Int roduct ion t o self -assessm ent

Self -assessm ent

3.1 Int roduct ion t o self -assessm ent

W e have looked at how w e can assess our st udent s, inf orm ally t hrough assessing class and hom ew ork or f orm ally t hrough t est s or assessm ent t asks. If bot h t hese t ypes of assessm ent are done t horoughly, w e w ill probably get a f air pict ure of our st udent s’ problem s and a reasonably accurat e m easure of t heir progress. How ever, w e are ignoring an ext rem ely usef ul source of inf orm at ion, t he st udent s t hem selves. Self -assessm ent can provide us w it h usef ul inf orm at ion about st udent s’ expect at ions and needs, t heir problem s and w orries, how t hey f eel about t heir ow n progress, t heir react ions t o t he m at erials and m et hods being used, w hat t hey t hink about t he course in general. Self -assessm ent can also be a m uch m ore direct and eff icient w ay of get t ing inf orm at ion t han t eacher assessm ent . For exam ple, rat her t han give a com prehensive diagnost ic t est t o f ind out w hat areas of language st udent s are w eak on, it is m uch quicker t o ask st udent s direct ly w hat problem s t hey f eel t hey have. The m ost im port ant benef it s of self -assessm ent are relat ed t o it s im pact on learning. Self -assessm ent is an int egral part of learning. To learn anyt hing w e need t o assess w hat w e know already and how w e can im prove. We norm ally do t his subconsciously. If w e are learning t o cook, w e learn by t hinking about w hat w e have done and t hen im proving on it in t he f ut ure. Thinking about your language learning Look at 1–12 below. Tick ✓ the points which you have thought about and put a cross ✗ next to those you have never considered. 1 your performance in another language in a particular situation, eg speaking with somebody at a party 2 the fact that on some days you can communicate well and on other days you can’t say anything 3 why you can understand people in some situations but not in others, eg you can understand people when you are talking face to face, but not on the telephone 4 why some people are easy for you to understand and others aren’t 5 which common mistakes you keep on making, eg grammarvocabpron 6 which grammatical areas are difficult for you 7 which sounds are difficult for you to say 8 what new words it would be useful for you to learn 9 how much you have learnt in a lesson or over a week 10 how much progress you have made over a course of study 11 which of these areas you need to improve on most: listening speaking reading writing grammar pronunciation 12 how you can practise and improve on your own © M ichael Harris and Paul M cCann 1994. This page may be photocopied for use in the classroom. 63 3 64 Your answ ers If you have placed a t ick next t o m ost of t he quest ions on page 63, you have been t hinking about your learning and assessing yourself . You probably did t his on your ow n, out side t he language class. Do you t hink it w ould have been helpf ul t o have had guidance and encouragem ent in assessing yourself ? Give t he sam e quest ionnaire t o your st udent s t ranslat e it int o t heir L1 if necessary. This quest ionnaire can be usef ul t o st art your st udent s t hinking about t heir ow n learning and realising t he im port ance of self -assessm ent . Self -assessm ent is t hus a vit al part of t he learning process. If w e rely t ot ally on t eacher-based assessm ent , w e are only carrying out part of t he job of assessm ent . W e are diagnosing problem s and w e are m easuring t he progress t hat our st udent s have m ade. This inf orm at ion can f eed back int o our ow n t eaching, but it does not necessarily f eed back int o t he learning process. St udent s are of t en passive and w ait f or us t o t ell t hem if t hey have done w ell or badly. At no t im e do t hey need t o t hink about w hat t hey have done, and w hy t hey have done w ell or badly. This can be seen clearly w it h w rit ing. W hen st udent s are given back correct ed com posit ions t hey of t en just look at t he m ark and do not really learn f rom t he f eedback. There is a saying in English t hat ‘ you learn f rom your ow n m ist akes’ . Perhaps w e could qualif y t his t o ’ you learn f rom your ow n m ist akes w hen you t hink about t hem ’ . By conscious self -assessm ent , st udent s are involved in t he process of assessm ent and t heref ore t he inf orm at ion f rom it can f eed back int o t heir ow n learning. Self -assessm ent helps learners t o t hink about t heir ow n progress and problem s and t hen t o f ind w ays of changing, adapt ing and im proving. This can be seen w it h t he exam ple m ent ioned earlier of w rit ing. If st udent s are encouraged t o assess t heir ow n w ork, t o t hink about t heir ow n m ist akes and t o t ry t o correct t hem , t hey are m ore likely t o im prove t han w hen only t he t eacher assesses and correct s. Teacher assessm ent t eacher assessm ent conclusions about progress of learner’s progress diagnosis of problem s t eaching: course cont ent Teacher and learner assessm ent t eacherlearner assessm ent conclusions about progress diagnosis of problem s learning: course cont ent t eaching: course cont ent © M ichael Harris, Paul M cCann 1994, M acmillan Publishers Ltd 65 In t he t eaching-based m odel above, t he result s f rom assessm ent do f eed back int o t he cont ent of a course. Rem edial w ork is done w hen necessary and object ives can be changed as a result of inf orm at ion f rom assessm ent . How ever, learners never need t o t hink consciously about t heir ow n problem s. In t he learning-based m