noun. My suggestion would be to use for

example “egg-shaped or elliptical hollow”. 5 no comma needed here

6 I think it would be more interesting for the reader if the name of the object wasn’t mentioned here.

So, the reader can guess what gadget you’re describing… ☺

EAA Portfolio

Sandra Anna Fink

2

3. Entry: (Oliver is recorded to the band of robbers)

Dear diary,

I finally got it. I walked all the miles way to London. That’s where I’m staying for now, I think. It’s a bit confusing right now because when I walked in through one of London’s streets, a boy asked me to come with him. I soon realized that he is a kind of ‘little thief’ because he stole some ham and bread for me to eat. It was actually nice and (honestly,) in this situation I didn’t care about money. I just wanted my hunger to stop and it was the only food, I ate in all those days I was walking. When the boy took me to a house, there were lots of other boys, maybe a few years older than me. All together they were like a little band of robbers. Then an old man called Fagin came in into the room (1). He is kind of the boss of the robbers and he wants me to rob for him too. So, he gave me food and drink and somehow I think he is funny but then something strange happened. Later, when I woke up, I saw Fagin with a box full of the prettiest jewels I’ve ever seen. He was so angry and crazy when he saw, that I saw it, so that When he noticed that I had seen the jewels, he got really angry and crazy. He said he would kill me with the scissors, which he hold in his hands if I would said anything (2). I promised to keep it secret. But it was very scary.

Yours,

Oliver

Comments:

(1) in or into???

We generally use in (and also on) to talk about positions of things – where they are. We use into (and

onto) to talk about directions and destinations – where things are going.

Example: Fagin was in the room. (he is there; we talk about his position!)

Fagin came into the room. (we talk about where he is going)

(2) If- Clauses

Don’t forget that “would” is usually not used in the if-clause but in the main clause!! For example: If I

knew her name, I would tell you.

Only in spoken English, would is sometimes used in both clauses. But this is very informal and not

written!

PS: for my feedback please have a look at your fourth diary entry ☺!

All the best, Sandra

Comment [S1]: capitalization!

Comment [S2]: „I finally got it“ means

„Ich hab’s endlich!“

I think you rather wanted to say, “I finally

arrived” or “I finally did it”. Right??

Comment [S3]: for now = fürs Erste

Comment [S4]: I would suggest to say

„for the moment“ instead of „right now“

because you already used “now” in the

previous sentence ☺

Comment [S5]: This is just a suggestion

☺!

Comment [S6]: Another way of saying

this would be:

…it was the only food I got since I ran away

from the coffin maker’s house.

Comment [S7]: Which house? The

boy’s house? The house where the boy was

living? You need to be more specific here

☺

Comment [S8]: Do you really want to

say that he is funny (=komisch, witzig)??

I would simply say “he is kind and

generous” (since he gave Oliver food and

drink…).

Comment [S9]: to notice something =

etwas bemerken

Comment [S10]: Instead of „he said“

(sounds a little bit boring to me) you could

write: He threatened to kill me…!

to threaten to do something = drohen,

etwas zu tun

Comment [S11]: irregular verb!!

I would actually cut the underlined

passage. It is not really important to

mention how Fagin would kill Oliver but

simply that he would kill him. Do you

understand what I mean?? ☺

Comment [S12]: better: told anyone

about the jewels

EAA Portfolio

Sandra Anna Fink

3

4. Entry (Oliver is in this noble family)

Dear diary,

I don’t remember the whole story but I think it was like this. I and the other boys were all about to rob steal some handkerchiefs. I was standing in front of a bookshop when two boys robbed stole one. They stole it from an old man. Unluckily, the shopkeeper saw, that it was a boy and when the others were running away, he suspected me. I ran as fast as I could but they got me. Luckily, the shopkeeper then said, that it wasn’t me and a nice man thought that I’ve no family and no place to sleep so he took me with him to his house in Penton Ville. That’s where I woke up this morning. We burned my old clothes and I got new ones. Pretty ones. I think it is a great beginning way to start this new life now.

