Learners are powerful allies in the assessment process. If adequately trained and guided, learners can add beneficial and relevant information about their language learning to support the observations and findings of teachers. In this week’s Teacher’s Corner, we will look at the role students play in assessment through assessment creation and self-reflection.

Some teachers might be reluctant to hand the power of assessment over to learners, but two core aspects of language learning strongly support such sharing of power: autonomy and intrinsic motivation (Brown, 2004). Learner autonomy plays a big role in language learning, as it is self-guided language use beyond the classroom that further reinforces language development and acquisition. At the same time, intrinsic motivation (the motivation that comes from within a person to succeed) plays a role in successful learning. Many learners have a “self-propelled desire to excel,” and this desire to succeed is underscored (emphasized) when learners are involved in the learning and assessment process (Brown, 2004, p. 270). Additional research also suggests that learners are fairly accurate in predicting and assessing their own abilities (2004). Therefore, we should utilize what learners know about themselves and their own abilities as a tool for developing curriculum and informing lesson planning.

Self-Assessment Ideas

Checklists, rubrics, and questionnaires offer options for learners to assess both their learning processes and language performance. Self-reflection on the learning process, or metacognitive skills, gives learners a chance to identify their own strengths and weaknesses as they learn. For example, a simple list of questions about participation and attention, where students rate their abilities on a scale of 1 to 5, can help a teacher identify what students are doing and thinking while working through the learning process.

This kind of self-reflection asks the learner to stop and think about their performance in class, and targets a specific aspect of their learning. The teacher can use this feedback to identify any discrepancies between actual student performance and student self-perceptions. Once discrepancies or similarities are recognized, teachers can then take steps to reconcile the differences and reinforce the similarities. Here’s an example based on the above self-reflection. A student rates his participation high, but the teacher notices that the student rarely talks in groups or class. As a result, the teacher can see that there is a discrepancy between what the student believes he does and what he actually does. Perhaps the student doesn’t understand the expectations associated with participation or the teacher has not clearly explained these expectations. Either way, the teacher can use this information as a way to better understand the needs of the student and further support the student’s success in the classroom. Perhaps the teacher can use the information to meet with the student to discuss participation expectations or spend time in class reviewing the expectations for all students. By completing regular self-reflections on process and metacognitive skills, learners feel invested in the process and also provide valuable feedback that supports teacher planning and involvement.

Another type of self-assessment gives learners a chance to assess their own language acquisition. Depending on the skill and task, a teacher can use lesson/unit objectives to create a checklist for learners to use as they review their own work, or the teacher and students can work together to develop a checklist. Here is an example of such a checklist, one created for an early draft of a paragraph writing assignment.

Paragraph Checklist

Once students have assessed their own writing, they can be tasked with further activities related to their answers. For example, for every no answered on the checklist, the teacher asks the student to redo that part of the paragraph as a part of the revision process. This checklist can also be used again with slightly different wording for future revisions of the paragraph and can be adapted for a number of different skills and activities.  For example, a speaking task might have learners record a message to set up a doctor’s appointment. In the task, learners must:

• state their names
• say the reason they are calling
• ask for someone to return their call at the number given
• say thank you

After students record themselves, they can use a checklist while they listen to their own recording and see if they fulfilled the requirements of the assignment. After each student has checked his or her own recording, he or she can redo it in an effort to fix the things missed in the first recording. This type of self-assessment puts the task, learning, and revision in the hands of learners, furthering their sense of autonomy. Self-assessments of objective tasks are not limited to speaking, but can also be used for spelling, vocabulary, or grammar practice. In these types of self-assessments, learners are given the correct answers or rules and are asked to fix their own mistakes rather than relying on the teacher to make the corrections. When learners are involved in the correction process, their memory and acquisition of the skill are better enhanced and teachers are freed up to focus on other tasks.

The overarching idea in self-assessment and reflection is to involve the learner in the assessment process as a way to increase motivation and learner autonomy. As teachers, facilitating language learning is only part of our job. We also want to develop self-motivated, autonomous learners who can succeed beyond our classrooms. In assessment, we can utilize the knowledge students have about their own processes to inform and foster motivation and autonomy.

