Assessment types and tasks

Assessment means judging learners’ performance by collecting information about it.

Assessment tasks are the methods we use for assessing learners.

We can assess students formally or informally.

Informal assessment

We observe learners to see how well they are doing something and then we give them comments on their performance.

Formal assessment
When we assess learners through tests or exams and give their work a mark or a grade.


Diagnostic Test
At the beginning of a course, we give our students a test to find out what they know and don’t know. This information can help us decide what to teach and which learners need help.


Placement Test
When the school or teacher wants to know at what level the learners are and decide what level of class they should go to.


Formative Assessment
We assess our students when we want to know how well they are doing after teaching part of a course.


Progress Test
When the formative assessment is done through a test, it is called progress test.


Proficiency Test
When students want to see how good they are at a language.
The contents of this kind of test are not based on a course program or syllabus.


Achievement Test
When teachers assess the whole content of a course.

Self Assessment

Auto-evaluation

Peer Assessment


Learners assess one another, usually using checklists to guide them.

Self Assessment and Peer Assessment help learners understand their language use and performance better and become more autonomous.

Portfolio Assessment
Collection of learners’ work during a course

Objective Test
Assessment tasks which answers are either right or wrong.

Subjective Test
Assessments that consider many different things. The mark the teacher gives depends on their judgement.

• Assessment Tasks:
  Gap fill (They test accuracy)
  Multiple choice questions
  True/False questions
  Ordering
  Correcting mistakes
  Interviews
  Conversations (They test communication skills)
  Role-plays
  Writing letters Writing compositions
  Dictation
  Projects
  Portfolio
  
  

Practice activities and tasks for language and skills development

Activities and tasks designed to give learners opportunities to practice and extend their use of language.

Practice activities differ in several ways:

What Skill or sub skill do they focus on?
The aims of the activity and their Interaction pattern…
What do they focus on? Accuracy or communication
Controlled practice or freer practice?

This influences on the Type of
Activity the teacher chooses.



Lessons usually consist on a series of linked activities. Here are two ways in which you can link activities in your lesson:
PPP
Presentation




Controlled Practice
Freer Practice
Discussion


Focus on form
The purpose of practice activities is to go from verbalization to autonomy.

Verbalization
Teacher describes and demonstrates the skilled behavior to be learned; learners perceive and understand.
Automatization
Teacher suggests exercises; learners practice skill in order to acquire facility; teacher monitors.
Autonomy
Learners continue to use skill on their own, becoming more proficient and creative.

Presentation techniques and introductory activities

Presentation techniques are ways used by the teacher to present (introduce to learners for the first time) new language such as vocabulary, grammatical structures and pronunciation.
n Introductory activities are those used by teacher to introduce a lesson or teaching topic.


PPP: Presentation, Practice and Production
It is possible to present new language after learners have met it in a reading or listening text which is first used for comprehension.

TBL: Task-based Learning

PPP and TBL are not the only ways of presenting new language:

It is possible to present new language after learners have met it in a reading or listening text which is first used for comprehension.

Another possibility is to hold a discussion on a topic and introduce new language in the context of the discussion.

Another one is to give learners a task that requires them to use new language, then after the task, present the new language to them and then give them another task to practice the new language (Test-teach-test).

In both PPP and TBL new language items are presented in a meaningful context.

A PPP approach to presenting new language gives students an opportunity to practice language in a safe learning environment where it is difficult to make mistakes. It can therefore be a confidence-building approach for students. Students may be learning items they are not interested in or ready to learn and gives them few opportunities to use the language for communication.

We also have to consider WARM-UP activities and LEAD-IN activities.
Warmers make the students feel comfortable and ready for the lesson.

The TBL approach allows students to find new language when they want to or when they need it and to use language experimentally and creatively for real communication. This approach puts students in a situation which is quite similar to the one in which children learn their first language.

Some may find this approach exciting and challenging, others may seek for more guidance and structure.

Lead-ins introduce the topic of the lesson and main language points needed by the learners to complete the main tasks of the lesson.

Learner needs

Various kinds of needs influence learning

o Personal needs
o Learning needs
o Future professional needs


Meeting these learner needs is part of being a good teacher.
Personal needs include:

o Age
o Gender
o Cultural background
o Interests
o Educational background
o Motivation




Learning needs include:

o Learning styles
o Past language learning experience
o Learning gap (gap between present level and the target level of language proficiency)
o Learning goals and expectations for the course
o Learner autonomy
o Availability of Time



Professional needs include:

o Language requirements for employment, training or education.

Differences between L1 and L2

Study page 74
Another big difference between L1 and L2 learning is that L1 learning is nearly always fully successful, while L2 learning varies a lot in how successful it is.

The role of error

What is an error? …happens when students try to speak beyond the level of language they have studied.
What is a slip? …is the result of tireness, worry other temporary emotions or circumstances.
What is interference?... students use lexis, structures, sound patterns from their own language.
What is developmental error?... errors similar made of very young children learning their firs language… e.g. (goed / went)
What is overgeneralization? ... students apply one rule to another on
What is inter-language? ... the student´s own version of the language they are learning.
What are fossilised errors? …errors which a learner does not stop making
and which last a long time, even for ever.

From discussion in class:

When is correction helpful?
How can we help learners to develop their inter-language?
What are fossilized errors?
Mention some ways of helping learners get beyond their errors
When is a good time to correct learners?
Which errors are more important to be corrected?
How are errors useful for the teacher?

Exposure and focus on form

Exposure
Hearing and/or reading it all around us without studying it.

Ways in which we learn a foreign language:

1. Acquiring the language (pick it up)
To learn a language, we need exposure to lots examples of it.
We learn from the language in our surroundings. Acquisition takes place over a period of time, we listen to and read items of language for a long time before we begin to use them (silent period).

2. Interaction
We need language to express ourselves and make our meanings clear to other people, and to understand them.

3. Focus on form
We need to pay attention to language, e.g. by identifying, working with and practicing the language needed to communicate.

We need to remember that
Some learners may like to learn and/or are used to learning in particular ways.

Important concepts
To acquire language, learners should hear and read a wide variety of language at the right level for them.

Learners need time to acquire language.

Learners need opportunities to focus on forms of language.