Unit 2



Unit II Strategies of Assessment in English Education

Self reflection and Peer evaluation
Self and peer assessment is about revision and improvement. It enables students to independently assess their own and other students’ progress with confidence rather than always relying on teacher judgment. When students self and peer assess, they are actively involved in the learning process and their independence and motivation is improved.
Students who can look at their work, and judge the degree by which it reflects explicitly stated goals or criteria, can assess the quality of their work and revise it accordingly.
Group work can be more successful when students are involved in developing the assessment process. This may include establishing their own assessment criteria through consultation with teaching staff. Alternatively you can provide students with sample self and/or peer assessment criteria.
The main aims of self and peer assessment are to:
o   increase student responsibility and autonomy
o   strive for a more advanced and deeper understanding of the subject matter, skills and processes
o   lift the role and status of the student from passive learner to active leaner and assessor
o   (this also encourages a deeper approach to learning)
o   involve students in critical reflection
o   develop in students a better understanding of their own subjectivity and judgement.
o   Preparing students for self or peer assessment
o   Students may have little exposure to different forms of assessment and so may lack the necessary skills and judgements to effectively manage self and peer assessments. There may also be a perception amongst students that the academic is ‘shirking’ their responsibilities by having students undertaking peer assessments. In this situation students may be reminded of the Graduate Student Attributes. This also highlights the need to fully prepare and equip students for their own assessment and for the assessment of others.
o   It is helpful to introduce students to the concepts and elements of assessment against specified criteria in the first weeks of class when you explain the unit of study outline. This requires taking time at the outset of the group activity or unit of study to discuss what is required, and to provide guidance on how to judge their own and others’ contributions. Students will need to be assisted to develop criteria that match the learning outcomes with regards to the output and process of the group work. If assessment criteria for each element are set up and clearly communicated, your role will also change to one of facilitator.
Peer assessment
Students individually assess each other's contribution using a predetermined list of criteria. Grading is based on a predetermined process, but most commonly it is an average of the marks awarded by members of the group.
One of the ways in which students internalize the characteristics of quality work is by evaluating the work of their peers. However, if they are to offer helpful feedback, students must have a clear understanding of what they are to look for in their peers' work. The instructor must explain expectations clearly to them before they begin.
One way to make sure students understand this type of evaluation is to give students a practice session with it. The instructor provides a sample writing or speaking assignment. As a group, students

Semester III : EDU 13.2 – Emerging Trends and Practices in English Language Education
E K Jijan, Asst. Professor  Mount Tabor Training College Pathanapuram *ekjijan@gmail.com*
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determine what should be assessed and how criteria for successful completion of the communication task should be defined. Then the instructor gives students a sample completed assignment. Students assess this using the criteria they have developed, and determine how to convey feedback clearly to the fictitious student.
Students can also benefit from using rubrics or checklists to guide their assessments. At first these can be provided by the instructor; once the students have more experience, they can develop them themselves. An example of a peer editing checklist for a writing assignment is given in the popup window. Notice that the checklist asks the peer evaluator to comment primarily on the content and organization of the essay. It helps the peer evaluator focus on these areas by asking questions about specific points, such as the presence of examples to support the ideas discussed.
For peer evaluation to work effectively, the learning environment in the classroom must be supportive. Students must feel comfortable and trust one another in order to provide honest and constructive feedback. Instructors who use group work and peer assessment frequently can help students develop trust by forming them into small groups early in the semester and having them work in the same groups throughout the term. This allows them to become more comfortable with each other and leads to better peer feedback.
Advantages:
o   Agreed marking criteria means there can be little confusion about assignment outcomes and expectations.
o   Encourages student involvement and responsibility.
o   Encourages students to reflect on their role and contribution to the process of the group work.
o   Focuses on the development of student’s judgment skills.