Yours,

Oliver

Dear Cati,

These are really interesting and well written diary entries (although I only corrected the last

two, I read all your entries ☺). I really could feel with Oliver and imagine the situation he is

in… Well done!

If you have any questions or if anything isn’t clear, please contact me:

[email protected]!

All the best,

Sandra

This was the first year 4 text I corrected. I was really impressed by

their diary entries. It was so nice to see that the students really

put a lot of effort in the Oliver Twist project.

When I now look at my correction of the third entry, I think I

overcorrected it. But it was really difficult to decide how much to

correct and reformulate and what not.

I would give 10/10 points since I think Cati used good vocabulary

and also some advanced phrases (e.g. I soon realized that…).

Additionally, there are only minor mistakes which do not impede

communication.

Comment [S13]: The other boys and I...

Comment [S14]: Be careful - „to rob“

means to steal money or property from

someone � to rob someone = jemanden

ausrauben!

This means, you don’t rob a handkerchief

but you steal one � to steal something =

etwas stehlen, rauben! Do you understand

the difference?? ☺

Comment [S15]: No commas before

that (unlike in German)!

EAA Portfolio

Sandra Anna Fink

4

London Gazette Thursday 4th of March

Diabolic murder of woman

Yesterday the dead body of Nancy Brown was found in the apartment of William

Sikes.

Nancy Brown (16), who was beaten to death two days ago, was discovered in a pool

of blood by a friend, who wanted to see her. Nancy was trying tried to run away,

before she died a gruesome death. When the police arrived they observed the room

(better: investigate the room or the scene of crime), and alarmed warned the police

in the other districts, because the murderer is still free, (no comma here) and could

strike attack somebody again everywhere. The prime suspect in this case is William

Sikes. He is accused of murder and also the abduction of the orphan Oliver Twist. He

is said to have connections with Fagin, a thief well-known to the police, who is hiding

with some children, which he has trained as pockets pickpockets. Please report to the

police if you know where Fagin or Sikes are hiding.

This is a very interesting and well written article, Konstantin. You have provided the reader

with all the important facts (Who? What? Where?, When? How?) – very well done ☺!

Just correct the little errors and then your article will be perfect for your project diary!

All the best,

Sandra

I really like Konstantin’s newspaper article because it’s short

but to the point. It contains most of the important

information for the reader.

I would give 9/10 points. Task achievement and organization

is in my opinion perfect. Konstantin also tried to use complex

language – only the sentence in the middle of the paragraph

was a little convoluted. All in all, a well written newspaper

article!

Comment [N16]: better: horrible,

gruesome or ghastly

Diabolic is rather used to describe things

that people think are caused by the Devil.

Comment [N17]: You probably could

leave this out. In my opinion this

information is not absolutely necessary.

Comment [N18]: This is a very long

sentence. You could separate it in two

sentences. For example:

When the police arrived, they investigated

the scene of the crime (=den Tatort

untersuchen). Since the murderer is still

free and could attack someone again, the

police warned the police in other districts

about the murderer.

Comment [N19]: I think this is some

important information for the reader! ☺

Comment [N20]: for people use „who“

(not „which“)!

EAA Portfolio

Sandra Anna Fink

5

Dear Mom,

Only a few days ago, I was sitting in doorways on the streets of London with

nothing but a few pence and a sleeping bag. All I did was walking around all day,

begging desperately for money and food in the cold and windy streets. I was

hungry but had nothing to eat. I was thirsty but had nothing to drink. I was tired

but had no bed to sleep in. I had a friend, Ginger. He was the one who showed

me around and helped me to survive. Without him, I probably wouldn’t be alive

anymore. But all at once he once left and never came back. If you had any real

friends who weren’t drunk 24/7, you would know what it feels like, when the

only important person gets knocked out of your life like a billiard ball.

