Unit 4 Chapter 2 Techniques of Assessment in English PDF

CHAPTER 7 ASSESSMENT IN ENGLISH ASSESSMENTIN ENGLISH Assessment is a process in which we make a Inown that for learning should be judgement about a person or situation. It has been assesSment Burh...

CHAPTER 7 ASSESSMENT IN ENGLISH ASSESSMENTIN ENGLISH Assessment is a process in which we make a Inown that for learning should be judgement about a person or situation. It has been assesSment Burhan (2009) states. "It does notpart of effective planning of teaching and learning. Assessmecnt, as on data gathering and placing a value on include decision making and reporting. It focuses B t cover the different stages of the something." Again it has been stated that assessment done evaluation process. A connotative meaning of assessment is both in formal situations that it is used or and in ahtained relative t0 Some known objective or goal.informal ways. It is a process by which information It is a broad term which includes testing. Atest is aspecialform of assessment. In other words all tests are assessments, but not all assessments aretests. Assessment of skill-attainment is very straight forward. Assessment is a huge topic that ncompasses everything from statewide accountability to everyday classroom tests. Basically in the classroom teachers use two types of assessment i.e., formative assessment and summative assessment. 1. Formative assessment is a part of the instructionalproces. It provides the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening. In other words we can say that formtaive assessment isthe practice in the classroom situation. It includes effective tools to shape learning. In formative assessment students can assess themselves, peers, through writing, quize, conversation and many more activities. In short formative assessment occurs throughout a class or course, and seeks to improve students' achievement of learning objectives through approaches that can support specific student needs - (Theal and Franklin, 2010). Examples of formative assessment are 1. Classroom discussion. 2. Clicker questions. 3. Low stakes group work. 4. Weekly quize. One minute reflection writing assignments. 6. Weekly tests. 7. Homework assignments. simultaneously. strategies improve teaching and learning ave assessment  208 Pedagogy of English 2. Summative Assessment : It evaluates student learning, knolwedge, instructional period, like a unit, cOurse or a programme proficiency, Lang conclusion of an are always formally graded. assessments are ; Summative: Examples of summative examinations. 1. Instructor created 2. Standardized tests. 3. Final projects. 4. Final essays. 5. Final presentations. 6. Final reports. 7. Finalexaminations etc. 7.1 ASSESSING SKILLS IN ENGLISH Effective instructional planning and assessment of students performance have always stes great help to the students, The het upon the attainment of instructional objectives, so that they are of through different evaluative me of the students after the classroom instruction can be assessed have learned after the Because evaluation is concerned with finding out how far students Sequenc: teaching. Tools of Evaluation Tests and examinations are stillthe most widely used tools of evaluation. A test is regarded %: attempt to see whether the things taught have been learnt, while an examination is regarded as standard. Thus ats attempt to find out whether the pupils have attained a certain pre-determined standardof achieve directly corcerned with teaching while exxamination is linked with a fixed evaluation. However, both test and examination have the same common function, namely, It has b conventional to call them 'tests'. Characteristics of a Good test in English 1. It confirms very closely to the declared objectives of the course. 2. It does justice between candidate and candidate. 3. A good test lists only what has been taught. 4. The tests and examinations should be designed properly so as one item should test only oie 5. The question paper should not be too long to complete the answerS in time. 6. The language of questions should be definte and easy. 7. The question paper should cover as many areas of the subject matter as possible. 8. The test should neither be too dificult nor too easy. questi 9. There should be ajudicious combination of objective type questions, short answer Sype and essay type questions. 7.2 TYPES OF TESTS AND EXAMINATIONS IN ENGLISH The quality of a test is usually judged on the basis of the following criteria; Objectivity, Validity, Reliability, Administrability.  