o   Students are involved in the process and are encouraged to take part ownership of this process.
o   Provides more relevant feedback to students as it is generated by their peers.
o   It is considered fair by some students, because each student is judged on their own
o   contribution.
o   •When operating successfully can reduce a lecturer's marking load.
o   •Can help reduce the ‘free rider’ problem as students are aware that theircontribution will
o   be graded by their peers.
Disadvantages:
o   Additional briefing time can increase a lecturer’s workload.
o   The process has a degree of risk with respect to reliability of grades as peer pressure to apply elevated grades or friendships may influence the assessment, though this can be reduced if students can submit their assessments independent of the group.
o   Students will have a tendency to award everyone the same mark.
o   Students feel ill equipped to undertake the assessment.
o   Students may be reluctant to make judgements regarding their peers.
o   At the other extreme students may be discriminated against if students ‘gang up’ against one group member.

Self assessment
This is similar to peer evaluation but students assess their own contribution as well as their peers using an established set of criteria.



Semester III : EDU 13.2 – Emerging Trends and Practices in English Language Education
E K Jijan, Asst. Professor  Mount Tabor Training College Pathanapuram *ekjijan@gmail.com*
2016
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Advantages:
·         Encourages student involvement and responsibility.
·         Encourages students to reflect on their role and contribution to the process of the group work.
·         Allows students to see and reflect on their peers’ assessment of their contribution.
·         Focuses on the development of student’s judgment skills.
Disadvantages:
·         Potentially increases lecturer workload by needing to brief students on the process as well as on-going guidance on performing self evaluation.
·         Self evaluation has a risk of being perceived as a process of presenting inflated grades and being unreliable.
·         Students feel ill equipped to undertake the assessment.
Self assessment in Language Learning
Students can become better language learners when they engage in deliberate thought about what they are learning and how they are learning it. In this kind of reflection, students step back from the learning process to think about their language learning strategies and their progress as language learners. Such self assessment encourages students to become independent learners and can increase their motivation.
The successful use of student self assessment depends on three key elements:
  • Goal setting
  • Guided practice with assessment tools
  • Portfolios

 

Goal setting

Goal setting is essential because students can evaluate their progress more clearly when they have targets against which to measure their performance. In addition, students' motivation to learn increases when they have self-defined, and therefore relevant, learning goals.
At first, students tend to create lofty long-range goals ("to speak Russian)" that do not lend themselves to self assessment. To help students develop realistic, short-term, attainable goals, instructors can use a framework like SMART goals outline shown in the popup window.
One way to begin the process of introducing students to self-assessment is to create student-teacher contracts. Contracts are written agreements between students and instructors, which commonly involve determining the number and type of assignments that are required for particular grades. For example, a student may agree to work toward the grade of "B" by completing a specific number of assignments at a level of quality described by the instructor. Contracts can serve as a good way of helping students to begin to consider establishing goals for themselves as language learners.

Guided practice with assessment tools

Students do not learn to monitor or assess their learning on their own; they need to be taught strategies for self monitoring and self assessment. Techniques for teaching students these strategies are parallel to those used for teaching learning strategies. The instructor models the technique (use of a checklist or rubric, for example); students then try the technique themselves; finally, students discuss

Semester III : EDU 13.2 – Emerging Trends and Practices in English Language Education
E K Jijan, Asst. Professor  Mount Tabor Training College Pathanapuram *ekjijan@gmail.com*
2016
23

whether and how well the technique worked and what to do differently next time.
In addition to checklists and rubrics for specific communication tasks, students can also use broader self-assessment tools to reflect on topics they have studied, skills they have learned, their study habits, and their sense of their overall strengths and weaknesses. An example of such a tool appears in the popup window.
Students can share their self-assessments with a peer or in a small group, with instructions that they compare their impressions with other criteria such as test scores, teacher evaluations, and peers' opinions. This kind of practice helps students to be aware of their learning. It also informs the teacher about students' thoughts on their progress, and gives the teacher feedback about course content and instruction.