odel bot h t he t eacher’s assessm ent and st udent s’ self -assessm ent have a direct ef f ect on t he learning process. W hile t here are m any benef it s t o be derived f rom self -assessm ent , m any t eachers m ay have serious reservat ions about im plem ent ing it . First ly, it can t ake up a lot of t im e, w hich is at a prem ium in m ost classes. This m eans t hat it m ust be st ream lined and int egrat ed w it h ot her classroom act ivit ies. Secondly, self -assessm ent im plies a know ledge about language and learning w hich m ost secondary learners do not have. Theref ore, self -assessm ent can only w ork if it is accom panied by learner t raining. Thirdly, m any t eachers m ay have t heir doubt s about t he m at urit y of st udent s w hen t hey are asked t o give t hem selves a m ark, w hich w ill be t aken int o account in t heir overall assessm ent . The t endency t o give t hem selves a higher m ark could m ake self -assessm ent an unreliable inf luence on assessm ent . In f act m any st udent s t end t o do t he opposit e and give t hem selves a low er m ark t han t hey deserve. In eit her case t he link bet w een assessm ent and ot her areas of assessm ent needs t o be looked at closely. Perhaps t he m ost im port ant t hing about self -assessm ent is t hat it cannot w ork in a cont ext w here m arks have an int rinsic value in t hem selves and t here is com pet it ion bet w een st udent s. In f act m ost self -assessm ent should have not hing at all t o do w it h m arks. It should concent rat e on t hinking about perf orm ance and progress in individual t erm s. This is part icularly so in m ixed abilit y classes w here considerat ion of learners’ progress has t o t ake int o account t he of t en very dif f erent st art ing point s of individuals. In t his chapt er w e w ill look at laying t he f oundat ions f or self -assessm ent , st art ing f rom t he f irst w eek of a course. Then w e w ill look at how self -assessm ent of perf orm ance can be int egrat ed int o classroom act ivit ies t hroughout a course. Af t er t hat w e w ill look at how st udent s can review t heir ow n progress syst em at ically and at t he link bet w een self -assessm ent and ot her kinds of assessm ent . Bef ore w e look in det ail at how t o im plem ent self -assessm ent in t he classroom let us look at som e of t he t echniques t hat w e have at our disposal. M any of t hese are sim ilar t o t hose looked at in previous sect ions on t eacher assessm ent . The diff erence is t hat in t his case t he st udent s t hem selves carry out t he assessm ent . 66 © M ichael Harris and Paul M cCann 1994. This page may be photocopied for use in the classroom. Techniques for self-assessment Look at the techniques below. Have you ever used any of them yourself? Which would you like to try out with your students? Descriptions • Profiles students write reports about their English and give them to you. • Learner diaries students keep learner diaries: records of what they have done in class what they have learnt what problems they have had • Counselling sessions you talk to students individually about their own progress Rating • Rating scales students rate their own performance or progress using a rating scale with descriptors, eg a scale of 1 to 5. Students can use this structure with no problems at all. Peer rating of other students can also give students practice at this. • General rating students give themselves an ‘impression’ mark for different areas, eg writingspeaking • Graphs students rate how much they have understood using a graph • Adjectives students choose from lists of adjectives to describe their own attitudes, eg hard-workingrelaxedlazy Monitoring • Self-editing students look through their own compositions and try to correct their mistakes. Peer editing can also give them practice at the same time as helping their partners • Correction codes students use your correction code, eg Pr= preposition, to try to correct their own mistakes • Taping students listen to a recording of themselves and try to correct mistakes • Grading mistakes students grade mistakes in order of seriousness • Test yourself self-check students do short tests to find out how much they know © M ichael Harris and Paul M cCann 1994. This page may be photocopied for use in the classroom. 67 Questionnaires • Listing students list specific problems for them, like words that they have difficulty pronouncing • Ranking preferences students rank activities in terms of which they enjoy, eg 1= listening to songs 2= watching video • Ranking problems students rank areas that are difficult for them, eg grammar: modal verbs • Multiple choice questions students answer questions about their habits, eg How much do you study? a a lot b quite a lot c a little d not at all • Agreeingdisagreeing students agree or disagree with statements about learning, eg Learning is easy. They could use a range of statements from easy to difficult. • Cancannot questions students answer questions about what they can or cannot do, eg Can you talk about the weather? • Short answer questions students answer questions about their preferences, performance or progress, eg What topic areas would you like to look at this year? Surveys • Group surveys students find out about each other’s learning preferences or problems and then report the group results to the rest of the class. • Class surveys students go around the class and ask questions about learning to the others. Then they report the results to the whole class. 68 © M ichael Harris and Paul M cCann 1994. This page may be photocopied for use in the classroom.

3.2 Laying t he f oundat ions