(1)The strategic use of questioning
Here are some key ideas from the research into the role of questioning as part of Assessment
for Learning (formative assessment):
Idea No. 1
In terms of student behaviour, strategic questioning encourages students to:
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listen actively
speak
take turns
be actively involved with learning.
If the classroom culture does not encourage 'hands up', but rather emphasises that everyone is
expected to think and be ready to answer any question, students are more likely to be involved
with the lesson.
Likewise, if the classroom culture encourages the asking of questions and makes it okay to give
a wrong answer, then students will be more likely to offer answers.
Idea No. 2
The asking of questions is a deliberate, planned activity.
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Identify the learning intention and plan related questions to target knowledge, understanding
or the teaching and learning strategies.
Plan for more open questions than closed questions, understanding that open questions
provide more opportunities for the teacher to understand the thinking behind a response and
more opportunities for the students to demonstrate their understanding.
Plan for questions that pose appropriate cognitive demands, not only in respect of the age and
development of the student but also in terms of where the questions occur in the unit or
lesson. This means asking knowledge and comprehension questions about new material prior
to questions of analysis and evaluation.
Idea No. 3
Provide students with time to think after asking a question.
This means accepting a pause or silence as an integral part of questioning during class. More
demanding, open-ended questions pose cognitive challenges. Students need time to reason
and consider their answers. Research (Rowe 1972) strongly suggests that, where there is a
lapse of time between question and answer, answers dramatically increase in quality. Where
teachers wait for student responses, more students participate in answering, responses are
longer and more confident, and students comment, respond to and thus build upon each
other's answers.
Idea No. 4
A critical factor in enhancing the strategic effectiveness of questions is teacher receptiveness.
The teacher's positive response to both good and wrong answers is essential.
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A receptive, listening attitude on the part of the teacher is conveyed through:
facial expression
body language
verbal responses.
Responses to wrong answers can include:
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the teacher rephrasing the original question
'Let me put it another way…'
a request for clarification
'What do you mean when you say …?'
a request for specific examples
'How would this work?'
'Can you give me an example of this?'
a request for rephrasing
'Can you put it another way?'
Idea No. 5
The strategic effectiveness of questioning is further enhanced by:
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moving around the room to make sure questions are more likely to be evenly distributed. Other
ways of making sure questions are evenly distributed include allowing students to talk to each
other about a question, asking everyone to write down an answer and then reading out a
selected few, or giving students a choice of possible answers and having a vote on the correct
option. All of these tactics increase student participation.
posing one question at a time. Asking a string of questions, particularly without any pause, is
confusing.
providing prompt questions such as
'Why do you think that?', 'Can you tell me more about …?' or 'Is it possible that ...?'
posing fewer, well chosen questions is more strategic as an assessment for learning strategy.
Idea No. 6
When planning, teachers need to decide the purpose of their questions and then select the
most appropriate type of questions for that purpose. Bloom's taxonomy can assist with the
framing of questions that pose different cognitive demands.
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Knowledge and comprehension are assessed using closed questions that pose lower cognitive
demands because they rely largely on memory and have one correct answer.
Application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation are assessed using open questions that pose
higher cognitive demands, lead students to think for themselves and have several correct
answers.
Both closed and open questions are important Assessment for Learning tools.
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Closed questions are useful for establishing the core material of a unit, while open questions
advance students into manipulating, extending and transforming this material.
Reliance only on closed questions, however, will limit the amount of information that teachers
are likely to learn about their students, and will fail to make a range of cognitive demands on
the students.
Idea No. 7
To phrase strategic and stimulating questions, teachers could make use of a number of other
tools besides Bloom's. Some of these are:
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De Bono's Six thinking hats
The Six thinking hats is a strategy that encourages students to look at a topic or problem or idea
from more than one perspective. Each hat represents a different kind of thinking and therefore
different kinds of questions.
Wiederhold's Question matrix
The Question matrix contains 36 question starters asking what, where, when, which, who, why
and how. These questions are asked in present, past and future tenses, ranging from simple
recall through to predictions and imagination or single questions depending on the task.
Thinker's keys
Thinker's keys is a strategy to develop creative and critical thinking designed by Tony Ryan, a
consultant for Gifted and Talented Programs in Queensland. Each of the 20 keys is a different
question which challenges the reader to compose his or her own questions and come up with
responses.