AssessImentin English 209 testissaid to| be objective when its scoring is free from the subjective jugement of the examiner. A when it actually tests the objective, its aims to test, for example, when test is ans wered valid haicallyona memorized passage, it can not be a valid test of writing rather it might be a test of Reliability of a test is determined by its consistency in results. Atest that gives different resuts m meory; of objectivity) may be one of the Occasionsis not reliable. Subjectivity in scoring (i.e., lack ditlerent 'unrelaibility a of test. Administrability relates to the actual giving of the test. The best test on O/ causes not be given properly. The objective type tests fare badly because either flittle value if it can wouldbe copiedeasily by the candidates in the examination hall, or they regquire elaborate and often of canbe inpracticable. they arrangements to prevent such copying. be either oral or written. Since listening and speaking are two major skills of teaching may Atest havve an important role to play. oraltests English. Oral Tests comprehension, expression. This willprovide a strong incentive for the le is used to test read1ng, teach these skills. Some of the various devices learnthe aural-oral skills, and for the teachers to pupilsto follows: test these are as usedto Reading Skill oral test. The teacher asks students to read a passage one Peading skillcan be assessed through stress, speed, intonation etc. Then the comprehension pronunciation, ne and he notes down their passage and asks questions on that. work is done. - The teacher reads a ) Auditory comprehension students to read a passage of prose, then asks some The teacher asks (i) Reading comprehension questions from that passage. picture to the students and then asks some questions -The teacher shows a (i) Picturecomprehension based on the picture. some questions on that to the students and asks comprehension - The teacher tells a story (iv) Story story. speech. Dunket have identified three levels of Agard and simple act or situation in precise words. single, (1)Ability toreport a express a sequence of ideas fluently. (2) Ability to asking (3)Ability to converse. the teacher, showing a picture and be tested by also expression ability of the students can performing some activities, the teacher can The asking some general questions, by hem to describe, asks them todescribe in detail. test mnost schools. They can be used to Written Tests most popular testing tools in components. Written tests aims atthe our the Written tests are by far including some aural-oral Dictation for example, tests both English, audio-lingual skills. of the objectives to teaching but also some graphic skills SseSSment of notonly raphic and audio-lingual skills.  210 Pedagogy of English Depending upon the length of the answer and the objectivity in scoring, the placed in four major types,namely : Objective type (OT) tests are general Language Very short answer type (VSAT) Short answer type (SAT) Essay type (ET) Framing Objective Type Tests The objective tests are divided into two categories : 1. Recall type 2. Recognition type The recall type is divided into two parts. One is simple recall and other one is Like that the recognition type has been categorised as alterntive response type, multiple completion matching type, classification type, analogy type. choice type. 1. Recalltype -In this recall type tests, the students are asked some questions which they have to answer on the basis of their memory. (a) Simple recall - The students are required to answerin one word fromtheir memory. Before gving the questions the teacher gives direction such as answer the question in one word or write answer is the bracket given against each statement. For example ; youu (i) The boy is listening-radio.( ) (i) How many kinds of sentences are there ? ( ) (iii) How many forms are there of averb ? ) 2. Completion type-Here questions are written in incomplete sentences or statements and tke students are expected to complete them. Example - Filltheblanks in the following statements. My father's sister is my The proper noun begins witha letter. Ram is a teacher. He likes 3. Recognition type - Inthis type of test a question can have several answers. The student has to select the right one. Thus, it tests the recognition ability. (a) Alternative response type - In this test some statements are given which can be either ngh orarewrong. This type is commonly used in classroom testing. Particularly, true-false type. questint asked. Other forms are right-wrong, plus-minus, yes-no, correct-incorrect, same-difterent etc. Write true of false depending upon the fact : () We need two conjuctions to join two clauses. True/ False (ii) Prepositions can go at the end of a sentence. True/ False () Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. True/ False (iv) Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter. True / False Assessment in English 211 Multiplechhoice type choicetest usually has dozens of questions or items. For cach question, the test taker is nultiple A selecrthe "best" choice among a set of four or five options. They are sometimes called latd-to sUpsc response tests day ? Exanple: () What causes night and axis. (a) The carth spins on its (b) The earth moves around the sun. (c) Clouds block out the Sun's light. iA) The earth moves into and out of the Sun's shadow. (e) The