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principles of language assessment
Importance of principles of language assessment
assessment strategies in language learning
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The principles of Language assessment are principles that are used to evaluate a test, to create a new test or to make a better test. According to Brown (2004) these principles should be applied in formal tests and all sorts of tests as well. One of the main points in this book “Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices. London: Longman” is how to use these principle to develop a new test for students, but what are these principles? These cardinal criteria are practicality, reliability, validity, impact and finally authenticity. My main focus in this essay is how is Observation related to these five criteria? And what kind of settings can Observation be useful or harmful for ESL students? Brown stated an interesting point …show more content…
In my opinion Observation is closely related to the principles of assessment because while observably assessing students, the teacher must first ensure that the student is visibly fit to take the test and that the assessment is consistent which means that there is a clear indication of grades, rubrics and scoring tools. Observation assessment must be reliable which means that the settings has to be in good conditions for this assessment to take place , also the instructions must be clear and tools are not biased . Accuracy and validity of tests are very important step that the teacher has to keep in mind. The teacher should set clear objectives while assessing students on certain units. The observation assessment must also be authentic, which means that it is more beneficial for the student to have a realistic test that reflects and demonstrates the world. Sometimes students go through test that will simply discourage them and will not have any beneficial impact on their learning. Which leads the test taker to have a negative perception towards the test. As it is known that the perception of the test taker is an important factor in designing a test. The main objective of these principles in my opinion is to improve the student’s language development and learning abilities and also to …show more content…
Observations take place in different settings. Its main objective is to focus on the student performance during an activity or during classroom activities. Teachers will have to plan how to record their observations. Observations should be recorded in order to improve the student skills through feedbacks. There are different possibilities for recording information from students, the teacher has to make sure that these observations are consistent for all classroom. Some recording options include the following (Checklists, Anecdotal records, and rubrics). The question is what makes observations beneficial for students and what makes it
Children’s development is monitored using various methods. These can be summative and formative methods of assessment which can include formal testing/SATs that record a child’s academic level. They can also be formative methods which include observational methods.
Anecdotal records from observation of students are a great form of assessment because they record the student's social, emotional, physical, aesthetic, and cognitive development throughout the school year. By keeping these records, it allows the teacher to keep an ongoing record for reflection and interventions, when necessary. When keeping anecdotal records it is important to answer questions like: who, what when, and where. The purpose of these records is not to elaborate upon the child, but to simply state and keep an ongoing record of the student. This type of assessment is also especially useful for students with an IEP and students with behavioral disorders. This assessment is also useful for Social Studies because the students can be observed and documented when working in groups, working alone on assignment, or when researching on the computer.
It is not difficult to define what an observation is, but when it is apply to a classroom setting many different opinions about the appropriate styles, instruments, quality, quantity, etc. In the field of education, it is mention about observations referring to a technique of observing a phenomenon, fact or event, take information and record it for later analysis is a fundamental element of all process classroom research; because it relies on an investigator to obtain the largest possible amount of data (Glickman, et al., 2014). In terms of the structure of the observation, it is important to decide a prior whether it will be a structured work and, therefore, if appropriate using technology base instruments, or be held freely (Cushion, et al., 2012). Districts are adopting a more technology base to obtain the data to assist the teachers with their feedback. Other districts are using the paper format, where the observer carries it and inputs all the information obtained into a computer to formulate data. In Texas, it is a Professional Development and Appraisal System (PDAS) that it is used to evaluate teachers, walkthroughs. Base on this system are eight domains that are evaluated in the formal observation, but in a walkthrough are evaluated four of them. The following Instrument was created as easy tool for the observer to use and it incorporates the expectations that the Education Agency requires for administrators to use while they are doing walkthroughs in Texas (TEA, 2005).
“Assessment is one of the most effective instructional strategies to increase learning.” (Edutopia)When teachers think about assessment quality, they often focus on the accuracy of the instrument itself- the scope of which the assessment item tasks and scoring rubrics produce accurate information. It is imperative to use the different testing technique to improve learning. By taking tests, students can establish that they are independently capable of expressing their understanding of the material. I will have an opportunity to analyze each student's understanding and ability to apply learned information. I can then decide whether the
Formal classroom observations can be effective if they are approached differently than the traditional practices of the past. Most importantly, administrators, other evaluators, and teachers need to have a clear understanding of what competent performance ...
There are two main ways of evaluating a student’s work: objective tests and essay questions. Objective testing places emphasis on a precise, efficient focus on a student’s knowledge of defined variables (Kopeikin, 2000). That is, a teacher can use this format to measure a specific amount of a student’s knowledge. This can include multiple-choice, matching, true-false, and fill in the blank formats of testing. These kinds of testing are best used for checking whether students have learned facts and routine procedures that have one, clearly correct answer. In some subjects, carefully written test questions with planned outcomes can accurately distinguish students who grasp a basic concept from those who do not (Fairtest, 98?). With multiple-choice questions, a teacher can strategically place answer choices in a manner that will best evaluate what her students have...
