Assessing Writing Skill

First assessment strategy : 

Book response journals

~ Journals are places where individual students write a  short piece at regular intervals.

~ They are usually responded to by the teacher . 

Why have journal writing?

A journal entry can have any topic. If the main purpose is to discuss progress, then in a writing class the student could:

Some examples: 

Second assessment strategy :

Essay strategy: 

Definition

•         An essay is a writing sample in which a student constructs a response to a question, topic, or brief statement, and supplies supporting details or arguments.

•         The essay allows the teacher to assess the student's understanding and ability to analyse and synthesize information.

Provide Feedback

1. Establish a climate of trust and respect.

Remember, student egos are fragile. Feedback should be given to help, not hurt. Be encouraging. Remember, negativity creates defensiveness.

2. Don’t overwhelm students.

Limit feedback to the amount of information that the student can absorb. Identify the key areas that need additional work.

3. Keep comments impersonal.

Focus on specifics.

4. Refer back to your grading criteria.

5. Couch comments in “I” terms.

I got lost here. I’m confused—did you mean to say...?

6. Structure your comments as questions or suggestions, rather than as criticisms.

7. Rephrase the paper’s main points

If you take students’ ideas seriously, they will work harder to express them clearly.

8. Use questions to identify errors.

You might, for example, ask students for more information, or ask whether this is what they meant to say.

Selection & Adaptation of Materials and Activities - criteria for evaluation of material and task

•“Oh, this is a good textbook”

  or

•“Well, I don’t think my students will like this book”

What do these statements have in common?

•Evaluating materials (textbooks)

•What is the basis of these evaluations?

•Ad hoc / impression / intuition / classroom experience?

•Systematic evaluation?

•Normally we evaluate before we select materials

 

 Systematic material evaluation 

 

•An ideal systematic textbook evaluation would be a longitudinal one

•pre-use evaluation

•whilst-use evaluation

•post-use evaluation

•The core of systematic material evaluation is to examine how well a given material matches the needs of a language programme and how effectively and efficiently it can realise the objectives of the programme.

•Therefore needs analysis has to be done prior to textbook evaluation

•How can we evaluate suitability of materials?

•When they fulfill features of good materials

 

  Evaluating materials based on good features of the materials

 

Adapted from Tomlinson (1998):

1. Good materials should attract the students’ curiosity, interest and attention - materials should have novelty, variety, attractive layout, appealing content, etc

2. Materials should help students to feel at ease - layout of presentation, tasks and activities and texts and illustrations should all look friendly

3. Materials should help students to develop confidence -provide tasks or activities that students can cope with.

4. Materials should meet students’ needs – covers what is relevant and useful to what the students need to learn and what they want to learn.

5. Materials should expose the students to language in authentic use - authentic language are more motivating and challenging

6. Materials should provide the opportunities to use the target language for communicative purposes to the students.

7. Materials should take considered the positive effects of language teaching are usually delayed - important for materials (textbooks) to recycle instruction and to provide frequent and ample exposure to the instructed language features in communicative use.

8. Materials  should take into account that students differ in learning styles - provide a variety of  tasks and activities to cater for all students

9. Materials should take into account that students differ in affective factors - accommodate different attitudinal and motivational background as much as possible

10. Materials should maximise learning potential by encouraging intellectual, aesthetic and emotional involvement which stimulates both right and left brain activities - good Materials enable the students to receive, process and retain information through “multiple intelligences”.

 

•What kinds of materials can be used for writing activities?

1. Visual-based materials

•Pictures

•Clips / videos / films

2. Reading-based materials

•Reading texts

3. Auditory –based materials

•Listening texts

4. Combination of materials

•Visual auditory (clips, etc) / Pictures with texts (cartoon, etc)

 

Selection & Adaptation of Materials and Activities - Principles in Material Adaptation

• Relate your teaching materials to your objectives and aims.
• Make sure that you know what language is for. You should choose a material that your students can use effectively for their own purposes. Keep your learners’ needs in mind.
• Pay attention to the relationship between language, learning process and the learner.

Key Learner Variables

•Personality 

Personality affects the materials that we want to design.

Learners might be introverted or extroverted.

The material that we design should encourage even a shy student in the classroom.

 

•Motivation 

Highly motivated students learn faster and better.

As teachers, we should design activities that motivate our students.

 

•Attitude 

Learners can learn something in different ways.

The most important point is that we should satisfy our students’ needs by combining our experiences and their needs.

 

•Aptitude 

Some people seem more readily than others to learn another language.

•Preferred Learning Styles 

Some students might be more comfortable in a spoken language whereas others are more comfortable in written material.

 

•Intelligence

It has also an effect in learning a foreign or second language.

 

Selection & Adaptation of Materials and Activities - Factors to consider in material selection

1.Learners’ age and maturity level

• Younger students tend to have shorter attention spans. They cannot concentrate on one task for a long period of time.
• Older students (age) do not imply that they are mature. A person’s behaviour and cognition are reflected through his maturity level.  

 

 2. Learning Style

 
 3. Proficiency Level

Level 1	Preproduction	The learner does not understand or speak English with the exception of a few isolated words or expressions.
Level 2	Beginning/ Production	The learner speaks and understands conversational English with hesitancy & difficulty. The learner is at the pre-emergent/emergent level of reading & writing skills.
Level 3	Intermediate	The learner speaks & understands conversational & academic English with some amount of effort. The learner is post-emergent, developing both reading & writing skills.
Level 4	Advanced Intermediate	The learner speaks & understands conversational English without difficulty but displays some hesitancy in academic English. Able to read fluently & comprehend texts; needs assistance in writing tasks.
Level 5	Advanced	The learner speaks & understands conversational & academic English well. The learner is proficient in reading & writing skills, requiring only occasional support.