Beyond comprehension: using standards to inform teaching, learning and assessmentAFMLTA conference 2011 Shauna Bouel & Lester Ford

Beyond comprehension

Pre-determined standards

Letting students into the secret,

allowing them to become insiders

into the assessment process.

Royce Sadler (1998)

Background

Adapted from Queensland Studies Authority 2008, Building Student Success: A guide to the Queensland Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Framework , QSA

Context for teaching and assessment

Alignment of objectives and standards

Alignment

The closer the alignment

between standards and assessment,

between standards and teaching,

between standards and curriculum, and

between teaching and assessments,

the better students achieve.

(Zepke, quoted in Wyatt-Smith & Klenowski, 2005)

Standards

are qualitative descriptions of what students know and can do

2008 syllabuses

• Chinese• French• German• Indonesian• Italian

• Korean• Modern Greek• Japanese• Spanish• Vietnamese

General Objectives

Comprehension (receptive communication)

Reading

• know and understand familiar and complex written language

• reason and respond to writers’ perspectives, purposes, intentions and cultural meanings.

Conveying meaning (productive communication)

Writing

• know and use features of the [TL] language

• create written [TL] language and respond in a manner suitable for the setting, audience and text type.

Reading (aspects) A: knowing & understanding:

a comprehensive range of information is presented, including gist, main points and relevant details;

the meaning of familiar and complex language is accurately and clearly demonstrated;

the purpose of the text and the writer’s perspective and intention are clearly evident;

subtleties are recognised

C: knowing & understanding:

essential information is presented, including some main points and details which may not always be relevant;

the meaning of familiar language is demonstrated accurately;

the writer’s general intention is recognised when obvious within a familiar context

Reading (aspects) A: reasoning & responding: :

detailed analysis and thorough evaluation are evident;

plausible interpretations of unfamiliar language are drawn from context;

well-constructed conclusions and well-substantiated decisions are made;

cultural meanings are integrated into responses where appropriate.

C: reasoning & responding: basic analysis and evaluation are evident;

conclusions and decisions are made but often lack justification;

obvious cultural meanings are identified

Reading (qualifiers) A: knowing & understanding:

a comprehensive range of information is presented, including gist, main points and relevant details;

the meaning of familiar and complex language is accurately and clearly demonstrated;

the purpose of the text and the writer’s perspective and intention are clearly evident;

subtleties are recognised

C: knowing & understanding:

essential information is presented, including some main points and details which may not always be relevant;

the meaning of familiar language is demonstrated accurately;

the writer’s general intention is recognised when obvious within a familiar context

Reading (qualifiers)A: reasoning & responding: detailed analysis and thorough evaluation are evident;

plausible interpretations of unfamiliar language are drawn from context;

well-constructed conclusions and well-substantiated decisions are made;

cultural meanings are integrated into responses where appropriate.

C: reasoning & responding: basic analysis and evaluation are evident;

conclusions and decisions are made but often lack justification;

obvious cultural meanings are identified

Informing teaching and learning

Reading standard A

Reasoning and responding:

detailed analysis and thorough evaluation are evident; plausible interpretations of unfamiliar language are drawn from context; well-constructed conclusions and well-substantiated decisions are made; cultural meanings are integrated into responses where appropriate

Identify curriculumSyllabus

general objectivesstandards

Consider teaching and learning experiences

Using objectives and standards to plan learning and assessment

Develop assessment

work programassessment plan

Learning process

Email from a TL student:

• Description of his activities at the end of his final year at school, his plans for the future and some musings about the high and low points of his school career.

Determining comprehension

• How does the writer feel about leaving school?

or

• Outline what the email is about.

Demonstrating ‘decisions’

Two ads for jobs in the TL:•Assistant to events coordinator at a ‘retirement village’

• Events - In-house & outside venues (bowling, movies, beach)

• Fully active seniors & some with restricted mobility• Saturday evening “talent show” encouraging individual &

group participation

•Assistant to clown doctor • Performing in children’s hospitals• Training & costumes provided

Demonstrating ‘decisions’

• Adding one advertisement• Would you short list this candidate (the writer) for

this position? Justify your decision with reference to the text.

