This week's reading is about assessment and, considering the fact that I am now taking a course in assessment it seems that one chapter does not really cover all of it.
language assessment is a very tricky business. What exactly are we assessing? Knowledge of vocabulary? Ability to carry on a conversation? Ability to write a thank-you note? A research essay? General language ability? It seems that language assessment raises at least as many questions as it gives answers.
In my composition class I have two main means of assessment - writing projects and in-class discussions. Of course, we have a bunch of easier, shorter assignments, but I don't put too much faith in them. 85 percent of the students' grades are the four big writing projects. The rest is attendance and participation.
I try to make my assessment procedures as clear as possible - I develop very specific rubrics and try to give plenty of feedback at all stages.
When I taught adult basic ed our main assessment procedure was the administration of the CASAS multiple-choice tests, which has many problems, the main ones could be called teaching to the test and teaching for the test.
In general, the problem with any test is - how far are you willing to go to make sure that your students pass the test? Do you give them candy or show a movie after a successful test? If using test is reasonable for a certain program, purpose, and population we need to make sure that we teach what we ask, and that it is relevant.
I'm an international student. My voice to that is that international students shouldn't be graded academically in a different way from native English speakers.
ReplyDeleteAssessment is a tricky business. Sometimes the best we can do is test aspects of what we teach hoping that that knowledge translates to communication ability in the real world.
ReplyDeleteThat is kind of what we do in this class. We are assessed on aspects of what we learn. Hopefully these projects we do translate into the skills we need for teaching.
I think the process that we use self review and critique, peer review and critique, teacher review and critique - helps us to form the habit of assessing and improving what we do.