sun goes around the earth. (ü) Sorry, she can not come to the phone. She a bath ? is having (b) having (c) have (d) has (a) (0) How many students in your class from Koraput. (a) Comes (b) come (c) came (d) are coming (iv) The phone can you answer it, please ? (a) rings (b) ring (c) rang (a) is ringing (c) Matching type test complete sentences, or Matching type questions measure the student's ability to connect words, columns, including one with a pair words with their definition. The matching test format consists of two definition or phrases and another with a word, number or symbol. Example Match the city with the country. A B London France Paris Turkey Athens Italy Moscow Spain Madrid Greece Russia Belgium Great Britain (d) Classification type stype of test students are presented with a group of words in which one word is not related or different from the rest. The students have to underline or mark it. three are or example - In each of the following question four words have ben given out of which ahke in some manner, while the fourth one is different. Choose the word which is different fromnthe rest.  212 Pedagogy of English (a) (i) Copper (ii) Gokd (iü) Silver (iv) Platinum Langu AsseSS Be (ii) Paddy qu (b) (i) Wheat (iv) Mustard TI (i) Jowar (c) () Trivandrum (i) Bangalore T (üi) Bhubaneswar (iv) Vijayawads (e) Analogy Type : Analogies test your abilityto define relationships between words as well vocabulary. In the question you will see a pair of words in capital letters. We call them Dis-ad words". There will also be five answer choices, cach consisting of another word pair. Ih idea orthing by comparingit to something that is familiar.. MetaphorS siriles tools used to draw an analogy. Therefore analogy is more extensive and eloborate,,Orfor explaining that "The structure of an atom is like asolar system. Essa Examples to th (a) Float : Sink : Boat : ? emp (i) Ship (ü) War (iii) Submarine (iv) Missile oftc (b) Insect : Disease: War: ? Adv (i) Army (ü) Defeat (ii)Arsenal (iv) Destruction (c) Water : Dam : Trade: ? (i) Commerce (ii) Economy (iii)Goods (iv) Trade plicy. Short Answer Type Tests Inspite of allthe shortcomings of the short answer tests, there is a wide use of these tests. Sha answer questions are open-ended questions that require students to create an answer. They are commot used in examinations toassess the basic knowledge and understanding (low cognitive levels) of atupt before more in depth assessment questions are asked on the topic. Structure of Short Answer Questions Short answer questions do not have a generic structure. Questions may require answers such & complete the sentence, supply the missing word, short descriptive answers, diagrams with explanatis etc. The answer is usually short, from oneword to a few lines. Often students may answer in bulk form. Example 1. MHZ measures the of the computer. 2. List the different types of modals. a 3. Complete the missing words in this paragraph. That night there wasS so littlehotel almost tion that they had to take an expensive of rooms. After paying the bill they were less. Advantages of Short-answer type test. Objectivity of scoring can be better ensured in short answer type question in comparison answer questions.  ASsessMent in English question setter Besides.thewithin can ask a the same time 213 qucstions number of such limit. Thus, there can quest be aions compared to long-answer type as Theyare more reliable than the Thereisless chance of long answer type greater coverage of content (course). Preparation and guessing by questions. the students. administration are easy. Itis a compromise between the essay and antages of Dis-sd. There are nosuch Short-answer type test. objective form of test items. Cpression and the significant way of disadvantagesof of the short--answer type tests. short-answer type tests are organisation answer may affect the score.Handwriting, language. to be Essay Tests : preferred long answer type tests. to However, the use of The essay-type tests are in use in India ofr since is the scope for long and these have been greately appreciated due 0the treedom response. There engohas1sonthe subject matter. These getting more informations about any However, it tests can measure verbal fluency, topic, as it gives toughts. lacks most of qualities of a good skill of measuring test. expression, organisation of Advantages of the Essay Test Easier to prepare. The only means to assess an examinee's abilityto compose an answer and present it in prose. effective - Tests students' ability to supply rather than select correct answer. - It helps to induce a good effect on students learning. - Gets deeper meanings and inter-relationalships rather than isolated bits of factual material. Limitations of Essay Test - Poor /limited content sampling, therefore, poor content validity. - Low scorer reliability. Student fail to understand the questions and therefore, is not sure how to respond. Scoring requires excessive time. Questions usually are ambiguous or too obvious. SCoring is influenced by spelling, hand-writing, sentence structure and other extraneous items. 