2010 ELTS
Building a Culture of Assessment
for Learning In the English
Language Classroom
yagerk@knox.nsw.edu.au
Karen Yager
Knox Grammar &
University of NSW
“We have to know
where we want to end
up before we start out
– and plan how to get
there …”
(1999, Tomlinson).
2
Desired Outcomes
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Confident person: adaptable and
resilient, knows himself, is
discerning in judgment, thinks
independently and critically, and
communicates effectively
Self-directed learner: takes
responsibility for own learning,
questions, reflects and perseveres in
the pursuit of learning
Active contributor: works effectively
in teams, exercises initiative, takes
calculated risks, is innovative and
strives for excellence
Concerned citizen: strong civic
consciousness, is informed, and
takes an active role in bettering the
lives of others around him
Global Skills
 Critical thinking
 Problem solving
 Innovation
 Collaboration
 Creativity
 Connectivism
through
technology
“Learners are at
the center of the
teaching-learning
process.”
The Evidence
 Coyle and Colvin (1999): The brain is
phenomenally plastic, and that we
construct ourselves through
behaviour – “It’s not who you are,
it’s what you do and where you do
it.”
 Hattie (2003) & Dinham (2008): The
significance of quality assessment
married with timely and meaningful
feedback for teaching and learning.
 Wiggins (2006): Correlation between
authentic assessment and improved
learning outcomes.
 Create an
environment
for higherorder
thinking,
problem –
solving and
risk-taking
 Integrate
summative
and formative
assessment
 Provide
quality
feedback
‘There is a natural tendency for both
teachers and students to tailor their
classroom activities to the demands of the
test, especially when the test is very
important to the future of the students,
and pass rates are used as a measure of
teacher success’ (Buck 1988).
*******
‘Every act of assessment gives a message
to students about what they should be
learning and how they should go about it’
(Boud, 1998).
Teaching to the Test
 Teachers have done excellently in delivering knowledge
and skills that are essential for high-stakes normreferenced standardized testing.
 Assessment has been used as a measure of
achievement rather than as a tool to inform and
engage students in their own learning (Shepard, 2000).
 Teaching to the tests becomes a driver in the classroom
leading to backwash.
 Positive: transparency and explicit understanding of
expectations.
 Negative: Narrow focus, lack of inclusivity, risk-taking
and creativity.
Kwek, Albright and Kramer-Dahl
(2007) observed that when the
English language syllabus is
implemented in Singapore’s
classrooms it applies “a narrow
range of textual forms and
organizational ‘rules’ that students
are asked to reproduce.”
Assessment for Learning
 ‘Teachers who assess for learning use day-today classroom assessment activities to involve
students directly and deeply in their own
learning, increasing their confidence and
motivation to learn by emphasizing progress
and achievement rather than failure and
defeat’ (Stiggins, 1999; 2001).
 A classroom culture of transparency, strategic
questioning by teachers and students, and an
understanding of what is quality.
Quality Assessment
 Embedded in the syllabus having clear, direct links with
outcomes
 Planned deliberately and integral to teaching
 Balanced, comprehensive and varied: receptive and
productive
 Fair, inclusive, valid and reliable
 Ongoing and sequential
 Engaging and student-centered
 Time efficient and manageable
 Supported by models, scaffolds or annotated exemplars
that demonstrate what is expected and what can be
achieved
 Reflects any adjustments made to teaching and
learning
Assessment for Learning
TRADITIONAL/SUMMATIVE
AUTHENTIC/FORMATIVE
CONTRIVED
REAL-LIFE
RECALL/RECOGNITION
CONSTRUCTION/APPLICATION
TEACHER DIRECTED
STUDENT DIRECTED
COVERAGE
UN-COVERAGE
SELECTING A RESPONSE
PRODUCING/PERFORMING/
PRESENTING
PASSIVE LEARNING
ACTIVE LEARNING/SELFASSESSMENT/METACOGNITION
STRUCTURED
OPEN-ENDED
Wiggins (2006)
Assessment for
Learning
 Is an essential and integrated part of
teaching and learning
 Reflects a belief that all students can
improve
 Involves setting learning goals with
students
 Helps students know and recognise
the standards they are aiming for
 Involves students in self-assessment
and peer assessment
 Provides feedback that helps
students understand the next steps
in learning and plan how to achieve
them
 Involves teachers, students and
parents reflecting on assessment
data.