Observation allows researchers to experience a specific aspect of social life and get a firsthand look at a trend, institution or behaviour. It promotes good communication skills, improves decision making and enhances awareness.
What are the purposes of the observation? The purposes of the observation could range from teaching evaluation, learning to teach, learning to observe, collecting data for research purpose and finally to become more self-aware as teachers and as mentors (Gebhard, 1999). The most important purpose is to become self-aware of the practices and the rationales behind these practices. Self-awareness is achieved through learning how to visualize and verbalize teaching practices and decisions (Oprandy, 1999).
Formal and informal assessments help the teacher to monitor learning progress, diagnose learning issues, and determine what they need to do next to further learning. In a regular classroom activity, they collect information about how students learn, what they know, what is working and what is not, and it helps a teacher to take decisions about teaching and learning process. Reflection on student accomplishments offers instructors insights on the effectiveness of their teaching strategies. By systematically gathering, analysing and interpreting evidence we can determine how well the student learning matching the outcomes for a lesson, unit or course. The knowledge from student feedback indicates the instructor that how to improve instruction, where to strengthen teaching. Pre- assessment, formative assessment and summative assessment are different types of
I believe that education should be looked as as a desire to acquire all possible knowledge, not as a requirement or something that can be formally examined by standardized tests. There are numerous ways that children learn and I want to be able to encourage as much learning as possible for each child. I believe that using many methods of instruction is the most effective way of teaching to these various ways of learning. These methods include group work, hands-on activities, buddy work, etc. Assessment of children should follow the same idea. When children get the chance to perform on different assessments, they can adequately show their strengths and weaknesses. I do not wish to rely on tests only to assess the students in my class. Some types of assessment that I think should be inlcuded in a classroom are journals, presentations, projects and interviews. I also think that the classroom should be run with the help of the children. By distributing jobs among the children and everyone participating in the classroom, the students will form a sense of togetherness. This will eventually create a community within the classroom. I feel that this community of learners is essential for the students to perform effectively and efficiently. They will feel comfortable in the environment and will not be afraid to take risks or ask questions. The teacher will also be a member of this community and will not be seen as unapproachable or as the only leader.
In the field of Early Childhood Education, observation is a method of gathering information by watching and writing what children do and say. Observation is important in the field because it helps in child development. when caregivers observe and know what the child have said and how he/she have acted in the particular situation then she will help him/her in building such skills according to it.
The ability to test a student’s language skills is essential to have as a teacher. Over the years, classrooms have become much more diverse with a wide variety of impairments being presented on a daily basis. Often, these disabilities contain a language impairment that appears as a side effect of the main disability. Unfortunately, assessing language is not as easy as one may think because it is not clearly defined and understood. Kuder (2008) writes that “…language is not a unitary phenomenon- it is ‘multidimensional, complex, and dynamic; it involves many interrelated processes and abilities; and it changes from situation to situation” (pg. 274). Language also develops at different times for different individuals, thus making language assessment an even harder task for test administrators to grade and evaluate. In order to further understand the language impairment that students present, teachers need to be aware of appropriate language tests that could be administered. In order to assure that the best language test is being issued to a student, several various tests exist to choose from. To test a student’s overall language capability, a comprehensive language test, such as the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL) or the Oral and Written Language Scales (OWLS), could be administered. If a teacher wanted to test a specific language skill such as pragmatics, phonology, syntax, or semantics, the teacher would need to find the best test for the student’s unique situation.
It is important that teachers give children a fair chance to show their knowledge when assessing. “The purpose of assessment is to provide feedback that can be used to improve student performance” ( Orange 2000). Teachers assess children to ensure that they are understanding the material, and to make sure they are learning. For young children especially tests should never be the only criteria of assessment. Instructors should always make sure that their assessment is fair. When testing a child, make sure that the testing method used is appropriate for that child. For example, if giving a test that relies on visual aids to administer the test it is important that the teacher is certain that all the children have good enough vision to clearly see the aids.
In spite of the importance of assessment in education, few teachers receive proper training on how to design or analyze assessments. Due to this, when teachers are not provided with suitable assessments from their textbooks or instructional resources, teachers construct their own in an unsystematic manner. They create questions and essay prompts comparable to the ones that their teachers used, and they treat them as evaluations to administer when instructional activities are completed predominantly for allocating students' grades. In order to use assessments to improve instruction and student learning, teachers need to change their approach to assessments by making sure that they create sound assessments. To ensure that their assessments are sound they need include five basic indicators that can be used as steps to follow when creating assessments. The first of these indicators and the first step a teacher must take when creating a sound assessme...
Assessments in the classroom are ongoing. Assessments are important for teaching in the classroom and for assisting in continuing the learning process of the students. Three purposes of assessment are to measure the amount of information a student has learned and retained, identify a students’ learning needs in and outside the classroom, and gather evidence to help increase learning for the students.