7.3 EXTENDED RESPONSE TYPE TEST An extended response extended response item may also be referred to as an essay question. to item is an open-ended question that begins with some type of prompt. These questions allow strudents specific knowledge of the topic. It takes Comesponse that arrives at a conclusion based on their give an answer but also to explain the considerable answer with as much in depth detail as possible. Teachers to time and thought. It requires students not onlylove extended response items because they thereof. require response that proves mastery or lack studentsto construct an in-depth questions are writing prompts or questionsthat give studentsthe However Opportunity to , Extended-response prepare a written answer, often a short phrase, or a more substantial composition.  Pedagogy of EEnglish L 214 I. Skimming Examples of extended -skimminginis reading the tasks response a process of rapid coverage of reading materialssto fnd its neLanguage idea or gist. Summarizing is the most common means of responding - Z. Summarizing and 3. extensive reading. Note -taking and outlining - At the end of the reader's comprehension of extensive texts, he process of note taking and / or outlining. as es itg be assessed through an evaluation Examples of extended 1. Paraphrasing response inis writing - Paraphrasing more often a part of informal and formative assessment than of should be viewed:as formal and summativeeassessment. Therefore, students responses paraphrasing. for teachers and students to gain positive feedback on the art of 2. Guided question and answer - It includes a type of writing tasks which have the opportunitis, benefit. The test administrator poses a series of questions that essentially serve as an the emergent written test. pedagoga outine o 3. Paragraph construction task : Assessment of paragraph development is done by anumber of different forms; i.e., sentence writing, topic development within a paragraph, development of main and supporting ideas across paragraph. 4. Strategic options - A number of strategies are commonly taught to second language writer th accomplish their purpose. The writer needs to be aware of the tasks that have been dermendbd and to focus on the genre of writing. Characteristics of extended response 1. It allows problem formulation, organisation and originality, to the students. 2. It assesses broader learning outcomes. 3. It contains subjectivity in scoring. 4. It demands higher level thinking. 5. It is easy to construct. 6. It contributes to student learning directly and indirectly. Advantages 1. Examinee is permitted for 2. Higher levels of mental freedom of response. functioning e.g., synthesis and evaluation can be tested. Disadvantages 1, There is scorer unreliability. 2. It is time consuming to score. 74 RESTRICTIVE RESPONSE TYPE An assessment task is one correct answer. Typical restricted in its response ifit is highly specific, and contains only examples might Restricted response essay questions usually be a multiple choice or a generally, scope of the topic to be discussed, limits both the content and true false type restricting of questio the generally indicated in the question. the response by It is useful for data in a specificmeasuring learning outcomes requiring area. interpretation and application of  Assessimentin English Any outcomes measure by an objective 215 response essay question, The restricted response interpretive exercise can be measured by a restrictive essay question scope of the topic to be providesthefor more case of assessment, but it discussed and indicate limits his or her opportunity to nature of demonstrate these behaviors on theirresponse desired to the restricts the student which Examples How are asteroids and own. recycled? comets different ? What are recycling and what are items that can be Describe two situations that demonstrate application of the law of supply and demand. Do not use those examples discussed in class. the Whyis the barometer, one of the most useful instrument for brief paragraph. forecasting weather ? Answer in a Advantages 1. Scoring is easier. 2 Minimizes somewhat the problems of reliability in scoring. Disadvantages - By restricting students ideas and express themresoponse, we are giving up a measure of the in a logical, coherent student's ability to synthesize fashion. 7.5 PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT Portfolios are collections of student activities, growth over time, offering an alternative, authentic accomplishments and achievements to demonstrate should include evidence of student reflection and self assessment for students and teachers. The collection evaluation, guidelines for selecting the portfolio contents and criteria for judgingg the quality of the work. The goal is to help students to assemble portfolios that illustrate their talents, represent their writing capabilities and tell about their school achievement (Venn, 2000). Types of Portfolios l. Process portfolio - A process portfolio document has the stages of learning and provides a PrOgressive record of students' growth. Teachers use process portfolios to help students identifying anng goals and demonstrate learning mastery. The teachers prefer to process portfolio because they are ideal for documenting student's learning and progress. 