(2)Peer feedback
Research suggests that peer feedback is most effective when students feel comfortable with
each other and supported by their peers, respect each other's opinions and feel able to take
risks and make mistakes.
Teachers create an environment in which risk-taking is accepted and there are no 'put-downs'
from other students when mistakes are made. They always intervene when 'put-downs' do
occur, making certain that students understand there is no place for this in a learning
classroom.
Teachers deliberately conduct activities that serve to develop an atmosphere of cooperation,
support and trust and explicitly teach students how to give feedback and how to receive
feedback.
They model the process in a very explicit way, articulating for students what they are doing and
drawing attention to the language they are using. Role-play is useful here, followed by
a debrief.
The physical configuration of the classroom should lend itself to students working together in
pairs and groups, which in turn facilitates exchange of information and peer feedback. Clusters
of tables or desks make more sense than lines or semicircles, although there needs to be
enough flexibility for desks or tables to be quickly rearranged to allow for whole-class activities
as well as group or paired activities.
With older students, a basic understanding of learning styles can assist in helping students to
understand that not everyone learns in the same way, and that different ways of learning are
more or less effective for different people.
Discussion with students about learning styles also encourages the development of
metacognition in relation to their own learning styles and preferences.
Strategies to enhance peer feedback
Some strategies are particularly suited to younger students, where often the names that
teachers have for these strategies provide a 'shorthand' way of communicating to students that
they wish them to provide peer feedback.
For example:
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Two stars and a wish
Plus, minus and what's next?
Warm and cool feedback
Traffic lights
In addition, teachers of all levels can also use the following strategies:
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Using models or exemplars
De Bono's Thinking hats
Using a rubric
For younger students, it is easier and more effective to encourage oral rather than written
feedback.
Two stars and a wish
Students identify two positive aspects of the work of a peer and then express a wish about
what the peer might do next time in order to improve another aspect of the work. 'I want to
give you a star for the start of your story and a star for the way you described the house. I wish
that you will tell us more about Billy.'
Teachers model this strategy several times, using samples of student work, before asking the
students to use the strategy in pairs on their own. They check the process and ask pairs who
have implemented the strategy successfully to demonstrate it to the whole group.
Plus, minus and what's next?
Students comment on what was done well in relation to the success criteria, and also on what
could be done better. This strategy may be better used after the students have become adept
at using Two stars and a wish. This strategy can also be used as part of self-assessment, where
students use 'What's next?' to set a personal learning target.
Warm and cool feedback
When students comment on the positive aspects of a peer's work, they are said to be giving
warm feedback, and when they identify areas that need improvement, they are providing cool
feedback. They provide hints on 'how to raise the temperature' when they give advice about
how their peer could improve their work.
Traffic lights
Students green-light (using a green highlighter on the margin of the work) the work of their
peer to indicate where the success criteria have been achieved, or amber-light where
improvement is needed.
This strategy is best used on a work-in-progress, although it could also be used, with coloured
sticky notes, to provide feedback on a final piece of work. The suggestions for improvement
would then relate to the next occasion on which the students undertook work which required
similar skills - writing or number skills, for example.
Using models or exemplars
Teachers demonstrate for students how they can match the work of a peer to an exemplar
which most closely resembles its qualities. For example, for young students exemplars of
handwriting which reflect a range of qualities (letters on/off line, no spaces/spaces between
words, straight/crooked letters, mixture of upper- and lower-case letters etc.) can be displayed
in the classroom and students asked to match the handwriting of the peer with the appropriate
exemplar.
Students explain to the peer why they have selected this particular exemplar and, using other
exemplars, explain what the peer needs to do in order to improve his/her handwriting.
Exemplars of various products (written and 3-D) can be displayed in the classroom for use both
by individuals to self-assess and also by peers to provide feedback. If there is concern that
providing a model will lead to copying or stifle imagination and creativity, the teacher might
consider providing exemplars of parts of the product - for example, an effective introduction or
an interesting use of media in an artwork.
When employing exemplars as a self-assessment strategy, students use the exemplars to help
them articulate what changes they need to make to their own work in order to achieve the
success criteria.