The Classroom
How would a language
classroom operate with a
culture of assessment for
learning?
 Contextualisation
 Learner-centeredness
 Learner-focused
interaction
 Integration
 Process orientation
 Spiral progression
Culture of Learning
 “Building a strong
foundation in
language, and
enriching language
learning for all.”
 “Learners are at the
centre of the
teaching-learning
process.” (English
Language Syllabus 2010)
Culture of Learning
 Processes assessed as
well as the products of
language learning.
 Variety of rich tasks that
assess receptive and
productive skills, and
knowledge about
language.
 Student direction, selfassessment and creativity
privileged.
Deep understanding
When pupils truly understand, they can:
 Explain, make connections, offer good theories:
Make sense of what they experience; show their
work and defend it; provide thorough, supported,
and justifiable accounts of phenomena, facts, and
data.
 Interpret: Tell meaningful stories; offer
translations; provide a revealing historical or
personal dimension to ideas and events; make it
personal or accessible through images, anecdotes,
analogies, models.
Deep understanding
 Apply and Produce: Effectively use
and adapt what they know in
diverse contexts, and design
effective products.
 Appreciate Other Perspectives:
See multiple points of view, with
critical eyes and ears; see the big
picture.
Deep understanding
 Empathize: Get inside, find value in what
others might find odd, different, or
implausible; perceive sensitively, enter the
mind and heart of others.
 Self-knowledge: Perceive the personal style,
prejudices, projections, and habits of mind
that shape and impede their own
understanding; are aware of what they do not
understand, and why it is so hard to
understand (Shepard, 2001).
Creativity
 Fluency: generating
many ideas
 Flexibility: shifting
perspective easily
 Originality:
conceiving something
new
 Purpose: vision
 Audience: context
 Elaboration: building
on other ideas
 Evaluation: critical
reflection
Culture of learning
 What do I want my pupils to
learn?
 Why does it matter?
 What do they already know?
 How will they demonstrate
learning?
 How will they get there?
The Model
Focus
Outcomes
Concept + Key Question or Essential Learning Statement
Overarching idea of the unit grounded in the syllabus
Key Ideas + Question
What students will learn by
the end of the unit
(Deep knowledge)
(Deep knowledge)
Key Ideas
+ Question
Reflect intent of the
outcomes and concept
(Deep knowledge)
Key Ideas + Question
Grounded in the syllabus
(Deep knowledge)
Assessment for, of, as and through learning
(Deep understanding, Problematic knowledge, Higher-order thinking, Explicit quality criteria)
Demonstration of key learning ideas
Pre-testing/Pre-assessment (Background knowledge - connections to prior learning)
Brainstorming, Graphic organisers – KWL, mind mapping, Y chart, Lotus diagram. Quiz
Teaching Strategies
Learning Activities
Explicit / Systematic
Building the Field
Teaching Strategies
Learning Activities
Explicit Literacy & Numeracy
Strategies
Teaching Strategies
Learning Activities
Connected & Scaffolded
Teaching Strategies
Learning Activities
Integrated ICT
Teaching Strategies
Learning Activities
Scaffolds / Models –
annotated
Resources
Culture of A4L: Speaking & Representing
 Concept: Persuasion
 Outcomes: LO1; LO2; LO3
 Key Learning Ideas:
Features of the spoken language of
persuasion
How language features persuade others
The pace, volume, tone and stress patterns
of speech of persuasive speaking
Culture of A4L
Building the field
Explicit, systematic & balanced
Pre-testing for learning:
 Quizzes and Wordle
 Listening task on persuasive
speech
 30 second persuasive speech
Formative assessment:
 Students plan a speech using
Persuasion 101:
http://prezi.com/62290/
 Creative producers
 Class blog created as a platform or
Voicethread http://voicethread.com/
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Modality
Imperative voice
Repetition
Intonation and pace