2. Product portfolio - Aproduct portfolio demonstrates mastery of a learning task or a set of learning Steps in Portfolio objectives and contains only the best work. 1. The teacher Assessment and student need to identifythe portfolio contents, which are samples of student's work, reflections, teacher observations and conference records. 2. The teacher should develop evaluation procedures for keeping track of the portfolio contents and lor 3. Thegrading teacher the portfolio. needs to plan for holding portfolio conferencec, which are formal.l and informal meetings in which students reviewtheir work and discuss their progress. Because they encourage reflective part of the portfolio assessment. teachingand learning. These conferences are the essential  English Languan 216 Assessment Advantages of Portfolio reflection, and critical thinking. self-evaluation, accomplishtheir learning goals. It promotes measuring how students - It It enables providesteachers flexibilityandstudents in toshare the responsibilityfor setting learning goals :and evalair those goals. progress towards meeting extensive input into the learning process. to have - Itgives opportunity evaluation, tutoring, - lt facilitates It It provides provides a co-operative groups and peer conferencing. process for opportunity learning both activitics including peer structuring learning in stages. co-perative\arti for students andteachersto discuss the learning progress in structue, and unstructured conferences. dimensions of student progress. It enables to measure the multiple Dis-advantages of Portfolio Assessment conduct an assessment. It requires extra time to plan and manage, as it collects all necessarv data. It makes the portfolio bulky and difficult to work samples. - It isdifficult todevelop a systematic and deliberate management. - It limits reliability, because scoring involves the extensive use of subjective evalaution proced1re such as rating scales and professional judgement. - It isdificult to schedule individual portfolio conferences. - The length of each conference may interfere with other instructional activities. 7.6 CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT Continuous assessment is a classroom strategy implemented by teachers to ascertam t: knowiedge, understanding and skills attained by students. Teachers administer assessment in var ways over the time to allow them to observe multiple tasks and to collect information about what stukes know, understand and can do. It is the periodic and systematic method of assessing and evaluatn* persons' attributes. In continuous assessment students receive feedback from teachers based on u performance that allows them to focus on topics they have not yet mastered. Information collectedtr continuous behaviour of students will help the teachers to better understood their strengths informatu weaknesses. It provides a comprehensive picture of each student over a period of time. Such will help the stuJents to see their developmental progress. Aims of Continuous Assessment Toguide the development of individual students. To monitor the continuous improvement of the programmes. To inform the prospective students and their parents about their performance. - To provide the evidence of accountability. To increase students motivation towards a course, encouraging good study habits. To jdentify the strength and weaknesses of learners. - To provide guidance about the learners' achievement and their occupational choice.  Assessmnentin English 217 Characteristics of Continuous Systematic -It is Assessment 1. systematic in the sense that it requires an assessment are to be made of at operational the student's plan which indicates what hour, the assessments are to be made performance and the results are what time intervals during the school Jsed in the assessments. recorded, the nature of the tools to be - 2. Comprehensive Continuous assessment is tools are used in determining comprehensive which means that many types of the performance and observations, questions, group work and so on. may come in form it tests, projects, assignments, , Cumulative -The accumulated records of the students should guide in determining what a ohould do after the program. So to take a decision student about a student, both his current and previOus records should be pooled together, which is reliable and A Guidance oriented-Continuous assessment is dependable. guidance oriented because the information collected about a student has to be used to guide the learner's placement. career