Portfolios

Portfolios are purposeful, organized, systematic collections of student work that tell the story of a student's efforts, progress, and achievement in specific areas. The student participates in the selection of portfolio content, the development of guidelines for selection, and the definition of criteria for judging merit. Portfolio assessment is a joint process for instructor and student.
Portfolio assessment emphasizes evaluation of students' progress, processes, and performance over time. There are two basic types of portfolios:
·         A process portfolio serves the purpose of classroom-level assessment on the part of both the instructor and the student. It most
often reflects formative assessment, although it may be assigned a grade at the end of the semester or academic year. It may also include summative types of assignments that were awarded grades.
·         A product portfolio is more summative in nature. It is intended for a major evaluation of some sort and is often accompanied by an oral presentation of its contents. For example, it may be used as a evaluation tool for graduation from a program or for the purpose of seeking employment.
In both types of portfolios, emphasis is placed on including a variety of tasks that elicit spontaneous as well as planned language performance for a variety of purposes and audiences, using rubrics to assess performance, and demonstrating reflection about learning, including goal setting and self and peer assessment.
Portfolio characteristics:
  • Represent an emphasis on language use and cultural understanding
  • Represent a collaborative approach to assessment
  • Represent a student's range of performance in reading, writing, speaking, and listening as well as cultural understanding
  • Emphasize what students can do rather than what they cannot do
  • Represent a student's progress over time
  • Engage students in establishing ongoing learning goals and assessing their progress towards those goals
  • Measure each student's achievement while allowing for individual differences between students in a class

Semester III : EDU 13.2 – Emerging Trends and Practices in English Language Education
E K Jijan, Asst. Professor  Mount Tabor Training College Pathanapuram *ekjijan@gmail.com*
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q Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE)
Continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) refers to a system of school based  evaluation of students that covers all aspects of students developmental activities. It is a developmental process of assessment which emphasis on two fold objectives. These objectives are continuity in evalution on the one hand and assessment of broad range of instructional outcomes on the other.
It was designed to reduce the student's stress related to board eams and to reduce a uniform and comprehensive pattern for student evaluation accress the country. Clearly, it attempts to shift emphasis from testing to holistic learningwith an aim of creating young adults possessing appropriate skills and desirable qualities in education to academic excellence. The concept of CCE has been embraced by the Indian Educational Sytem in the 1980's after a consistent deliberation and discussion with a view of improving the quality of education.
Concept of CCE
CCE refers to a particular process of evaluation which is school based and aims at all around development of the the student.The iprocess includes continuity of testing with reasonable intervals and covering differnt aspects of curricular and co-curricular areas.
It consists of three keywords:-
·         The term continious  refers to continuity and regularity of assessment during the whole session. The frequency of class test, unit test and terminal test can make the evalution regular.
·         The second term is comprehensive. This refets to the areas of assessment which includes both scholastic and co-scholastic aspects of pupils growth helping the all around development of the child.
The term comprehensive also includes the variety of evaluation tools and techiniques to be employed for the assesment of scholastic and co-scholastic areas
·         The third component is evaluation. It is the process that deals witth the collection of evidences regarding the changes which occur in the pupils behaviour during the instruction.Evaluation involves steps i.e gathering information, interpretaion of information, making judgements and taking decission.
Need and relevance of CCE.
·         CCE is necessary to develop cognitive  skills and de-emphasize rote learning.
·         To make evaluation an integral part of teaching learnig process.
·         To maintain desired standard of attainment.
·         To provide scope for self evaluation.
·          To make education a student centric activity.
·         To continuously evaluate the all-round development of the student and to give necessary feed back.