I also met a girl, Gail. Together we found out that Ginger was murdered by some

mentally ill guy. Then(Later) I discovered that Gail was actually a journalist who

had used me to investigate the murderer, but she also left, after giving helping

me to get find a home and get a job. Why do I keep getting separated from every

person in my life even though there are (only) so few?

However, I do certainly not regret my decision to leave my home one and a half

years ago. I can now start my own life and leave my history in the past. You

haven’t contacted me since I left and please don’t do so ever again; don’t waste

your time thinking of me even once again. I hope you have a good time together

with Vince.

Your son,

Link

Congratulations, Charis, to this great piece of writing! Thanks to your great

description, I could really imagine Link’s situation and what must be going on in

his mind. Well done!

The repetition of sentences

of the same structure

makes your text very

moving and dramatic. This

is perfect writing! Well

done ☺

Comment [S21]: You could also say:

All I had was my friend Ginger.

I think, this sounds even more dramatic ☺

Comment [S22]: This means „ganz

plötzlich“!

Comment [S23]: This is an interesting

comparison ☺

Comment [S24]:

murder = Mord

murderer = Mörder

In this case, I would say to investigate the

murder...

Comment [S25]: I would say:

… leave my past behind me.

EAA Portfolio

Sandra Anna Fink

6

There are only a few minor mistakes in your text and most of my comments are

only suggestions how you could say things in another way ☺.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. My email address:

[email protected]

I wish you all the best for your second test ☺!

Cheers, Sandra

I have to say that this was easiest text to correct for me. I felt

far more comfortable correcting this text than in my first

tries. I don’t know the reason why – maybe Charis’ text was

just so perfect ☺.

I think this is an excellent letter and I would suggest 10/10

points. Charis used a wide range of vocabulary and some

very advanced phrases (e.g. I do certainly not regret my

decision to leave…). There were hardly any errors.

EAA Portfolio

Sandra Anna Fink

7

Can a Giant be Defeated? Percy Schmeisser’s Fight Against Monsanto

Does anybody have the right to put a patent on life? The answer is yes, as one company has

already done it. The multinational Monsanto has put a patent on a genetically modified

canola seed. According to the law, it therefore owns any plant or organism that contains this

chemically changed seed. With Through their ruthless methods Monsanto menaces farmers

to has been gaining almost complete control over the seed market and hence poses a threat

to farmers. Percy Schmeisser, a Canadian farmer, has found the courage to stand up against

the seed giant and to take his case to court.

The fight/legal battle between the Canadian farmer Percy Schmeisser and the multinational

company Monsanto has been going on for years. The whole trouble started in 1997, when a

storm carried genetically modified canola seeds on the 70-years-old farmer’s field. Not only

were his own crops contaminated, which caused Schmeisser’s crop yield extreme damage

and losses, but Monsanto sued him for having illegally planted their “patent-seed”. Percy

Schmeisser lost the first round in court and had to pay Monsanto 100.000 dollars for court

costs and damage. And that – even though he had never planted their canola, and therefore

never used the patent. The farmer could and would not let the company get away with this.

He set up a countersuit, accusing the Monsanto of environmental pollution, seed destruction

and slander.

When Monsanto had launched their genetically modified seed, they promoted it claiming it

would increase the crop yield, reduce the use of chemicals and be more nutritious than

normal food. In reality, the exact opposite is the case. To get rid of the genetically modified

canola plants you farmers need the most toxic chemicals, much more toxic than the ones

used before. The seeds can only be grown once. so This means the farmer cannot use the

same seeds year after year, but has to buy new Monsanto seeds every year. Additionally, it

has been scientifically proven that food containing Monsanto seeds has a genetic structure

different from the one in the food we regularly eat. Nobody knows which negative side

effects this may have on our health.