prospects, and further development. The students have to be assisted to make education and career decisions, based on their performance and interest. Techniques of Continuus Assessment Continuous assessment can be organized and implimented in different ways and the actual assessment techniques can be taken in diferent forms. This inchude : (a) Question and Answer -This perhaps the most comnmonly used method and is almost instinctive for teachers. It gives instant feedback and can be used to develop motivation. (b) Short tests and quizzes - These are either from text books or devised by the teacher. These are informal, and marks can be simply recorded. (c) Homework exercises : These vary in purpose, design and complexity,. Purpose is the key word here. Students willmake good use of homework if they feel it is useful, for example, perparation of material for a class discussion, developing a skill, are all appealing tasks. (d) Assignments - Avery useful and increasingly used method, especially in conjunction with homework interviews. may involve library and internet investigations, visits and important objectives studied within a (e) Class tests - Class tests for the term designed to cover the understanding and interpretation. specified period. It involve the use of high order abilities including evaluation and estimation of analysis of problems, creative application of principles, situations. principles and group work is to introduce students to the "y Ghoup exercise - The purpose of the arrive at solutions together using the ideas and abilities of elnics of working together in groups to cach group member. consists of investigations, experiments, and materialproduction in the subject 5) 7ojects - Projects of high order abilities such as analysis, evaluation, self. the use Or study. Projects will involve ideas and skills towards creation of new products. COrrection, and synthesis of is Exercises with short, Extended or multiple choice answers - This there in M) Written Ouestions / design and marks are given on the authentic answers, so Widely used because it is easy to asseSs. no question of conflict and easy to  218 Assessment techniques. Advantages of Continuous of assessiment non-cognitiveskills of various types. 1. It allows the wide range range ofskills including wide 2. It can be used to test minute cramming. on pure memory. discourages last 3. It gives less emphasis and conscientiously. systematic study 4. It encourages regular, work steadily and particular stage ofthe who 5. It rewards the students what has been learned by a problems or weaknesses. course. provides evidence of exactly warning of any 6. It factors with carly 7. It provides course stress. 8. It reduces the intense provides a natural assessment environment. 9. It Assessment Dis-advantages of Continuous which gives rise to a under surveillance 1. Students may feel that they are continually there is if erenm, type of stress. planned and co-ordinated, the danger 2. Unless continuous assessment is carefully tha, 3. students may It attempts to be broaden the over-assessed. grossly scope ofa course which may be frustrated by students who solely busy for the requirement of assessment procedure. adversely affect the relationship betweas 4. Ifthis assessment is not properly managed, it can students and their tutors. 5. Students may suffer from unequal availability of resources. 6. In continuous assessment there is the problem of enforcing uniform procedures such as completion dates and the students who do not comply in time. 7. It requries as much planning as terminal assessment. 8. Continuous assessment may turn out to be nothing more than a series of tests or 'mini examinatiors. 7.7 KEY LEARNING RESOURCESIN TEACHING The children are not just empty glasses that we pour stuff into and then at the end of the day they dump it back into a test. The teacher should understand the difficulties of students in the classroom and beyond the clssroom. In English class the teacher must be resourceful to involve all teaching. He should take care of lesson planning, monitoring and doing different types of students in s make the content easy. Using group work in the activittes classroom can enhance the progress and resources in English, which requires the teacherspertoe ofthe students. There are certain key learning atenu Importance of Planning PLANNING LESSONS Planníng helps to and active. Effective make the lesson clear, meaningful and well timed. makes the class intresting planning also includes some in-built lessons involves knowing It for a seriesto the flexibility. students andtheir prior knowledge about Drogress through the curriculum Working on a plan teachers the students. Planning is a continuous finding the best resources or activitiestopic, and which helps forthe process to prepare both to learning facilitatewell as a seriesof lessons. So the teacher should be careful individual lessons as asfollows: about the stages of lesson planning. are They