Semester III : EDU 13.2 – Emerging Trends and Practices in English Language Education
E K Jijan, Asst. Professor  Mount Tabor Training College Pathanapuram *ekjijan@gmail.com*
2016
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o   The proposed Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) should take place at all levels of language learning. Language learning is a continuous process and the assessment should be done periodically.
o   Evaluation implies a critical assessment of educative process and its outcome in the light of the objectives. It involves information gathering, information processing, judgment forming and decision making. It has to be integrated with the total teaching or learning process.
o   There has to be evaluation at every stage, at the mastery of each skill and competency. Since any subject area is related to total development, including a variety of cognitive and non-cognitive experiences, evaluation becomes continuous, all-pervasive and dynamic.
o   It becomes essential for the teacher to adopt the scheme of continuous evaluation which helps in confirming regularly whether or not the competencies have been mastered or not.
o   Evaluation should be comprehensive in nature, wherein all language experiences pertaining to cognitive areas such as knowledge, understanding and other mental abilities as well as non-cognitive areas such as attitudes, appreciation, interest and psycho-motor skills are assessed. 
o   Learning takes place through group discussions, pair discussions and individual attempts. Therefore, assessment also should be made individually, mutual and in groups. This will help the learners to compare their strengths and weaknesses and make modifications in their learning. This shift of focus from testing memory to real language acquisition shall be the major concern of all tests at the secondary level.
o   The ability of the student to construct discourses at various levels will have to be assessed.
o   CCE also encompass a process of self-evaluation and a plan for assessing learner’s speaking and listening.

q Common Core Standards – European Framework
The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, abbreviated in English as CEFR or CEF or CEFRL, is a guideline used to describe achievements of learners of foreign languages across Europe and, increasingly, in other countries. It was put together by the Council of Europe as the main part of the project "Language Learning for European Citizenship" between 1989 and 1996. Its main aim is to provide a method of learning, teaching and assessing which applies to all languages in Europe. In November 2001, a European Union Council Resolution recommended using the CEFR to set up systems of validation of language ability. The six reference level are becoming widely accepted as the European standard for grading an individual's language proficiency.
The CEFR divides general competences in knowledge (descriptive knowledge), skills, and existential competence with particular communicative competences in linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence, and pragmatic competence. This division does not exactly match previously well-known notions of communicative competence, but correspondences among them can be made.

The CEFR has three principal dimensions: language activities, the domains in which the language activities occur, and the competences on which we draw when we engage in them.



Semester III : EDU 13.2 – Emerging Trends and Practices in English Language Education
E K Jijan, Asst. Professor  Mount Tabor Training College Pathanapuram *ekjijan@gmail.com*
2016
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Language activities
The CEFR distinguishes between four kinds of language activities: reception (listening and reading), production (spoken and written), interaction (spoken and written), and mediation (translating and interpreting).
Domains
General and particular communicative competences are developed by producing or receiving texts in various contexts under various conditions and constraints. These contexts correspond to various sectors of social life that the CEFR calls domains. Four broad domains are distinguished: educational, occupational, public, and personal.
Competences
A language user can develop various degrees of competence in each of these domains and to help describe them the CEFR has provided a set of six Common Reference Levels (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2).
The Common European Framework divides learners into three broad divisions that can be divided into six levels; for each level, it describes what a learner is supposed to be able to do in reading, listening, speaking and writing. These levels are:
The Common European Framework provides a common basis for the elaboration of language syllabuses, curriculum guidelines, examinations, textbooks, etc. across Europe. It describes in a comprehensive way what language learners have to learn to do in order to use a language for communication and what knowledge and skills they have to develop so as to be able to act effectively. The description also covers the cultural context in which language is set. The Framework also defines levels of proficiency which allow learners’ progress to be measured at each stage of learning and on a life-long basis.
The Common European Framework is intended to overcome the barriers to communication among professionals working in the field of modern languages arising from the different educational systems in Europe. It provides the means for educational administrators, course designers, teachers, teacher trainers, examining bodies, etc., to reflect on their current practice, with a view to situating and co-ordinating their efforts and to ensuring that they meet the real needs of the learners for whom they are responsible.
The aims and objectives of Council of Europe language policy
  • that the rich heritage of diverse languages and cultures in Europe is a valuable
 common resource to be protected and developed, and that a major educational
 effort is needed to convert that diversity from a barrier to communication into a  source of mutual enrichment and understanding;
  • that it is only through a better knowledge of European modern languages
 that it will be possible to facilitate communication and interaction among
 Europeans of different mother tongues in order to promote European mobility,
 mutual understanding and co-operation, and overcome prejudice and   discrimination
  • that member states, when adopting or developing national policies in the
 field of modern language learning and teaching, may achieve greater convergence
 at the European level by means of appropriate arrangements for ongoing co-operation and co-ordination of policies.
q Different  Types of Tests – Purpose and Mechanism
Principles of Language testing; Vales of Tests and Examinations
            Evaluation is ‘a means’ to judge the achievement of the students in the field of education. The measurement of achievement is done through tests and examination. The term ‘test’ usually refers to the periodical assessment of achievement of pupils from time to time. The term ‘examination’ is used to refer to a set of large subjective questions. Evaluation is a much broader term. It takes into account the growth of the child as a whole individual and the total environment. Teaching and testing go hand in hand.
           
