My experience with assessment
- 2. Whatkind of assessmentdid I receiveatschool? (Inthelanguagelessons)
- 3. Norm- referenced, ipsative, or criterion- referenced? Norm- referenced Ipsative Criterion- referenced Based on the average level of knowledge of the group. Based on the learner’s progression. Based on explicit definitions of knowledge.
- 4. Norm- referenced, ipsative, or criterion- referenced? (my experience) Primary school Grades were rather flexible (“bad”, “good”, ”very good”). Mostly ipsative and the pupil’s learning process. They were not taken into that much consideration, we would get “pass / not pass” at the end of the year. High school and A-levels Catalan and Spanish:Totally criterion-referenced. English:Criterion-referenced but to keep students’ motivation up there was a factor of ipsative assessment. Overall, some subjects did apply norm-referenced assessment if a task had gone worse than expected.
- 5. Other types of assessment Quantitative Qualitative Final Ongoing Hetero- assessment Self- assessment FormativeSummative Points system (9/10) Good writing, bad reflection… With a final text, essay were most of the grade is based on Several essays/blog, portfolio… Score decided by the teacher Score decided by the student Focus on the certification Focus on the learning
- 6. How was the assessment? (Inthelanguagelessons) Catalan/ Spanish English French (beginners) German (language academy) Quantitative Summative Final Both Qualitative Hetero Hetero Ongoing Summative Hetero Quantitative Final Formative Hetero Qualitative Ongoing
- 7. What is my ideal type of assessment? Personally,itdependson thelearningsituation. Beginner level Education system To get a certificate Qualitative OngoingOngoing Quantitative Hetero We want to be as close to the exam situation as possible to prepare the learner. Summative Hetero Formative Qualitative and quantitative Ongoing Hetero Formative In compulsory education we want learners to do their best. If languages are not their forte, we shall focus in other areas. We want to encourage language use and not constrain the learner with numbers that can affect their self-steem. Why always ongoing?A learner’s capacity can’t be measured by just one test/essay, all factors have to be taken into consideration, both skills, knowledge and emotions. Why always hetero-assessment?The guidance of the teacher is key, despite this, it is always positive to know if the learner feels they are satisfied with their learning process.
- 8. Tests
- 9. Types of test Diagnostic:What does the learner know how to do? Placement (assignment): Categorise the learner in a group or level. Learning (progress): Check if the learner has learnt a certain information that has been treated in class. Achievement (end of course): Has the student passed the course? Competence: Have CEFR standards been achieved? Green: Experienced in compulsory education. Orange: Experienced in language academy.
- 10. Memorable test experience There are many types of tests: Multiple choice tests, oral interviews, essay writing, tutoring with the teacher, team work activities in the classroom… I’ve experienced them all, but there is one type that always scares me. During high school, most Catalan students struggle with a particular type of pronouns (pronoms febles) they are intricate and people still struggle in adulthood. We were going to have a multiple choice test on them, which seemed fairly easier.There were another 3 classes in the same course and they had done the test the hours before us and had also given us an exam sheet and told us the right answers, strangely enough, all the classes had done the exact same test, same questions and order.We, being clever, learned all the answers by heart (“A, C, C, B, D…”) and got to the exam and showed off. The correction started and we kept getting all them wrong, panic took over and we kept looking at each other in confusion.The teacher kept looking at us after each answer was given, it turns out what was being testes was our morals rather than our knowledge. Good lesson!
- 11. Language test awards Longest and most important Hardest Most original Definitely the First Certificate Test in English, it is composed of several tests that assess different competences (reading, writing, grammar, listening…) It takes several hours with short breaks and it can feel overwhelming. A German test in university were there was a lot of content and the test was rather long and exhaustive, adding the difficulty that we only had an hour and a half. The level was still an A.2.2. and we were expected to write a short essay and answer several grammar and vocabulary- related questions. We were not able to show our real capacities and knowledge, there was an overall feeling of demotivation. A French test in high school in which there were two main lines of content, a verbal tense (passé compose) and vocabulary related to daily life activities. The teacher gave us a sheet and told us to do whatever we wanted with the content we knew, some did a glossary, others wrote a short text…
- 12. Thank you for the attention!