English Language Education Section Curriculum Development Institute EDB
EFFECTIVE ASSESSMENT PRACTICES IN THE
ENGLISH LANGUAGE
CURRICULUM
Exploring effective strategies for implementing assessment FOR and AS learning to enhance
self-directed learning
Raising awareness of strategies for implementing formative assessment
Providing hands-on activities on designing assessment activities to promote AaL
Discussing the role of assessment in the LTA cycle
Objectives
Part 1: Key Concepts
Part 2: Strategies for implementing AfL & AaL—
Reading Assessment
Part 3: Strategies for implementing AfL & AaL — Writing Assessment
Part 4: Consolidation
Rundown
Part 1: Key Concepts
Key factors/conditions for bringing about improvement in student learning
According to Black & Wiliam (1998) and Hattie (2009) several categories of “High-impact formative assessment practices” have been identified in research:
•Diagnostic assessment: Use of classroom discussions, classroom tasks, and homework to determine the current state of student learning/understanding, with action taken to improve learning/correct misunderstandings
•Feedback: Provision of descriptive feedback, with guidance on how to improve, during the learning process
•Peer and self-assessment: Development of student self- and peer- assessment skills
Extending from AfL to AaL –-
Empowering students to monitor & evaluate own progress
Summative AoL • describes the level students have attained
• shows what they know/can do over a period of time
• gives an overview of previous learning for reporting purposes
Formative AfL • integrates assessment into learning & teaching
• assists students to understand what they are learning, what they have attained, what is expected of them
• helps teachers collect learning evidence to provide timely feedback & refine teaching strategies
AaL • engages students in reflecting on & monitoring their progress of learning
• involves students in regulating the learning process, evaluating their own performance against the learning goals & planning for the next step in learning
English Language Education Key Learning Area Guide (Primary 1 – Secondary 6) (2017) p.84
Where the learner is
going
How to get there Where the
learner is
What are the indispensable conditions for
improvement in student learning?
Where the learner is going
Strategy 1: Provide a clear & understandable vision of the learning target (enabling strategy)
Strategy 2: Use examples and models of strong and weak work (enabling strategy)
Where the learner is
Strategy 3: Offer descriptive feedback during the learning process (enabling strategy)
Strategy 4: Teach students to self-assess and set goals for the next steps (destination)
Strategy 5: Use evidence of student learning needs to determine next steps in teaching (floaters)
Strategy 6: Design focused instruction, followed by practice with feedback (floaters)
Strategy 7: Provide opportunities for students to track, reflect on, and share their learning progress (destination)
Jan Chappuis, 2017, Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning: An Overview
http://www.sdcoe.net/lls/assessment/Documents/Continuous%20Learning/Seven%20Strategies%20Chappuis%202017.pdf
How to get there
Part 2: Strategies for implementing AfL & AaL—
Reading Assessment
A Reading Comprehension Task – Empty Shop Project
• The Empty Shops Project is a community project which puts to use shops which are currently empty for a temporary period.
When these shops lie empty for a period of time, the Empty Shops Project supports volunteers to take over the shop space temporarily and uses the space to provide a creative project for the public. Many of these projects have supported the arts, e.g.
by setting up art galleries, or art and craft workshops for the general public. To facilitate this scheme, the government or local industries provide funding which helps the shop landlord give permission for the empty shop to be used temporarily, and helps volunteers to set up their community project. Hundreds of Empty Shop Projects have been set up in many countries including UK, Spain and Brazil, with each Empty Shop Project lasting about 3 months, before returning to its standard shop status.
1. Who benefits from these projects?
2. What kind of projects is organised?
3. Who funds these projects?
4. How long does each project last?
Refined learning objectives
& outcomes of learning:
___________________
• Strategy 1 : Provide a clear & understandable vision of the learning target (enabling strategy)
Performance Goals Learning goals
• Familiarise students with the learning targets
• Communicate concepts of progression in language skills
• Make learning objectives/outcomes of learning explicit & visible
• Use student-friendly language
• Link learning objectives of different lessons
Where the learner is going
What kind of projects is organised?