Semester III : EDU 13.2 – Emerging Trends and Practices in English Language Education
E K Jijan, Asst. Professor  Mount Tabor Training College Pathanapuram *ekjijan@gmail.com*
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Evaluation programme in English language teaching should be continuous and comprehensive. It is based on a variety of internal tests which are spread over the whole year, month after month. The works done by learners inside and outside the classroom, assignments completed, homework done etc. are some of the activities which are taken into consideration for comprehensive evaluation of individual students. Continuous and comprehensive evaluation links objectives, learning experience and evaluation tools.
Objectives of Testing
            Tests can be used for various purposes. Some of them are:
§  To find out pupils’ strength and weakness and take suitable remedial measures.
§  To judge the success or failure of the teacher’s own teaching and make necessary changes in the method and strategy.
§  To set a definite goal before both the teacher and the pupils.
§  To motivate the pupils to learn.
§  To change pupils’ study habits and to improve the quality of teaching.
§  To select pupils for promotion to the next higher class, or to award certificates.
§  To assess the quality of staff and the effectiveness of the activities of the school.
§  To determine the readiness of the learner for the instructional programme.
§  To measure aptitudes for learning
The characteristics of a Good Test:
1)      Validity : It refers to the degree to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure or if it can be used successfully for the purpose of which it is intended.
2)      Reliability: A good test must be reliable. If the test puts several students in a different order of merit when it is administered a second time, then the test lacks reliability.
3)      Objectivity
4)      Discriminating power: Test should be designed to show the difference in the performance of the individual pupils. A good test will have good influence on both teaching and learning.
5)      The test should neither be too difficult nor too easy.
6)      The instruction to the candidates should be clear.
7)      Evaluation should be in accordance with the objectives of teaching English.
8)      Practicability and flexibility.
Determination of Validity and Reliability
Methods of determining validity of an achievement test are:
§  Co-relating it with another test.
§  Co-relating it with teacher rating
§  Analyzing the test to ensure that due weight has been given to content and objectives.
Semester III : EDU 13.2 – Emerging Trends and Practices in English Language Education
E K Jijan, Asst. Professor  Mount Tabor Training College Pathanapuram *ekjijan@gmail.com*
2016
30
§  Item analysis which implies that the items of the test have been arranged in the order of difficulty.
The common methods to determine reliability of a test are:
§  Test-retest method
§  Parallel form method
§  Split-half method
§  Rational equivalent method
Types of Tests
Teacher made tests                                                                   Standardized tests
Oral                 Written                        Performance                           attitude test
·         Essay                         object test                              aptitude test
·         Short answer             performance measures           intelligence test etc
·         Objective type          product evaluation
Types of Evaluation
Formative and Summative Evaluation
Formative evaluation is the process by which the achievement of pupils is judged at every stage of teaching learning process. Summative evaluation is the one administered to pupils at the end of a lesson or unit of teaching.
Achievement and Diagnostic Test
            Any test designed to assess the achievement with regard to some pre-determined objectives is called an achievement test. Diagnostic tests are those designed to identify and investigate the difficulties, disabilities and inadequacies of pupils in specific fields before they become serious problems to themselves and the teacher.
Criterion-referenced test and Norm-referenced test
            Criterion referenced tests are those tests which measure a student’s performance according to a particular standard or criterion which has been agreed upon. A norm-referenced test is designed to measure how the performance of a particular student  or group of students compares with the performance of another student or group of students.
Knowledge test and Skill (Performance Test)
Test of knowledge in English language show how well students know facts about language while performance or skill test show how well he can use the language.
Subjective and Objective Test
Subjective test measure the language skills naturally.
Eg: translation & essay writing
Objective test can be scored quickly & consistently.


