Providing quality feedback

Promoting Assessment for Learning in English Language Education at Primary Level —

Learning and teaching processes to facilitate effective formative assessment

Sharing learning intentions and success criteria

with learners

Teachers’ reflections

Conferencing

Effective questioning to elicit learners’ responses Providing

quality feedback Observation

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Sharing learning intentions and success criteria with learners

• The learning intentions and success criteria should be clear, unambiguous and easily understood by learners.

• The success criteria should be the basis for

providing feedback.

Promoting Assessment for Learning in English Language Education at Primary Level —

• Research shows that learners will become more motivated and task-oriented if teachers share the learning intentions (i.e. what pupils are going to learn) and the success criteria with them.

• To share the learning intentions of a lesson/task/activity effectively with the learners, teachers should try to make them clear, unambiguous and easy to understand so that learners know what they are trying to achieve.

• Learners should also be informed of the success criteria or better be involved in the discussion of what the criteria are. Examples of how the criteria can be met should also be provided so that learners can know what is expected of them.

• For example, if the learning intention in the teaching plan is to help learners explore the narrative structure through identifying and mapping out the main stages of a story, to ensure that learners can get the message, the teacher has to phrase it in language that learners are able to understand.

• When sharing the learning intention with the learners, the teacher may say, ‘Here are 6 pictures and sentences about the story “_______”. They are not in the correct order. Let’s look at these pictures and sentences and try to put them in the correct order to tell the story.’

• To share the success criteria with the learners, the teacher may say, ‘When you are able to put these pictures and sentences in the correct order, you know you have understood the story.’

• Teachers should display the learning intentions and success criteria in the classroom so that both the

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Sharing learning intentions and success criteria

You are going to watch 2 video clips on how teachers share the learning intentions and the success criteria with the learners.

Sharing learning intentions and success criteria

— Exemplar 1

In this part of the lesson, the teacher shares the learning intention with the class by telling them that they are going to write about themselves. Some guiding questions are provided to help learners with the writing task. Through the shared writing activity, the teacher shares the success criteria with the class.

• What success criteria does the teacher set for the writing task?

• Would you set the same criteria for your writing tasks?

Why/Why not?

• Learners are told to write in paragraphs and provide more ideas. They are also reminded not to provide only one sentence to each of the guiding questions.

Promoting Assessment for Learning in English Language Education at Primary Level —

Sharing learning intentions and success criteria

— Exemplar 2

At the beginning of this poem-reading lesson, the teacher shares the learning intentions with the learners by telling them that they are going to read a poem in front of the class in groups.

Before learners come out for the presentation, the teacher also explicitly explains to them the success criteria, i.e. what they should be able to do in order to achieve the learning objectives.

• What success criteria does the teacher set for reading aloud the poem?

• What other success criteria can you set for reading aloud?

Why?

• When reading aloud a poem, learners should speak loudly and clearly. They should try to read with rhythm and do some actions.

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Observation

• Informal and spontaneous

• Recording may not be necessary

Promoting Assessment for Learning in English Language Education at Primary Level —

• By observing learners’ body language, their facial expressions, how they use language in class, how they respond to learning tasks and how they interact during group work, teachers can gain insights into learners’

affective, linguistic and cognitive development.

• Teachers watch learners participating in class activities, contributing to class discussions and interacting with other learners. Much of the information gained in this way is used immediately to inform learning and teaching, and to respond to learners’ special needs and to add to the overall picture of a learner’s progress.

• In some cases, teachers may want to design simple feedback sheets to record learners’ performance.

For examples of feedback sheets, please refer to the English Language Curriculum Guide (Primary 1 – 6) (CDC, 2004).

• However, recording of these observations is not always necessary. It is most important that based on the evidence of learning collected during observation, teachers give timely feedback to help learners improve their work.

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Effective questioning to elicit learners‛ responses

• Variety of question types

• Wait-time

• Cues

Promoting Assessment for Learning in English Language Education at Primary Level —

Variety of question types

• Teachers should try to employ a variety of question types to gather information about learners’ knowledge and skills in the language, develop their critical thinking skills as well as their positive values and attitudes.

Wait-time

• Research on ‘wait-time’ shows that teachers need to allow time for learners to process the question and formulate the answer after asking them a question.

However, most teachers tend to wait for about one to two seconds only and then they either ask another child or answer the question themselves. If this goes on, most learners will not attempt to answer the questions.

They may simply wait for the answer from the teachers because they are unwilling to risk making mistakes in public.

Cues

• Teachers can provide some cues to help learners understand the questions or stimulate them to think (e.g.

pictures or guiding questions).

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Slide

Effective questioning to elicit learners‛ responses

Variety of question types

• Questions to motivate learners

• Questions to check learners’ knowledge and comprehension

• Questions to stimulate learners’ higher-order

thinking

Promoting Assessment for Learning in English Language Education at Primary Level —

Questions to