Schmeisser’s fight against Monsanto turned out to be longer and more painful than anybody

would have imagined. People working for the company started spying on the old farmer,

threatening his family, closing his bank accounts and watching his every step. It was a

horrible time for the farmer and his family. The fight at court was not any easier. Monsanto

protects itself through complicated and often unjust measurements, making them almost

invulnerable. As soon as a farmer’s plant contains the genetically modified gene, no matter

whether this happens voluntarily or involuntarily, the plant belongs to Monsanto. As a

consequence all profit goes to the multinational; no matter how many of the farmers crops

are actually contaminated. Those farmers who want to legally use Monsanto’s seeds, have

to sign contracts stating that they are only allowed to buy seeds and chemicals from

Monsanto, that they have to give a certain amount of the profit to the company and that

Comment [S26]: It’s Schmeiser (only

one „s“ ☺)

Comment [S27]: This sounds a little bit

colloquial to me. My suggestion:

The dispute began in 1997…

Comment [S28]: ... and therefore

never infringed on their patent deliberately

(Patent verletzen).

Is this what you wanted to say? I am not

totally sure what you meant by “never

used the patent”.

Comment [S29]: better: Monsanto’s

representatives...

Comment [S30]: This statement is not

clear to me...

EAA Portfolio

Sandra Anna Fink

8

I was actually quite nervous when I thought of correcting a 5§

essay. But, surprisingly, it was not that difficult to correct for me

as I had expected it to be. Nevertheless, it took me quite long to

correct the text and give useful feedback. I think I read the

article at least 10 times ☺.

I would give 10/10 points again since Hannah provides the

reader with lots of interesting facts. There are some errors in it

but they do not impede communication. I also think she used

advanced and idiomatic language.

Monsanto’s police can come anytime and control the farmer, even if he or she has stopped

using the Monsanto seeds. This contract reminds of the ancient feudal system. Monsanto

gains more and more power by using corrupt and cruel measurements: threatening

companies and individuals, playing farmers out off against each other, using contracts which

do not allow talking to talk freely about the things happening and bribing courts and other

powerful institutions to get what they want.

Nowadays, all of Canada and the USA are has been contaminated with the Monsanto seeds.

With the means we have at the moment, there is no possibility to remove them completely.

Hundreds of farmers find themselves in a situation similar to the one of Percy Schmeisser,

with the difference that most of them do neither have the power nor the money to start a

fight/legal battle with the multinational. In Schmeisser’s case, the court agreed that he did

illegally plant Monsanto’s seeds, but as he had not actively planted them, he did not have to

pay any damage. But Percy Schmeisser’s protest against the giant company has not stopped.

He travels around the world, telling people his story, warning them about Monsanto’s cruel

methods, promoting the right of every farmer to use the same seeds again each year and

asking above all one question: If a company automatically owns every organism in which

their genetically modified genes are implanted, what would happen if they were implanted

into living organisms like birds, cats or even humans? Can a company have a patent on life?

And if yes, do we want to just accept this? Or are we ready to make a change?

This is a well written and persuasive article, Hannah! You really make the reader think about the

issue – well done! Although this wasn’t the easiest topic to write on, you mastered the assignment

well and provided the reader with all the relevant information (who, what, where,…).

All in all, your article is well structured. I only have one tiny suggestion: Why don’t you swap your

second and third paragraph?!? In my opinion, this would be more logical (introduction – §1 lawsuit

Monsanto vs. Schmeiser - §2 countersuit - §3 Monsanto’s promise about genetically modified seed

and the reality – conclusion). But this is only “high-end” correction and I think you should decide on

your own whether you want to change it or not ☺.

One more comment: Watch out for the possessive ’s

(my father’s car/my parents’ house)! But if you

reread your text carefully, I think you will detect

them all ☺!

But, again, this is really good writing!

Congratulations!

All the best,

Sandra

Comment [S31]: This is a very good

comparison! ☺

Comment [S32]: This is quite

colloquial, maybe you can rewrite it!

Comment [S33]: “Nowadays” is also

rather colloquial. In formal writing, I would

simply say „Today“.

Comment [S34]: better: ...that he

indeed had illegally planted...

