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Introduction on assessment
Essay about authentic assessment
Essay about authentic assessment
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Recommended: Introduction on assessment
Design a (grammar/vocabulary/reading/writing or any area) language-skills test for your learners, then take all necessary measures to validate the test after that subject it to strong reliability check as assessment research suggests, meaning administering the test to the learners, perhaps more than once. Once the test designing and piloting process is completed, document the whole process in the form of a critical report explaining the events you went through as a test designer, validity and reliability checker, and evaluator. This report should be in the form of an assignment where all elements are substantiated (supported by what experts in the field believe in e.g. regarding tests validity and reliability, their significance, methods/steps involved in achieving these tests’ characteristics, and the extent your work is in congruence with the standard practices).
1. Introduction
The test being reported in this assignment is the mid-term exam that was created for Prep. Year second semester students of Business English ENG 012 at the English Language center at Yanbu (ELCY). Previously, the course coordinator had the responsibility for designing all tests, but this time the Language Testing Unit (LTU) of ELCY was given this duty. The test was successfully administered, and almost all the students got the pass percentage i.e. 50% or more. However, the test after being administered, invited a healthy discussion between the teachers, the course coordinator, and the LTU. This report will analyze this test on the principles of language testing: validity, reliability, authenticity, usefulness/practicality, and washback.
2. Learner profile and testing context
This test was designed for monolingual (Arabic speaking) students in ...
... middle of paper ...
...creation of better and effective tests in the future.
6. References
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Coombe, C. & Hubley, N. (2007). Fundamentals of language assessment. http://www.slideshare.net/marcomed/fundamentals-of-language-assessment-manual-by-coombe-and-hubley. Reterieved: 20/1/2014.
Henning, G. (1996). Accounting for nonsystematic error in performance ratings.
Language Testing, 13(1), 53-61
O’Malley, J.M. & Valdez L.P. (1996). Authentic assessment for English language learners: Practical approaches for teachers. White Plains, NY: Addison Wesley, Longman.
Richards, J.C., Platt, J, & Platt, H. (1992). Dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics. Essesx, Longman.
Thornbury, S. (2001). An A-Z of ELT. London, MacMillan
There are a lot of students being placed whose primary language is not English. Students walk into a mainstream classroom not being able to speak English. Students in this situation are call English Language Learners(ELLs). These students are not receiving appropriate language support to succeed in their language development which is causing them to not have the ability to acquire language.
The topic for today’s reading was, Interpreting the Language Assessment. In one of the assigned readings, Interpreting the Behavioral Language Assessment, emphasized that the purpose of the behavioral assessment is to provide the tester with enough information to design an individualized language intervention program for a specific child. Therefore, to establish an effective intervention program for particular child the tester must identify the most appropriate starting point for initial training. The tester should review each skill in relation to the entire set of skills identified in the assessment. It is usually best to focus on the development of a few key language areas at one time, even though the child may have weaknesses in several of the areas reviewed by the assessment. Also, it is important that the tester not simply pick the areas with the lowest scores and recommend training begin in those areas, because is very important to ensure that the instructor is able to observe the learner acquiring skills relatively short period of time, in order to maintain his motivation to continue conducting language training activities. Only a few areas are selected for the initial intervention, and the focus of the intervention will be continuously changed as the student acquires new skills. Finally, the language intervention program develops the child’s skills such that he could score at least a five on each of the areas of the assessment. This score of five in a specific area may indicate that a particular skill area may not require as intensive intervention as those skills with a lower score. Furthermore, for the second reading, The Benefits of Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal Behavior for Children with Autism, stated t...
Calderón, M., Slavin, R., & Sánchez, M. (2011). Effective Instruction for English . Future Of Children, 21(1), 103-127.
..., K., Milczarski, E., & Raby, C. (2011). The Assessment of English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities: Issues, Concerns, and Implications. Education, 131(4), 732-739.
Build on learners' prior knowledge; (4.) Provide constant review; (5.) Simplify language; (6.) Build other skills while developing English. The use of standardized testing to identify and assess the progress of English language learners with special needs is problematic. Normally designed for native English speakers, many assessment instruments do not reliably assess speakers of other languages because they ignore differences among linguistic and cultural groups (Schwarz & Burt, 1995). Assessment of English language learners with special needs should...
William, D., & Thompson, M. (2007). Integrating assessment with instruction: What will it take to
The purpose of this assignment is to explain the impact of English language learners in the classroom. As a foreign student, English language learner in the United States faces multiple challenges for achieving academic success. To successfully complete a task, they need to master both English as a language and how it is used in core content classes especially when they are an adult. When trying to assist in instructing English language learners, they usually have many concepts and language abilities that they need to master, as do the teachers that are trying to teach them. With the incorporation of the concepts and approaches to identify and assess the issues and concerns that we have learned in our classroom instruction, such as lesson preparation,
Zumwalt, C. (2012). Authentic assessment and early childhood education—an update and Resources. Little Prints, 6(1), 1-15.
McMillan, J. (2010). Classroom assessment: Principles and practice for effective standards-based instruction (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
Shepard, L. A. (2000) the role of assessment in a learning culture. Educational Researcher. 29 (7) 4-10.
"Linguistics 201: First Language Acquisition." Linguistics 201: First Language Acquisition. Western Washington University, n.d. Web. 8 Sep. 2013. .
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, and Nina Hyams. An Introduction to Language. 8th ed. Boston: Thomson, 2007.
Educational accountability in the United States has a great impact on public school assessment practices. There is a tremendous amount of pressure on schools to demonstrate academic progress; this pressure is mainly in the form of standardized testing. Currently the assessment practices that are used are traditional and non-authentic forms of assessment that reveal only if a student can recognize or recall what they have learned. In an effort to redefine learning in our schools, emphasis needs to be placed on authentic educational assessments and standardized testing to improve student performance. An assessment should reflect real world applications of how knowledge and understanding are used. Assessments based on situations that are relevant to students' own experiences can motivate them to give their best performance.
Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2003). An introduction to language (7th ed.). Boston: Heinle.
North, S. (2012), 'English a Linguistic Toolkit' (U214, Worlds of English), Milton Keynes, The Open University.