References

Brown, H. D. (2004). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices. White Plains, NY:Pearson Longman.

American English Resources

• Teacher’s Corner: Collecting and Using Data
• American English Webinar: Teaching Today’s Learners: Oral Error Correction and Writing Effective Assessments
• Assessment of Young Learners
• Assessment Literacy: Building a Base for Better Teaching and Learning

As teachers at the start of a new school year, we carefully plan our curricula and daily lessons as much as we can before we even meet our students. We want to be prepared for the first day of classes and, if we are lucky, we have some idea of the needs of our students and the demands of the course in terms of levels, skills, and content. More often, we don’t have a complete understanding of our students’ needs until we see them in the classroom. And even then, it can take us many weeks to fully understand the language learning needs of each learner and the class as a whole. Diagnostic assessments can help us recognize and identify what our students’ language learning needs are much earlier in a course.

Diagnostic testing serves several purposes for teachers and students. Diagnostics can help identify what skills and sub skills teachers need to include in the curriculum. For example, if you give a pronunciation diagnostic and identify that many students are struggling with a particular vowel sound, you can use the information to determine to what extent this particular vowel sound needs to be part of the curriculum.

Diagnostic testing can also give learners information about their own skills and abilities. When students begin a course, they might begin with a vague idea as to what they can and cannot do in terms of language communication. By offering them a diagnostic, teachers are giving students a starting point for their learning path. With this information, teachers can chart a course for the class as a whole while recognizing the needs of particular individuals.

Finally, diagnostic testing prepares teachers for the individual limitations and abilities of language learners. When we have a firmer understanding of each student, we are better prepared to support each student according to his or her language needs and goals. We are often focused on the successes of the majority of learners, but as teachers we cannot ignore the needs and goals of learners who struggle. Diagnostic testing helps teachers address the needs of all students, those successful and struggling. When teachers know about the individual needs of their learners, they can tailor extra work and attention, through differentiated instruction to meet those individual needs.

Some of us work in programs where diagnostic tests are a part of the education system, but these shouldn’t be confused with placement tests. Placement tests are often devised and handled by administrators and teachers, as a way to identify the class appropriate to each learner’s abilities. Diagnostic tests are often used once a class has started as a way to target a particular skill that is emphasized in the class (Brown, 2004). And while these two types of tests can provide valuable information to educators, diagnostic tests are focused on more discrete points.

Some examples of diagnostic tests include:

• Pronunciation diagnostic where students individually read a passage aloud. Teachers then make notes as to students’ strengths and weaknesses in areas such as: word stress, vowel sounds, intonation, etc.
• Writing diagnostics are given to identify a student's ability in terms of vocabulary, sentence structure, organization of ideas, and grammar usage. A typical writing diagnostic might ask students to write for thirty minutes about any given question. The questions are often written so that most people, in spite of language level, can respond to the idea. For a lower group of learners, an example prompt is, “Write about your hometown,” while more advanced learners might be asked to describe a problem in their hometown. Both of these topics are fairly universal and encourage easy discussion among a majority of learners, so the test’s emphasis is on writing skills and not content knowledge.

These are two examples of assessments that can be prepared and designed by the teacher of the class if no diagnostic test is available. Other resources for diagnostic testing design are offered below.

Books

Brown, H. D. (2004). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices. White Plains, NY:              Pearson Longman.

Brown, J. D. (1996). Testing in language programs. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.

American English Resources

• Teacher’s Corner: Collecting and Using Data
• American English Webinar: Teaching Today’s Learners: Oral Error Correction and Writing Effective Assessments
• Assessment of Young Learners
• Assessment Literacy: Building a Base for Better Teaching and Learning

Amy talks about school, her family’s Christmas tradition, and having a sleepover for her birthday. 

In this interview, Blake talks about studying for exams, singing in choir, and his grandmother.