De Bono's Thinking hats
Because the Thinking hats encourage thinking from different perspectives, they can be used to
focus students' feedback to their peers. Again, teachers model the use of the Thinking hats and
train students in their use before asking them to use the hats as one of the peer feedback
strategies.
The Yellow hat, for instance, encourages students to think about the 'good points' and to ask
themselves questions such as 'Why will this work?' The Black hat urges caution and evaluation:
'Is this true? What are the weaknesses?' while the Green hat encourages creative thinking: 'Is
there another way of doing this?' 'What would be better?' 'How else can this be done?'
Giving different students different hats can make peer feedback more focused and manageable
for younger students. That way, each individual doesn't have to consider every aspect of the
peer feedback but can concentrate on just one.
Using a rubric
For larger assessment activities conducted over a period of time, the rubric, which has been
negotiated with students at the beginning of the task, can be used as the basis for paired
discussions about progress. If students are very clear about the qualities of work implied by the
various levels of performance described on a rubric, they can provide useful feedback to their
peers.
If rubrics are to be (a) designed so they do capture the difference between levels of
performance and (b) used effectively by students not only as a peer feedback tool but also as a
self-assessment tool, then students need explicit teaching so they understand the differences
between, for example, work which lists benefits as opposed to work which describes those
benefits or explains them or evaluates them. An understanding of the language used by the
rubric is essential.
(3)Student self-assessment
Student self-assessment is now regarded as vital to success at school. Black and Wiliam (1998)
put it like this:
… self-assessment by pupils, far from being a luxury, is in fact an essential component of
formative assessment.
The implementation of student self-assessment in the classroom does not ignore the role of the
teacher.
The very important role of the teacher involves:
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sharing with students the success criteria for each assessment activity
ensuring that students understand the success criteria
explicitly teaching students how to apply those criteria to their own work
providing students with feedback to help them improve; and
helping students to set learning targets to achieve that improvement.
Students who use self-assessment:
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recognise that learning is associated with a very positive kind of difficulty, which increases
motivation rather than destroying it
experience an increase in self-esteem
experience an improvement in their learning because they come to know how they learn rather
than just what they learn.
Teachers who encourage students to self-assess:
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see the responsibility for learning shifting from them to their students
recognise an increase in student motivation and enthusiasm for learning and a corresponding
decrease in behavioural problems
are able to use feedback from their students about how they learn to shape lessons to
individual and group needs rather than teaching to the mythical class as whole
Strategies to enhance student self-assessment
Reflection activities
Teachers often use proformae to encourage students to reflect on their learning experience.
While these are convenient and provide a record of student thinking, they can become an
activity devoid of any real thinking. Oral reflection, whether as a whole class or group within the
class, might sometimes be more useful. Alternatively, teachers could devote some time to
questioning students about what they have recorded on their proformae and asking them for
explanations.
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Student-led and three-way conferences
Use of rubrics
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Use of graphic organisers
Target setting
Time management
Student-led and three-way conferences
Student-led conferences in which students present their learning to their teacher and parents
are an opportunity for students to formally reflect on the learning that has taken place over a
period of time. This reflection occurs as students prepare for the conference, as well as during
the conference itself when they show and explain to their parents what they have learned.
Usually the evidence they produce is in the form of a portfolio, which students have prepared
according to provided guidelines.
The student, with teacher guidance, is the one who selects the work.
The teacher makes sure the students understand the purpose of the portfolio - that is, that:
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it represents some but not all the work they have done in class over a period of time
it demonstrates both strengths and weaknesses
it will be used to help them reflect on what they have learned and what they still need to learn
it will help them to state clear goals for future learning, based on the areas where they need to
make more progress.
Use of rubrics
Rubrics are a valuable tool for self-assessment. Because rubrics not only list the success criteria
but also provide descriptions of levels of performance, students are able to use them to
monitor and evaluate their progress during an assessment task or activity.
Teachers make certain that students have copies of the rubric prior to commencing the
assessment activity and understand the terminology used in the rubric. If necessary, they
provide students with models or exemplars to illustrate relevant aspects of the activity.
As they work to complete the activity, students monitor their work to ensure that it
demonstrates the required skills, knowledge or understanding. They reflect on their progress
and evaluate what they need to do if they wish to improve their performance.