Comment [S35]: You had this question

right at the beginning of your article and

answered it with yes... So here, I would

rewrite it a little bit. Something like:

Should a company really be allowed to

apply for a patent on life?

Comment [S36]: I like the ending of

your article. It really makes people think

about this issue! Well done!


9

My Thoughts on Acquisition and Learning

How do we learn second languages? What has worked for me?

Thinking back to my own schooldays, I can say, I was taught the traditional way. I had a quite

strict and old-fashioned English teacher who really attached great importance to teach

grammar most of the time (definitely no communicative approach ). The focus was on

consciously “learning” the language and attention was put on grammar rules and forms. For

example, when we learned the Present Perfect Tense we first learned how it was built and

then the key words that signal when to use this particular tense. Afterwards we did

exercises, mostly fill-in exercises, where students after a while did not even had to read the

whole sentence anymore but were only looking for the signal word. When there suddenly

was no signal word in a sentence, everyone completely failed and we all received bad marks.

Our teacher also never explained us the rules why this tense is used in a certain case (not to

mention notions).

I have to say that in the beginning this way of teaching worked very well for me. Fill-in

exercises and other “traditional” exercises were no problem for me. But although I knew the

rules and signal words by heart, I could not use them when writing a simple text.

I think that for learning a foreign language both learning and acquisition need to be

combined. But unfortunately in school contexts too much emphasis is put on the learning

aspect. Students need to be exposed to the second language more often. They need to build

up their own hypothesis about how certain language features work out. Simply explaining

theoretically how a tense is build and when it is used does not necessarily mean that

students can actually use it.

I think comprehensible input (as Krashen calls it) that is just one step ahead of student’s

knowledge and language level is important for various aspects (e.g. grammatical structures,

vocabulary, pronunciation,…). However, students will not gain benefit if the input they

receive is too easy or too difficult. Even less benefit they will gain if they try to avoid making

mistakes. Being afraid of making mistakes is counter-productive and does not help to

improve one’s English. In another course this semester I am doing a small research on

“willingness to communicate” in English in the classroom. I was shocked when nearly 80% of


10

the participating students (all 8th graders) said that they tend to stay silent because they are

afraid of making mistakes and thus getting bad marks. During my school time this was also

true for me. I actually never said a lot in English because my teacher usually always

interrupted students when they made a mistake and pointed it out in front of the whole

class. The most fundamental thing that I hope I will be able to create in my future classroom

is an atmosphere in which students feel comfortable and encouraged to participate. And

that students know that making mistakes is perfectly okay. Mistakes are necessary in order

to improve!!!!

Memorizing new vocabulary has actually never been a problem for me. Since I learned new

words isolated and without context (simply translations), I still remember a lot of words

which I know what they mean when I read them, but which I would never actively use

myself.


11

EPOSTL Descriptors on Assessment

EVALUATION

I can prevent my assessment of a learner’s performance and progress in the form of a

descriptive evaluation, which is transparent and comprehensible to the learner, parents

and others.

Giving useful and descriptive feedback is in my opinion one of the most important parts of

correcting student’s works. However, writing feedback can be quite tricky and challenging. In

my opinion it is easy to give positive feedback and praise (but this is most of the time not as

helpful as negative feedback), but giving more negative feedback and tips for improvement

is more difficult. I think this requires a lot of sensitivity and routine. If feedback is too vague

or not comprehensible to the learner, it is not helpful to them. The same is true if feedback

includes too much criticism and no suggestions for improvement. I know it from my own

experience that this can be very sobering and demotivating. Also the length of feedback is

important – too short and too long feedback is not helpful for the learner either. So, you see,

giving a descriptive evaluation of a text, from which students can benefit from, is quite

difficult.

When correcting texts for the course, I think, I gave too positive feedback most of the time.

This was not only because I didn’t want to hurt the student’s feelings but due to the fact that

I really was impressed by their writing. Anyway, I hope that my comments helped students

to improve their English at least a bit. Otherwise let’s consider it as balm to the student’s

soul .

