Self-assessment technique

The purpose of this activity wass to design an instrument that helped the students self-assess their own performance in the classroom.

Analysis of a test.

In this activity we analyzed a test from our third language class, which is French. The topic was the passé composé tense.

1. What is the purpose of the test? To assess passé composé; grammar and writing.
2. Does it represent direct or indirect testing (or a mixture of both)? It is a direct test; the student is asked to do the skill that is going to be assessed.
3. Are the items discrete points or integrative (or a mixture of both)? A mixture of both; the first part of the test is discrete and integrative, knowledge about passé composé is fundamental but also vocabulary is need it to understand what type of subject the answer requires. The second part is integrative, in order to answer it, the student needs to have other knowledges and be able create the right answer.
4. Which items are objective, and which are subjective? The first half of the test is objective; it only has one right answer. But, the second half is subjective because does not have a standardized answer; it is left open to be assessed under the teacher’s criteria.
5. Is the test norm-referenced or criterion referenced? No.
6. Does the test measure communicative abilities? Would you describe it as a communicative test? Justify your answers. Yes, indeed it had a half were a brief description needs to be done. It is communicative because it has an activity that involves a real life situation about the student’s life, facts that the he can use on his real context.
7. What relationship is there between the answer to question 6 and the answers to the other questions? That even though that the communicative abilities are being assessed subjectively, they are guided in a direct form; under the instruction of using the passé composé.

What to asses formally & informally?

A) Since the learning objectives of our activities were to be able to describe someone’s clothes, routine, how to express their feelings, as well as to ask and answer questions; using different Verb tenses, using appropriate vocabulary and pronunciation. We can design an activity where the Students would bring a variety clothing items from home and create an opposite character of whom they are, then with a partner they would start exchanging ¨profiles¨. Finally they would have to present themselves to their other partners using as many adjectives as they can. They would have to actively get information from others by using (wh-) questions. For the writing and listening part, a game can be done. In pairs, the Ss would have to write down his partner's appareance, that way, everyone describes someone. After that, the teacher would gather and shuffle the papers, then the students would have to pick them up randomly. Each student would have to read the description that he/she was given , finally the teacher would have to chose another student to guess who the person depicted was.
B) Before starting the activity the teacher has to check if the Students were responsible and actually brought their required materials. Meticulous observation during the class is required, especially during the activities were students may feel embarrassed about doing their presentations, we can assess the Ss’ attitude. Also, monitoring amongst the Ss to possibly prevent doubts or conflicts. Finally we can assess as good attitude the willingness of the Ss who shared their profiles in front of the group.

Assesment

Achievement > failure. In the learning process: assessment, testing and evaluating in the classroom are coexistent to improve the knowledge of the students as a way to determine what they already know and what does the student needs to know. Assessment is designed to demonstrate in a reliable and practical way the performance, progress and discover possible woes our students may have, providing a constructive feedback. Assessment involves monitoring, which is the detached observation about the learning process. Evaluation then, sums up all the factors that are involved in the learning process. Grading is often misunderstood as a synonym of assessment. Through tests, the teacher is able to measure in an accountable manner the results of a student's learning. A teacher needs to keep a constant record of improvement, make the student do self-evaluation and make the student evaluate the teacher. In these terms, a course becomes a more involving experience in which everyone participates, plays with the information in different ways so it becomes more clear. The times of giving a class and applying exams must be behind us. Once the student knows his or her weak points after a test, the grade is given and the opportunity for improvement is lost. Whichever assessment technique we choose in our classroom, is only one aspect of the whole classroom context, therefore it needs to be practical and functional.