Use of graphic organisers
A graphic organiser organises facts, concepts, ideas or terms in a visual or diagrammatic way so
that the relationship between the individual items is made clearer.
The value of graphic organisers in terms of student self-assessment lies in their ability to assist
thinking and make it visible for both the student and the teacher. For example, empty spaces in
graphic organisers reveal gaps in the student's knowledge or thinking. They indicate
immediately what still needs to be discovered or learned. If graphic organisers are used in
preparation for a written response, they can show where more information or further
argument is necessary, and when students are asked to explain their use of the graphic
organiser there is an opportunity for metacognitive development because they must explain
their thought processes. ('Why did you put that piece of information here?')
If students are taught how to use graphic organisers, they can learn to select those which are
compatible with their learning styles. Some learners, for instance, will gravitate towards
organisers which use words to elucidate links, such as tables of various kinds; others will be
happier with symbols such as arrows and boxes of various meaningful shapes.
Setting learning targets
The setting of learning targets, or goal-setting, is an intrinsic part of the iterative nature of selfassessment. Student self-assessment begins with setting learning targets, proceeds through the
production of work that aims to achieve those targets, to the assessment of the work to see if it
does in fact meet the targets and then, finally, to the setting of new targets or revising ones
that were not achieved.
Diagrammatically, the process looks like this:
Ideally, students will increasingly assume responsibility for the setting of their learning targets
and also for the monitoring or tracking of those targets. In practice, of course, students' ability
to do this will vary, and teacher assistance will be more important to some students than
others. The provision of suitable 'tracking' sheets is an obvious way for teachers to assist all
students.
As with other aspects of instruction, the use of modelling and explicit teaching is of relevance
here. Teachers commonly use the SMART acronym as a way of guiding students in the design of
a learning target. In this acronym:
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Achievable or Attainable
R = Relevant
T = Time-bound
The SMART method of setting learning targets:
Specific
The learning target must be specific rather than general: 'I will include a topic sentence in each
paragraph' rather than 'I will improve my paragraphing.'
Measurable
It must be possible to know whether the learning target has been accomplished, so there needs
to be some way of measuring this. 'I will learn my 7 times table', for instance, could be
measured by 'Being able to recite to my teacher/parent/peer the table X times without making
mistakes.'
Achievable
The achievement of the learning target must be something the student is capable of attaining.
Where the prospect of achievement seems daunting, the learning target can be broken down
into a series of steps so that the student has the prospect of experiencing success. For example,
instead of a learning target that states 'I will use correct spelling', it is better to concentrate on
the use of individual spelling strategies so that, over time, the student builds up a repertoire of
strategies designed to achieve the aim of improving his or her ability to spell correctly.
The setting of unachievable learning targets will inevitably lead to lack of motivation and low
self-esteem.
Relevant
The learning target needs to be significant and relevant to the student's present learning. If
students are left to set learning targets without any guidance, at least initially there is a danger
that such targets will be less relevant than if they are set in the context of understanding 'What
I know or can do now/ what I still need to know or be able to do/ how I can go about making
that improvement'.
Time-bound
Students should specify when they aim to achieve the target. Time-bound learning targets are
easier to evaluate and track than those which have no particular time period attached to their
achievement.
Time management
Students' ability to manage and organise their own time in order to complete set tasks is a
crucial aspect of self-assessment. Schools recognise this when they institute a variety of
structures to support students developing independence in this area; the student diary is one
example.
In the case of extended projects, middle-year students can be assisted to manage their time if
teachers 'chunk' the work into discrete sub-tasks. For instance, students who are researching
information prior to making a class or group presentation can be advised that the task
comprises the following sub-tasks, each of which will have a certain period of time allotted to it.
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Decide on research topic
Draw up list of possible resources
Assign group roles
Conduct research
Develop presentation
Rehearse presentation
Make presentation
This information can be supported visually by Gantt chart which can be displayed in the
classroom and used by both teacher and students to monitor progress.
For older students who have experience of Gantt charts, the production of such a chart and its
submission to the teacher for feedback could be made a mandatory first step when they are
beginning an extended task.
(4)The formative use of summative assessment
The need to make formative use of summative assessment is emphasised by research eg Harlen
and Deakin Crick (2002) which has identified the negative impact of summative assessment on
the self-esteem of low achievers.