Emotive language
Second person
Forceful verbs
Exclamation
Cyber Grammar:
http://www.cybergrammar.co.uk/ind
ex.php
 Visuword:
http://www.visuwords.com/
Culture of A4L
Formative & Summative Assessment
Resources
 Receptive listening task based on
one of the speeches: Focus on how
language is persuasive and the
meaning conveyed
 Productive Task: Persuasive
campaign individually or in groups
of three that allows for student
choice and is presented to an
audience
OR
 Persuasive speech podcast
 Critical self evaluation of campaign
or podcast focusing on the use of
persuasive language
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Severn Suzuki’s speech delivered at
UN Earth Summit 1992 focusing on
the ideas and the purpose of the
speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u
ZsDliXzyAY
EDF Energy Advertisements:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X
x3Y5RV9YR4&feature=related ;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z
7JMBa6h7Eo&feature=related
Al Gore’s speech to Smith School
World Forum on Climate Change:
http://oxforddigital.tv/streaming/algo
re0709.php
“Assessment should be first and
foremost for the learner’s
sake, designed and
implemented to provide useful
feedback to the learner on
worthy tasks to make
improved performance and
ultimate mastery more likely”
(Wiggins, 2006).
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Importance of Feedback
 “An expert teacher, mentor or coach can readily
explain, demonstrate and detect flaws in
performance. He or she can also identify talent
and potential, and build on these.”
 “In contrast, trial and error learning or poor
teaching are less effective and take longer. If
performance flaws are not detected and
corrected, these can become ingrained and will
be much harder to eradicate later. Learners who
don’t receive instruction, encouragement and
correction can become disillusioned and quit due
to lack of progress.”
(Dinham, Feedback on Feedback, 2008)
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Feeding Forward
 Constructive
 Precise
 Connected to what is
being assessed
 Timely
 Frequent (Holmes &
Papageourgiou, 2009)
 Invites self-assessment
and self-reflection
 Informs future teaching
and learning
Feedback directed to the ‘self’
(e.g.: “You are a great student”).
‘Rarely does it enhance
achievement or learning’.
Increases the
ability to
accommodate
feedback and
create internal
feedback...
‘Feedback at this
process level
appears to be
more effective
than at the task
level for enhancing
deeper learning’
‘Having correct
information is a
pedestal on
which processing
and selfregulation can be
effectively built.’
The Power of Feedback in School Settings
John Hattie (2003)
Pedestal of
feedback
Level 3: Self-regulation
Relates to greater skill in self
evaluation/self regulation
Level 2: Process
Aimed at the processes used to create
the product/task
Level 1: Task
'corrective feedback'
information focussed
Most feedback
remains task
focused
Quality Feedback
Effective feedback
answers three
questions:
 Where am I going? (the
goals) Feed up
 How am I going? Feed
back
 Where to next? Feed
Forward
(Hattie & Timperely, 2009)
30
Journey to self & peer assessment
 Encourage peer discussion about
what constitutes effective use of
language.
 Invite diagnostic peer and self
assessment by using a rubric and
marking scheme that has been clearly
explained to the pupils.
 Require pupils to design the
assessment task and marking criteria.
 Require pupils to develop an
individualised personal learning plan.
“It is about learning to learn, about
becoming independent thinkers and
learners. It is about problem solving,
team-work, knowledge of the world,
adaptability, and comfort in a global
system of technologies, conflict and
complexity. It is about the joy of learning
and the pleasure of productivity of using
one’s learning in all facets of work and life
pursuits” (2006, Fullan, Hill and Crevola,
Breakthrough).
http://assessment4quality.wikispaces.com/