I can use assessment scales from the Common European Framework of Reference.

I do know the CEFR scales and also had a closer look at them some time ago, but honestly I

have never worked with them yet. I think the scales can help to classify a student’s

performance into one of the six levels (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2). They clearly describe what a

learner is supposed to be able to do in the four skills at each level.


12

I also think that the “Can Do”-descriptors of the scales are easily understood by older

students and that they could be used for self-assessment in school. Students see whether

they have already achieved a certain goal or level or whether they still need practice and

work in a specific area. It also defines the general goal or level for all students at the Matura

– the B2 level.

As I already mentioned, since I have never really worked with the CEFR scales, my comments

here are rather theoretical.

I can assign grades for tests and examinations using procedures which are reliable and

transparent.

In my opinion there is nothing more unfair than a teacher’s incomprehensible or arbitrary

grading system. When we created the little monsters in class (by the way, a brilliant exercise

) and were then assessed for certain features we could experience this ourselves. Students

need to know exactly the criteria for the assessment in order to be able to fulfill them. For

this reason, it is really important for a teacher to have a valid grading system as, for example,

the “Assessment Scale for Written Work” in Styria, which helps you to assign grades for tests

and examinations. With the help of the assessment scale I think it is not only a lot easier for

a teacher to grade a text, but also for students to know what they are expected to produce.

Since I haven’t worked with the assessment scale before this class, I am still very

inexperienced and sometimes have difficulties deciding on the points. Especially deciding on

the points for “Accuracy of Grammar, Vocabulary and Spelling” was difficult for me. I was

not always sure if an error was really a weakness or just a sloppy mistake. But I hope this will

be easier one day when I know my students.

SELF- AND PEER ASSESSMENT

I can help learners to set personal targets and assess their own performance.

In a classroom you will not have 25 students of the same type. There will be weaker ones,

quieter ones, good ones, ones challenging teachers with their behavior, motivated ones, as

well as less motivated ones and still every student should get the best possible support from


13

his/her teacher. For this reason, it is important that a teacher can help learners to set

personal targets that are appropriate for them. I think as a teacher I have to differentiate

and deal with every student individually. This is also true for assessing. Giving constructive

and personal feedback plays an important role here again.

I can help learners to engage in peer assessment.

Peer assessment or peer feedback is something I have never experienced during my own

schooldays. But throughout the course I could get a very convincing insight into the topic. I

am positive that I will use this kind of assessment later as a teacher. I think it can be very

helpful in the class, but I also know that peer assessment is not something that works out

right from the first time introduced. Giving helpful and constructive feedback is not easy for

students and needs to be learned. There are some “ingredients” which you need for a good

peer assessment, for example, a positive and respectful atmosphere in the classroom. It is

important that students feel comfortable and safe when giving feedback to their peers.

Providing students with some criteria which help them to assess another student’s piece of

writing and to give constructive feedback is another essential ingredient, especially if in the

beginning stages. These criteria help to narrow the whole issue a little bit down. Otherwise I

think students will feel lost at the beginning and will give too general and vague feedback

only. If you collected some criteria together with the students before an exercise or task, you

can of course use the same for the peer feedback.

LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE

I can assess a learner’s ability to produce a written text according to criteria such as

content, range, accuracy, cohesion and coherence etc.

I think the “Assessment Scale for Written Work” helps a lot to assess according to certain

criteria. An advantage of such assessment scales is definitely that students can easily see in

which category of their text they have difficulties and in which categories they are doing very

well. In addition, students know the criteria for the assessment and know what they are

expected to produce.


14

I also think that when assessing without the help of an assessment scale the probability of

putting too much emphasis on accuracy of grammatical structures and vocabulary is rather

high. Categories such as organization/content and task achievement are then easily

overlooked. The assessment scale assures that all important aspects of a piece of writing are

taken into consideration and are weighted in a balanced way. The detailed descriptions of

the categories also help to understand what you should look at in a text, for example that

valid ideas are organized clearly and that there are appropriate linking devices.