An important aspect of making formative use of summative assessment is the use of effective
teacher feedback.
Cited (Hattie 1999) as one of the most effective ways teachers can improve student
performance, teacher feedback that occurs both during the development of an assessment
activity, and after its completion, is a powerful way of ensuring that students learn as a result of
summative assessment.
The role of student self-assessment is also an important aspect of making formative use of
summative assessment. When students exercise responsibility for their own learning, they are
demonstrating an awareness of themselves as learners, and self-esteem and motivation have
been shown to increase.
Strategies to promote the formative use of tests
Making formative use of national tests
Making formative use of national tests has two aspects: preparing students for the test and
making use of the test results.
Preparing students for the test involves ensuring that students have the necessary skills,
knowledge and understanding to cope with the demands of the test, and also ensuring their
familiarity with the testing genre. This involves an understanding of the structure and language
features of the test (the use of bold, italics, layout, recognition of types of test items, key
vocabulary), strategies for tackling particular types of questions (eg multiple choice) and
skimming and scanning.
Making use of results from national testing
Look first at the skills, knowledge and understanding that the individual test items purport to be
testing, and then examine the statistical data which summarises student performance.
Identified trends in performance - for example, evidence that a significant number of students
experience difficulty making inferences - can be used in a formative way to determine future
teaching.
Making formative use of classroom tests
How much formative use can be made of a written test depends on the quality of the test
design. Where a test makes a number of different and escalating cognitive demands of
students, the information thus gained about student skills, knowledge and understanding will
be more sophisticated.
Before the test
Consider the timing. Tests administered at the beginning of a unit, for example, can be an
accurate way of determining exactly what students already know and are able to do. This
information is then used to shape the approach to the teaching of the topic and, in particular,
to identify a starting point for further learning.
A test mid-way through a unit is another way tests can be used by both students and teachers
for assessment for learning purposes. Gaps in understanding are revealed in a timely fashion,
allowing teachers to focus teaching to fit student needs and provide students with the
opportunity to act on feedback to improve their performance.
Preparing for a test by using Traffic Lights
In this strategy teachers provide students with a list of the skills, knowledge and understandings
the test will focus on, and students work through the list, identifying each aspect as follows:
‘I can explain this aspect to someone else.’ (green light)
‘I think I understand this aspect but I’d have difficulty explaining it to someone else.’ (amber
light)
‘I don’t understand this aspect.’ (red light)
The resulting record gives students a focus for their revision.
Writing the questions – or even the whole test
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Asking students to design an appropriate question provides them and the teacher with an
opportunity to evaluate their understanding of the skills, knowledge and understanding that
are involved.
Designing the entire test (within provided guidelines which indicate the number and variety of
question types) involves more learning than simply responding to a teacher-generated test.
After the test
After the test, there are many opportunities for a formative approach.
Instead of simply handing back the marked tests to students and then going through the test to
explain the required answers, teachers can use strategies which encourage further
reinforcement and learning.
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Before the test is marked and returned to students, the teacher divides up the test and allots
different sections or questions to groups of students. The role of the students is to agree on a
response to each of the questions and how marks should be allotted. Groups then share their
work with the class.
Teachers identify those questions which caused the most difficulty for students, and then go
over the answers to these with the class before they return the completed tests to the
students.
Teachers identify the ten toughest questions (or however many are relevant given the design of
the test). They ask students to review those questions in pairs to confirm what they believe
should be the correct answers. They then confirm their answers with another pair before
checking with the teacher. (This strategy was suggested by the Alberta Assessment
Consortium.)
When students spend a significant period of time working on an extended assessment task, it is
important that the task has been designed so it is likely to yield a significant amount of
information about student performance.
Ask these questions:
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Will the design of the task allow students the opportunity to demonstrate their achievement of
the skills, knowledge and understanding that will be the focus of the unit?
Is there any opportunity to achieve those skills, knowledge and understanding at a number of
different levels?
Are the success criteria explicit and will they be shared with the students before the unit
begins?
Is the form or forms of the assessment product (oral, written, performance, other) consistent
with the skills, knowledge and understanding that will be the focus of the unit? (For example, if
students are asked to produce evidence of their learning in the form of a brochure or website
or 3-D model, will they be provided with models and specifically taught the structure and
features of those forms?)