What projects are organised? / What project is organised?
T: Select answers you think are incorrect & explain why they are wrong.
How to get there
1. What kind of community projects is organised
?
2. What kind of Empty Shop Project is organised
?
3. What kind of creative projects is organised?
4. What kind of arts projects is organised?
A. Empty Shop Project B. Creative projects C. Arts projects
D. Art galleries, art & craft workshops
Strategy 5: Use evidence of student learning needs to determine next steps in teaching (floaters)
Strategy 3: Offer descriptive feedback during the learning process (enabling strategy)
• Strategy 6: Design focused instruction, followed by practice with feedback (floaters)
How to get there
Apply strategy 6: Give focused instruction. Provide feedback:
T: “______________________________.”
T: How do the details relate to the main ideas?
T: Let’s find out the relations between the “community
project”, “creative project”, “arts project” and “art
galleries & craft workshops”.
Where the learner is
• Strategy 3: Offer descriptive feedback during the learning process (enabling strategy)
Descriptive feedback:
• directs attention to the intended learning, pointing out strengths & offering specific information to guide
improvement
• occurs during learning and allows time for students to act on
• addresses partial understanding
• does not do the thinking for the student
• limits corrective information to what students can act on
remember understand apply
analyse evaluate
create
Senior Secondary Junior Secondary Primary
KS1&2: Understand the conventions of written English,
Construct meaning from texts, Locate information & ideas
KS3: Understand, interpret & analyse different written & multimodal texts KS4: Understand, interpret & analyse a variety of written & multimodal texts
Communicate Concepts of Progression – The Learning Progression Framework
Strategy 1: Provide a clear & understandable vision of the learning target (enabling strategy)
The Learning Progression Framework for English Language Source: http://www.edb.gov.hk/LPFenglish
• Supports schools in implementing AfL
• Provides concrete descriptions of students’ attainment
• Facilitates plans for helping students progress to the next level of achievement
• Enables teachers to guide students to:
understand and monitor own learning performance
identify areas of strengths and weaknesses
remember understand
apply analyse evaluate
create Bloom’s
Taxonomy Primary KS1-2
APPLY: Scan a text to locate specific information by using strategies
APPLY: Make predictions about stories, characters and topics of interest
APPLY: Use known parts of words,
contextual clues or pictorial cues or word association to work out the meaning of unknown words or parts of words
UNDERSTAND: Use knowledge of basic letter-sound relationship to read aloud a variety of simple texts
UNDERSTAND: identify details that support the main idea of the text
UNDERSTAND: understand information provided on the book cover
REMEMBER: sight read a wide range of common phonically irregular words REMEMBER: Recognise the format and language features of a variety of text types
remember understand
apply analyse evaluate
create Bloom’s
Taxonomy Junior Secondary KS3
ANALYSE: Identify implied meanings through inferencing
APPLY: Make use of knowledge of the world to make sense of the written text APPLY: Understand how sentences and parts of a sentence relate to each other APPLY: Recognise how writing
conventions affect meaning and cohesiveness
APPLY: Acquire, extract and organise information relevant to specific tasks APPLY: : Know what a word or phrase refers to in the previous or subsequent context
UNDERSTAND: Understand the use of discourse markers
UNDERSTAND: Relate facts, opinions and information
UNDERSTAND: Understand different feelings, views and attitudes
UNDERSTAND: Differentiate facts from opinions
remember understand
apply analyse evaluate
create Bloom’s
Taxonomy Senior Secondary KS4
EVALUATE: Follow and evaluate the development of a point of view or argument
EVALUATE: Understand hidden intentions of the writer
EVALUATE: Understand and appreciate the mood of the writer and the tone of the his/her writing
EVALUATE: Detect faulty or misleading arguments
EVALUATE: Evaluate critically views and attitudes
ANALYSE: Distinguish different points of view and arguments
ANALYSE: Appreciate the stylistic variations between text-types
ANALYSE: Interpret how linguistic and structural devices achieve certain effects APPLY: Use linguistic and contextual clues and general knowledge to determine the meaning of the written text
*
How to get there
Strategy 6: Design focused instruction, followed by practice with feedback (floaters)
Scaffold with selected response to identify reasoning deficiency
Use multiple choice distractors as teaching tools to show faulty reasoning, misconceptions, partial understanding
Use wrong answers as weak examples in contrast with the correct one to facilitate understanding of learning targets