ERROR ANALYSIS

I can analyze learner’s errors and identify the processes that my cause them.

Analyzing learner’s errors is quite difficult for me. Especially the year 8 texts took me very

long to correct, since I double- and triple-checked each possible error. It was sometimes

difficult to decide if something is correct or not because I would have written it differently. I

was also afraid to correct something which is actually right. Therefore, I spent a lot of time

reading the text again and again and looking things up (monolingual dictionary, English-

German dictionary, Coca,…).

But I think correcting is something that needs practice and experience. I think sometimes it is

easy to identify the processes that may cause errors because I made similar mistakes myself

in school. In other cases it is quite hard to analyze the process behind a learner’s error

because the errors are totally illogical to me. But as I already mentioned, experience plays an

important role when correcting a learner’s text and I hope that analyzing learner’s errors will

become easier when I know my students better. This course also helped me a lot to improve

my correction and assessment skills. When I did my last correction I felt more comfortable

than when I corrected the first student’s text.

I can provide constructive feedback to learners concerning their errors/interlanguage.

I also had a look at my colleague’s corrections on moodle and recognized with the year 4

texts that some feedbacks on errors were very complex and written on a very high level (this

should not be any kind of criticism on the content; I actually always agreed with the content

of the feedback). I am just not sure if the students always understood the comments. I tried


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to keep my comments and feedback quite simple and used vocabulary which I thought the

students would understand. I think that if a teacher’s comments are not written on the

appropriate level or are too complicated, they will not be helpful for the student, although

the comments might be absolutely fitting and good. This means, constructive feedback on

errors needs to be written on an appropriate level of language and should be kept as simple

as possible.

During my schooldays I actually never received any written feedback on errors (not to

mention on content). Errors were underlined and some abbreviations in the margin

indicated what kind of mistake I had made (e.g. “T” for tense, “WO” for word order). The

worst part of this “minimal marking” (and I don’t say that this kind of marking is all bad) was

that I didn’t receive any suggestions for improvement. So, I knew what kind of mistake I had

made but not what I could do to prevent such errors. I think some comments - even if they

are very short – are necessary for constructive feedback. Otherwise students will not deal

with the mistake and thus will not improve their English (because we know “Mistakes are

necessary in order to improve!!”).

I can deal with errors that occur in spoken and written language in ways which support

learning processes and do not undermine confidence and communication.

For me correcting written work is much easier than spoken language. When correcting

spoken language you need to respond immediately and do not have the time to look things

up if you are not sure. This is quite difficult for me, but I also think that experience plays an

important role here again.

In my opinion reformulation is the best way to help students to correct their oral mistakes.

Usually when students are talking they try to get a message across. This type of correction

still emphasizes the content of a student’s statement and not the errors that have slipped in.

Children, particularly the younger ones, think in meanings only and do not think whether

their utterance is grammatically correct or not. Corrections which only focus on the form of a

student’s statement and its accuracy can be thus very demotivating and discouraging.

There are also some possibilities of correcting oral mistakes which I find less useful. For

example, repeating the mistake again is not helpful. Peer correction can be useful but I think


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you have to be very careful with it as a teacher. Peer correction works better in a group work

where you can give one student the role of a “language police”. Pretending to

misunderstand can sometimes be humorous but I think it is still a bit risky. Especially older

students might be offended or feeling embarrassed if they feel that the teacher makes fun of

them.


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Teacher Interview

The purpose of this teacher interview was to find out how teachers correct and assess

English language in school and to provide me with a practical insight into the whole topic of

“correcting and assessing”. I interviewed an English teacher of an Austrian grammar school.

Since she has been teaching for more than 20 years, I would describe her as rather

experienced. She describes herself as humorous, patient and sometimes a little chaotic.