• Adding two advertisements• For which job would the writer be more suitable in

terms of abilities, interests and attitudes? Refer to the text…

Writing standard A (some aspects)• a wide range of vocabulary and grammar is used

effectively• where complex language is used, errors do not

detract from the overall meaning• a range of cohesive devices is used to link aspects

of the text• register is appropriate to the situation• spelling, punctuation and word order display a high

degree of accuracy

• the writer’s ideas and purposes are conveyed effectively with flexibility and originality

Possible formal writing task

Assume that you have been requested to write an article for the student newspaper of your TL ‘sister school’. You are asked to write about the social issues that concern Australian teenagers at the moment.

Write approximately 200 words.

Register and text type

• Audience: TL students

• Newspaper article: more formal

Vocab related to adolescent- relevant current social issues

• Health• Racism• Poverty• Animal experimentation• Environment• Politics • Social networking• Idiomatic expressions• Etc.

Functions to be learned

• Identifying problems• Giving clarification• Complaining• Predicting • Describing activities/events/situations

(past/present/future)• Expressing

• Opinions, anger, approval/disapproval, possibility/impossibility,certainty/uncertainty, regret, praise, blame

Grammar required (dependent on TL)

•Past, present, future tenses•Conditional and subjunctive mood•Adverbs – comparative and superlative•Conjunctions

Opinions on subject X

• I think the biggest problem is…(1st person singular)

• My friend Fred argues that… (3rd person singular)• The girls in class don’t agree because…(3rd

person plural, feminine)• Politicians should…(3rd person plural, masculine,

subjunctive)

• Learned language in an unrehearsed task.

Writing standard A• a wide range of vocabulary and grammar is used effectively

• where complex language is used, errors do not detract from the overall meaning

• a range of cohesive devices is used to link aspects of the text

• register is appropriate to the situation

• spelling, punctuation and word order display a high degree of accuracy

• written communication adheres consistently to the conventions of the text type

• the writer’s ideas and purposes are conveyed effectively with flexibility and originality

• written text is well-organised and displays a high level of coherence

• an understanding and response to cultural contexts is clearly evident in the writing

Informing assessment and enhancing professionalism

Valid assessment is true to what is taught and learned and similarly, authentic assessment connects to the curriculum.

(Klenowski 2008)

Designing effective assessment

Effectiveness of assessment instruments

• Face validity• Content validity• Language and layout• Equity

Annotated sample: Japanese Writing standard C

Annotated sample: Japanese Writing standard A

Annotated sample

French Writing standard C

Annotated sample

French Writing standard A

Annotated sample: Chinese reading standard C

Annotated sample: Chinese reading standard A

Annotated sample

French Reading standard B

Annotated sample

French Reading standard A

New directions:trial of Chinese extension

Chinese extension (draft trial 2010)

Three dimensions:

• Knowing, understanding and using• Reasoning and responding• Creating meaning

Chinese extensions (2010) standard A

Sample task Chinese Extension

Context : The class has been exploring the impact of traditional Chinese medicine, philosophy and health beliefs on modern Australian health practices.

Task: You are to select a particular area of Chinese medicine or health that is having an impact in Australia. You are to: •research information from a range of sources to draw conclusions about the possible reasons for this impact on Australia•justify your conclusions referring to your sources.

Sample assessment task Chinese Extension continued

You are to produce two responses

Response 1: You are to meet with your teacher to present your preliminary research findings. Your teacher may want to ask questions to clarify understandings. You are to use both English and Chinese in your response. Hand in your rough notes. In your response you are to analyse the information to:•make a judgement about how valid the information is•draw conclusions about the reasons for integration of Chinese ideas into mainstream Australian practices•support your conclusions with evidence from your research

Response 2: You are to write an article for a local Chinese newspaper drawing on your research and conclusions. Your article is to:•convince the local Chinese population about the relevance of traditional Chinese health practices and the acceptance of these practices by Australians in the local community

Conclusion

Federalist Paper 2 (2007)

‘Whatever common curriculum standards …... are adopted by jurisdictions, it is important to allow for flexibility in schools to cater for different groups of students to achieve these standards in different ways. This is not an argument for lower standards

It is not beyond comprehension

• Let students into the secret

• Let teachers into the secret by enhancing their assessment capacity by using standards to inform teaching, learning and assessment.

Thank you

Shauna Bouelshauna.bouel@qsa.qld.edu.au

Ph 3864 236

Lester Fordlester.ford@qsa.qld.edu.au

Ph 3864 0225