Use graphic organisers as teaching tools to provide a visual representation of the learning targets and a strategy to unpack text structures
Guide the practice of strategy use for independent application Strategy 2: Use examples and models of strong
and weak work (enabling strategy)
Techniques for checking answers
A. Starting a conversation with a broader topic, then asking students to identify the question related to this topic (rather than just checking answers one by one)
B. Asking students for evidence in the text to support their answers and listing them on board with the line numbers
C. Asking students to close their eyes and picture an important scene in the text
D. Asking students to hold up traffic light cards to demonstrate how confident they are with an answer
E. Asking students to think of reasons why the answer might be correct – reasons which are not found in the text, but require the student to think for themselves
F. Requiring students to paraphrase when they speak, not read out a passage straight from the text
G. Asking students to imagine they are the characters in the text when they answer certain questions
H: Acknowledging what a student has actually understood about the topic even though it is not the answer directly responding to the question
• Strategy 3: Offer descriptive feedback during the learning process (enabling strategy)
Where the learner is
Show your partner where in the transcript you found examples of the feedback strategies. Discuss why each strategy may be useful to the teacher and students.
Involving pupils in their own assessment …the rewards ...are in the obvious potential for self-direction in learning
• Self-directed learning (SDL) refers to the skill that a learner, who takes the initiatives and responsibility for learning with or without the assistance of others, possesses.
• A self-directed learner may identify his/her learning needs, formulate goals, and choose resources and strategies for learning.
• SDL enhances students’ sense of agency or control and metacognitive skills.
• SDL may be interpreted as self-regulated learning, self-learning or independent learning in other contexts.
English Language Education Key Learning Area Guide (Primary 1 – Secondary 6) (2017) Glossary
Strategy 4: Teach students to self-assess and set goals for the next steps (destination)
•In the context of reading…
Understanding Your Reading Difficulties:
Which of the solutions do you think are most useful. Add yours.
“I lose concentration while reading.”
“Mark the text every time you notice you’ve lost concentration.”
“I don’t understand the sentence even though I know most/ all of the words in the sentence.”
“Go back and re-read the sentence before the difficult sentence.”
“I read too slowly.” “Don’t worry so much about unknown words.
Circle them and keep reading.”
Where the learner is
Strategy 4: Teach students to self-assess and set goals for the next steps (destination)
Developing self-assessing abilities to
developownership of responsibility for improving:
In the context of reading…
provide comprehension monitoring instruction to help students to:
•be aware of what they do understand
•identify what they do not understand
•raise awareness of textually explicit or implicit information with Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) strategy when assessing own question tackling strategies
Where the learner is
Understanding reading
difficulties
Self Tracking & Reflection Activities on learning process / progress / product:
• Application of reading & fix-up strategies — reflecting on process
• Use of portfolios, journals and the Learning Progression Framework — reflecting on progress & product
• Design of self-directed reading tasks — metacognitive reflection
Strategy 7: Provide opportunities for students to track, reflect on, and share their learning progress (destination)
How to get there
Source:
Fix-up strategies -- https://thisreadingmama.com/
Reflecting on learning process:
fostering independent application of reading strategies Strategy 7: Provide opportunities for students to track, reflect on, and share their learning progress (destination)
• Model self-monitoring reading behaviour with Traffic Light Reading strategy
• Provide opportunities to practise repairing comprehension
independently
Red = I need help with this
Orange = I’m not sure but I can try Green = I’m confident with this
1 thing I did well:
2 strategies I’ve learned well:
3 words/expressions I’ve learned from the
article:
4 things I want to find out now about the topic:
Reflecting on learning progress:
reading portfolio
•Strategy 7: Provide opportunities for students to track, reflect on, and share their learning progress (destination)
The Learning Progression Framework for English Language Source: http://www.edb.gov.hk/LPFenglish
• Facilitates plans for helping students progress to the next level of achievement.