My questionnaire was based on EPOSTL descriptors. I mainly chose descriptors which focus

on descriptive evaluation and constructive (written) feedback (p. 53 no. 4 and p. 57 no. 2)

and assessing according to certain criteria for both written and spoken contexts (p.55 no.

1+2). One descriptor focusing on assigning grades for tests using reliable and transparent

procedures (p.53 no. 8) and two focusing on peer- and self-assessment seemed also relevant

to me.

Although she was not taught any assessment scales for English at the university, she adopted

a similar system to the one which can be found in our handout. She assesses tests according

to task achievement and organization, range of vocabulary, and accuracy of grammar,

vocabulary and spelling. In the interview she admitted that the first section is still the one

she struggles most with. It is quite difficult for her to “give” points for task achievement and

organization. She also said that it was sometimes hard for her not to count the errors since

counting was what she did when she started as a teacher. In a way it was easier to deduct

points for each error spotted than giving points for the whole section. So, in the beginning it

was very hard for her to adopt the new system and it is still sometimes difficult when, for

example, a student who made a lot of severe mistakes receives a positive mark because he

scores high in the first criteria. In summary, she grades tests according to certain criteria

which can be considered rather modern. I got, however, the impression that within the last

two of the three categories of the assessment scale she rather traditionally counts mistakes

and deducts points for errors.

Although she uses the assessment scale for tests, she does not use it for written homework.

In lower school students usually do not write a lot of texts for homework. She mainly gives

exercises from the workbook for homework. If they write short texts, she tries to have a look


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at them and to correct the errors. The students do not receive any written comments or

constructive feedback on their errors though. She says that students know themselves

whether a text was good or not so good when they see the corrections or underlined

passages. Revising a text and handing in a final version is not common in her classroom.

In upper school she says that the students are responsible for handing in their homework

and she does not really care if a student has done it or not. In her opinion clever students

will do their homework in order to improve their English, but homework is not compulsory.

She usually has a quick look at written texts and uses minimal marking for correcting. She

thinks that diligent students will look up mistakes on their own. It is not necessary for

students to hand in a revised version of their texts.

Another point I asked her was how much time she usually spends for correcting homework

and marking. It does not take her much time to correct the homework since not all of the

older students regularly submit homework. The homework of the younger ones (exercises in

workbook or on extra worksheets) she usually corrects together with the students during

class. Correcting tests is more time-consuming.

When doing speaking tasks in class she to avoid correcting too much. She is happy if

students talk in the foreign language and does not want to discourage them through

correcting all of their mistakes. She aims to have interesting discussions and conversations in

class (especially with the older students) and when students make mistakes she tries to

reformulate the passages in correct words or simply asks them if she understood it right.

Generally, she is very patient and mistakes in spoken language are not a big problem. She

can, however, get quite impatient if students even after months and years get irregular

verbs and the third person “s” wrong. All in all, she tries to focus on fluency and not

accuracy of student’s utterances.

Since I am very interested in and positive about peer- and self-assessment, I also asked if she

uses this kind of assessment in her classroom. She knows it but has never found the time

and courage to try it out in the classroom. She doubts that this would lead to a positive

outcome and she thinks it rather end is in a chaos.

The interview was very interesting for me. It was interesting but also quite surprising to see


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how she corrects and assesses student’s work. I was (positively) surprised that she uses

some kind of assessment scale for correcting tests, which I consider quite modern, although

the rest of her teaching is rather traditional. The fact that homework only plays a minor role

is, however, incomprehensible for me. I also do not find it good that students do not receive

any written feedback and do not have to hand in a revised version of text. It would be

important to respond in a more adequate way to the students’ work. Feedback should be

constructive as well as encouraging, which I think is not the case in her feedback. Simply

putting a plus or a minus at the end of the homework is not enough. Additionally, I think, if

students do not have to hand in a revised version of their texts, they will not deal with their

mistakes and correct them. Thus they will not learn from their mistakes and improve their

English.

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