Semester III : EDU 13.2 – Emerging Trends and Practices in English Language Education
E K Jijan, Asst. Professor  Mount Tabor Training College Pathanapuram *ekjijan@gmail.com*
2016
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Productive & Receptive
Productive test measure creativity Eg. Exams in speech
Receptive test like multiple choice, reading test etc. tend to rely on recognition.
Oral Test
            They are usually employed for testing listening comprehension, speaking ability and reading comprehension. The following are some of the examples for tests of listening or aural comprehension.
1)      The teacher speaks a few sentences and asks simple questions
2)      Multiple choice test
3)      Matching a sentence with the right picture.
4)      Carry out a request or order given by the teacher.

The following are some of the examples for testing speaking ability or oral production.
ü  The teacher refers to a particular picture and pupils describe.
ü  Immediate repetition of what is said.
ü  Answering questions about oneself.
ü  Framing questions to get an answer.
ü  Describing actions demonstrated by the teacher.
ü  Narrating a story or an incident.
Written test
Written tests are used to test pupil’s command on various aspects of language like vocabulary items, spelling structure, word order, punctuation, general writing ability etc. they are also called as paper and pencil test.
Types of Questions
1.      Essay type: They require long answers to the given questions based on the prescribed test. The examiner judge the student’s ability by the subject matter, method of expression and writing style. They are good to judge the power of reasoning, originality and imagination. But they are greatly criticized for their subjectivity, difficulty in marking, role of luck and scope for cramming answers.
2.      Short Answer Type: They call for precision and brevity in the in the use of language and sentence construction. They can be used to cover a wide range of topics in the language.
3.      Objective type: The answers to these questions are often single worded. They ensure objectivity in testing and ease in marking. But they are not sufficient to test all the language skills.  Eg:- recall type, multiple choice, completion type, true/false items, matching, transformation, combination etc.