• Enables teachers to guide students to:
understand and monitor own learning performance
identify areas of strengths and weaknesses Strategy 7: Provide opportunities for students to track, reflect on, and share their learning progress (destination)
Reflecting on learning progress:
The Learning Progression Framework
Strategy 7: Provide opportunities for students to track, reflect on, and share their learning progress (destination)
I’ve just read about…
I thought it was…
Something I didn’t understand was…
Something I did
better than I expected was…
Next time I want to…
Now I think I should…
One difficulty I had was…
Self Tracking Task
Strategy 7: Provide opportunities for students to track, reflect on, and share their learning progress (destination)
Self-directed Reading:
Metacognitively reflecting on content of reading
Evaluating own performance as independent readers:
•Observing,
•Questioning
•Critiquing
•Evaluating
•Comparing / contrasting
Adapted from Increasing Reading Engagement: How to Use self-Directed Reading in Your Lesson Plans
http://lessonplanspage.com/increase-reading-engagement-how-to-use-self-directed-reading-in-your-lesson-plans/
Daily Teaching Tools
https://www.dailyteachingtools.com/free-graphic-organizers.html
Strategy 7: Provide opportunities for students to track, reflect on, and share their learning progress (destination)
How to get there
Benefits of collaborative learning activities
…in the context of reading
•Motivate deep discussion on important discoveries (product / process / progress): author’s voice, point of view, values, own critical thinking or concerns with a text
•Promote academic achievement
•Increase retention of content learnt & reinforce use of strategies
•Enhance satisfactionwith learning experience
•Develop skills in oral communication
•Promote self-esteem
•Promote finding of connections of different texts read by classmates
Daily Teaching Tools
https://www.dailyteachingtools.com/free-graphic-organizers.html
A gap-closing strategy because of its impact on motivation &
retention
Part 3: Strategies for implementing AfL & AaL—
Writing Assessment
1.Do you believe practice makes perfect - the more compositions students write, the better they write?
2.What pre-writing activities do you usually do with students before they do compositions?
3.Do you do process writing with students? Why or why not?
4.Do you spot or correct all errors in students’ compositions? Do you think grammar and accuracy come first when it comes to marking compositions.
5.How do you ask students to do composition corrections?
• Strategy 1: Provide a clear & understandable
vision of the learning target (enabling strategy)
(1) Map out and present to students the writing skills and text-types to master over a period of learning time
(2) Analyse the topic to understand task requirements
Pre-writing: Identifying key elements in the writing topic:
• Who am I?
• Who am I writing to?
• Why am I writing?
• What is the text-type?
• What am I writing about?
Where the learner is going
Who? (Your role + audience)
(Text-type + topic / content) (Purpose)
What?
Why?
The 3 Ws Approach
Highlight keywords in the writing topic
2018 HKDSE English Language Paper 2 Question 1
You are Chris Wong, the class teacher of 6A. You will be taking your class on a school trip next month to sky100, show in the poster below.
Write a letter to parents giving them the necessary information about the trip. You may use the mind map to help you write the letter.
Use the 3Ws approach and highlight the keywords:
35
You are Chris Wong, the class teacher of 6A.
You will be taking your class on a school trip next month to sky100, show in the poster below.
Write a letter to parents giving them the necessary information about the trip. You may use the mindmap to help you write the letter.
Writer’s role
Target reader
Text-type
Purpose of writing Content / topic
Tone & Register: Formal and polite
• Strategy 1: Provide a clear & understandable
vision of the learning target (enabling strategy)
(2) Analyse the topic to understand task requirements
Pre-writing: Identifying key elements in the writing topic:
• Who am I?
• Who am I writing to?
• Why am I writing?
• What is the text-type?
• What am I writing about?
• What is the tone?
Where the learner is going
Who? (Your role + audience)
(Text-type + topic / content) (Purpose)
What?
Why?
The 3 Ws Approach
Highlight keywords in the writing topic
Question 3 -- 2018 HKDSE English Language Paper 2
• Strategy 1: Provide a clear & understandable vision of the learning target (enabling strategy)
(3) Feed forward – present expected learning outcomes (or success criteria) with reference to the topic
Example
Where the learner is going
Some experts in education have observed that Hong Kong
teenagers are too pampered and spoilt by their parents, resulting
in their lack of self-management and problem-solving skills. One
proposed solution to this problem is requiring students to
undertake 50 hours of community service, in addition to the
community services organised by the schools for the Other
Learning Experiences (OLE), before they are allowed to graduate
from secondary school. Write an article to the school newspaper
to express whether you agree with this proposal and give at least
three reasons for your view.
Establishing Success Criteria with Reference to Task Requirements
List success criteria in a task-specific assessment form
(3) Feed forward – present expected learning outcomes (or success critieria) with reference to the topic
To complete the task successfully, what are students expected to demonstrate in the following aspects?
Select two criteria for each aspect to focus your students’
attention on.
Where the learner is going
Content Organisation Language
Question 3 -- 2018 HKDSE English Language Paper 2
• Strategy 2: Use examples and models of strong and weak work (enabling strategy)
(1) Show sample model texts from textbooks or teachers (2) Show peer’s work (discuss strengths & ways to improve)
Where the learner is going
Strategy 3: Offer descriptive feedback during the learning process (enabling strategy)
Where the learner is
Strategy 3: Offer descriptive feedback during the learning process (enabling strategy)
What is effective and quality feedback?
• Informative – helping students know where they are and what to do next to make improvement step by step
• Concrete and focused -- pointing out specifically what has been done well or not so well with examples
• Student-centred – taking into consideration students’
existing ability and preferences
• Motivating and confidence-building
• Engaging learners in self-reflection and metacognitive skills development
Where the learner is
Strategy 3 : Offer descriptive feedback during the learning process (enabling strategy)
Where the learner is
Strategy 4: Teach students to self-assess and set goals for the next steps (destination)
(1) Formulating directions for redrafting or rewriting
Where the learner is
Strategy 4: Teach students to self-assess and set goals for the next steps (destination)
(2) Setting goals for tracking progress in writing skills development in a set period of time (e.g. a term)
Where the learner is
Strategy 5: Use evidence of student learning to determine next steps in teaching (floaters)
Strategy 6: Design focused instruction, followed by practice with feedback (floaters)
How to get there
How do you address problems identified in students’
writing, especially problems related to content, style
and organisation?
Strategy 5: Use evidence of student learning to determine next steps in teaching (floaters)
Strategy 6: Design focused instruction, followed by practice with feedback (floaters)
(1) Explicit strategy instruction
(2) Focused correction/rewriting for focused feedback
Examples
Problems identified in the task on “50 hours of compulsory community service”:
(1)Too much copying of the question in the introduction (2)Weak and limited arguments
(3)Lack of valid supporting evidence (4)Boring or abrupt ending
How to get there
(1) Explicit strategy instruction
(2) Focused rewriting/correction for focused feedback
How to get there
Rewriting the Introduction Re-writing 1 body paragraph Rewriting the conclusion
Strategy 5: Use evidence of student learning to determine next steps in teaching (floaters)
Strategy 6: Design focused instruction, followed by practice with feedback (floaters)
(2) Focused correction and rewriting
Effective (High-impact / lasting-effect) Writing Correction
Quality over quantity (selective and focused, first things first, less is more)
Going beyond accuracy (error / sentence / paragraph level correction)
Fostering learner awareness, independence and ownership
Allowing choice
Involving students in the thinking process
Encouraging inquiry / further exploration
Providing evidence for self-review and monitoring
How to get there
Explicit strategy instruction
Example: Writing short stories opening Hands-on practice
How to get there
2018 HKDSE English Language Paper 2 Question 9
Learning English through Short Stories
Imagine you are a pet bird in a cage. One day your owner left your bird cage open.