Semester III : EDU 13.2 – Emerging Trends and Practices in English Language Education
E K Jijan, Asst. Professor  Mount Tabor Training College Pathanapuram *ekjijan@gmail.com*
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Unit Test
Testing is implicit in teaching and annual and terminal examinations are held to evaluate pupil’s progress over a period of time. But these examinations are usually held when the entire syllabus or a considerable part of it has been taught, and as a result they cannot provide much guidance for taking remedial measures or for answering the effectiveness the teacher’s method of teaching. It is therefore desirable to have periodic tests at more frequent intervals. For this purpose the entire syllabus can be broken down into manageable units of some related topics or lessons and a test can be given as soon as each unit is completed. Such tests are called unit tests.
These tests may last only one lesson-period of 40 or 45 minutes and may be given in usual classroom conditions. The scheme of work of the school should specifically provide for one lesson-period at the end of each unit for such a test.
Preparation of Unit/ Achievement Test
            Preparation of design, blue-print, question paper, marking scheme and question-wise analysis are the major steps involved in the construction of an achievement test.
(1)   Design
The first step in assembling a test is to determine the relative weightages to be given to different
·         Objectives / Mental process
·         Items of content like vocabulary, structure, sentence construction etc.
·         Types of questions like ET, SAT, OT
·         Difficulty level,       as otherwise the test may not have the desired emphasis on these aspects. For this purpose, it is necessary to first prepare a tentative design showing the weightages (in terms of marks) on these aspects.
Mount Tabor
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Semester III : EDU 13.2 – Emerging Trends and Practices in English Language Education
E K Jijan, Asst. Professor  Mount Tabor Training College Pathanapuram *ekjijan@gmail.com*
2016
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·        
(2)   Preparation of Blue-print
            This tentative design is then stated in operational terms in the form of a blue-print, which contains detailed information on the item-wise distribution of marks on these aspects.  All the above data are to be incorporated in a single chart called the blue print. It is a three dimentional chart giving the placement of the objectives, content and forms of questions.
Semester III : EDU 13.2 – Emerging Trends and Practices in English Language Education
E K Jijan, Asst. Professor  Mount Tabor Training College Pathanapuram *ekjijan@gmail.com*
2016
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(3)   Organization of Test items
            After including preliminary details such as name of exam, title of the paper, maximum marks and time, instructions or direction for answering questions etc., the test constructor has to arrange items in the order of their difficulty level. It is preferable to have two sections in the question paper- section A for Objective type and section b for SAT and Essay type.
(4)   Scoring Key and Marking scheme
Question No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Scoring Key
A
C
D
B
C
A
B
B
D
A
            Scoring should be made strictly in accordance with a pre-designed scheme of evaluation. For multiple choice items, a scoring Key may be prepared as given below:
In case of SAT and ET questions, value points should be prepared for scoring, and ET and SAT may contain one, two, three or more value points. Marks should be assigned for each value point in order to make scoring as objective as possible.
Mount Tabor
ekjijan@gmail.com
 
(5)   Question-wise analysis
 This is done by making an analysis of each item in the question paper. Taking into account all aspects  that the test results- objectives and specifications, forms of questions, difficulty level, marks and specified time.
 

Semester III : EDU 13.2 – Emerging Trends and Practices in English Language Education
E K Jijan, Asst. Professor  Mount Tabor Training College Pathanapuram *ekjijan@gmail.com*
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ASSESSING LEARNER'S SPEAKING AND LISTENING
In every module we transact in the class, we have to plan for assessing learner’s speaking and listening too. It doesn't mean that every speaking and listening activity of every learner has to be assessed then and there. We have to ensure that speaking and listening are integral parts of every module. It is only necessary to asses how pupils talk at particular moments when you decide you need to.
Establishing a climate for speaking and learning in challenging contexts might include the following.
  • Interacting with pupils freely in and outside the classroom.
  • Talking about direct experience and encouraging pupils to do the same.
  • Encouraging students to work in pairs and small groups and training them to share and value each other’s ideas and opinions.
  • Setting up informal debates and discussions to encourage students to express their opinions and giving them a chance to speak to different audience.
  • Allowing students to become involved in peer monitoring or watching interactive visuals to trigger
the inner language.
  • Talking one to one with the pupils about the lessons, stories, characters and about other issues that the learners show much interest to talk about.
  • Recording, assessing and rewarding learner’s oral constructs.
Cloze Tests :
            Gapped / cloze passages can be used for testing reading comprehension; students cannot supply the missing words if they do not understand what they read. The passage can be about a page in length with about twenty or twenty-five deletions; the first and the last sentences are always given in full without deletions. The deletion of words can be regular, random or by deliberate choice.
            Multiple- choice cloze tests give a choice of three or four words and the student has to select one that best fits the gap. The test can be banked cloze in which all the words are shown, but out of order, at the bottom of the passage; that is, the word bank from which the selection is made. For a passage of twenty blanks, the bank may offer thirty words.

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