Write a story from the bird’s point of view.
Strategy 7: Provide opportunities for students to track, reflect on and share their learning progress (destination)
How to get there
Self perception of Writing Habit and Competence
Tracking Progress on Goal Attainment
Reflection on Progress over Time and the Way Forward
Part 4: Consolidation
Establish success criteria with learners and present them in student friendly language
Offer advice when learners set goal,
formulate plans/strategies to improve writing Guide students to analyse writing topic and
task requirement
Promoting AfL and AaL in Writing
Teacher’s role
Provide focused feedback to help learners understand their strengths and weaknessesPlan the writing curriculum carefully to provide opportunities for learners to practise, recycle and consolidate writing skills learned over time
Teach writing skills/strategies explicitly and adopt effective correction practices
References
Accelreader: https://accelareader.com/
Alderson, J.C. (2000). Assessing reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Black & Wiliam (1998). Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice, Vol 5, Issue 1
Booth, D., & Swartz, L. (2004). Literacy techniques: Building successful readers and writers (2nd ed.).
Ontario, Canada: Pembroke Publishers Limited.
Han, Z. H. (2001) Fine-tuning corrective feedback. Foreign Language Annals, 34, pp.582-95.
Chappuis, J. (2009). Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning. Assessment Training Institute, Inc Series, Allyn & Bacon.
Chappuis, J. (2017). Seven Strategies of Assessment for Learning: An Overview
http://www.sdcoe.net/lls/assessment/Documents/Continuous%20Learning/Seven%20Strategies%20Ch appuis%202017.pdf
Daily Teaching Tools: https://www.dailyteachingtools.com/free-graphic-organizers.html
Fix-up Strategies- Repairing Comprehension: https://thisreadingmama.com/
Hattie, J. (2009). Visible Learning A Synthesis of over 800 Meta-analyses Relating to Achievement.
Taylor & Francis Group
Harlen, W., & James. (1997). Assessment and learning: Differences and relationships between
formative and summative assessment. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practices, Vol 4, Issue 3
Increasing Reading Engagement: How to Use self-Directed Reading in Your Lesson Plans
http://lessonplanspage.com/increase-reading-engagement-how-to-use-self-directed-reading-in- your-lesson-plans/
Lorna, M.L. (2003). Assessment As Learning: Using Classroom Assessment to Maximize Student Learning. Crown Press, Inc.
Online Mind Mapping
https://www.mindmeister.com/?gad_campaign=World&gclid=CjwKCAjwlIvXBRBjEiwATWAQItp4hP PRMrlmZWsUfUjH3YDKXYAF-Zl46oZ20dyeiVg4cHhnAX7eBxoCciEQAvD_BwE
QAR (Question-Answer Relationship) Strategy
https://www.nbss.ie/sites/default/files/publications/qar_strategy_handout.pdf
Stiggins, R. (2007). Assessment for learning: an essential foundation of productive instruction. In Douglas Reeves (ed.), Ahead of the curve. Bloominton, IN: Solution Tree
The Learning Progression Framework for English Language Source: http://www.edb.gov.hk/LPFenglish
Zhang, L. (2001). Awareness in reading: EFL students’ metacognitive knowledge of reading strategies in an acquisition-poor environment. Language Awareness, 10 (4), 268-288