FROM SUMMATIVE TO FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN A TRADITIONAL ELT INSTITUTE

Isabela Villas-BoasClaudio Fleury Sasse

Katia Falcomer

• our context

• alignment

• the new assessment system

• examples

• survey with students and teachers

Overview

Casa Thomas Jefferson at a glance

• founded in 1963

• 17,000+ students

• six branches + school contracts + in-company

• 260+ teachers

• children - adults

• basic - post advanced

• course supervision - standardization

The "Flex" Courses

• around 3,000 students

• started in 2004

• only adults

• four ten-week modules a year

• a written and an oral test at the end

• typical adult studentsThomas Flex

Top Flex

Thomas Prime

Traditional assessment system

Written test + oral test at the end of ten-week module

Ten weeks of insruction generates a lot of content

Focus on grammar and written exercises

Student anxiety

More selected-response items on

the test

Lack of alignment

Negative washback effect

Stephen Stoynoff, ELT Joutnal - The Janus Papers (2012, pp.527-528)

With the emerging dominance of a sociocultural paradigm in which learning is seen as a developmental, socially-constructed, interactive, and effective process, classroom-based assessment will (among others):

• integrate the teacher fully into the assessment process;

• yeld muliple samples of learner performance that are collected over time and by means of multiple assessment procedures and activities;

• integrate learners into the assessment process and utilize self- and peer-assessment in addition to teacher-assessment of learning;

• offer learners immediate and constructive feedback;

• monitor, evaluate, and modify procedures to optimize teaching and learning.

The National Capital Learning Resource Center (2004)

Alternative assessment:

1. is built around topics or issues of interest to the students;

2. replicates real-world communication contexts and situations;

3. involves multi-stage tasks and real problems that require creative use of language rather than simple repetition;

4. requires learners to produce a quality product or performance;

5. includes evaluation criteria and standards which are known to the student;

6. involves interaction between assessor (instructor, peers, self) and person assessed;

7. allows for self-evaluation and self-correction as they proceed.

ALIGNMENT

INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES

LEARNING OBJECTIVESASSESSMENTS

Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence, CarnegieMellon University

Aims of the new assessment system

Summative Assessment

TraditionalAssessment

Very little feedback

Formative Assessment

AlternativeAssessment

Feedback on performance

Better alignmentPoor alignment

New assessment system

• short assessments - 10 to 20 minutes

• # of points ranges from 12 to 20

• 2 oral assessments, necessarily

• at least 1 reading, 1 listening, and 1 writing

• mostly performance assessment of grammar

last day of class: final assessment day

Ss take the assessments they missed during the module or those they would like to retake to improve grade

1 2 3 4 5 6 100 points

Steps in implementing the project

Monitoring

Phasing in

Pilot groups

Adjustments

Feedback

The two pilot groups• Immediate buy-in by two supervisors

• 2 pilot groups: a beginner group and an advanced one

• New assessment system + `old tests` to compare results and validate the new system

• Positive student reaction

• Similar results

Comparing results

81867562984882

Example of assessent: Speaking

Students will be able to talk about past experiences related to music and expand the

conversation by providing details on the experience.

image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Archery_target.jpg

Instructions

Ask your partner some questions about musical experience. Begin with a "have you ever" question and then ask some follow-up questions. Below are some ideas but you can create your own questions about experiences related to music.

• Have you ever been to a rock/jazz/pop concert?

• Have you ever played in a band?

• Have you ever traveled just to go to a concert?

Students practice as much as they need until they feel ready.

Teacher can

• walk around the classroom and assess pairs

• ask pairs to present to the class when they are ready

• have pairs record their dialogue; they can listen to the recording and decide whether they want to redo it or not; different pairs can give feedback on each other's recording and redo the assignment.

Teacher assesses students by way of "real-time, almost surreptitious recording of student verbal and nonverbal behavior" (Brown, 2004. p.267)

Rubrics

Example of assessent: Writing

image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Archery_target.jpg

Having learned how to provide personal information such as name, nickname, nationality, marital status, address, and phone number, and having

analyzed a model paragraph in which this information is

provided, students will write a paragraph about themselves.

Peer revision

Rubrics

Example of assessent: Writing

image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Archery_target.jpg

After having worked on the vocabulary related to the five

senses (p. 6-7) as well as on will/won't for predictions (p. 8-9),

students will be able to choose a product and wrie a short ad for it.

Preparation

Preparation

Rubrics

Survey with intermediate-level students after first semester of experience (n=170)

A LOT MORE IN

NS

A LITTLE MORE IN

NSTHE SAME

A LITTLE MORE IN

OS

A LOT MORE IN

OS

ANXIETY 4% 15% 36% 12% 19%

NEED TO DEDICATE

MORE TIME20% 15% 34% 11% 13%

MORE ORAL COMMUNI-

CATION44% 19% 15% 4% 3%

Which is your preferredmethod of assessment? (n=152)

7%

93%

• more communication in class

• content is not accumulated

• no need to memorize rules

• need to study more frequently = more effective learning

• less stressful

• more accurate assessment of the studnet because it is ongoing

• oral assessments are less stressful

• no last-minute studying only

• lighter

• `forces` students to come to class

• makes me feel more comfortable in class

POSITIVE ASPECTS

• fewer assessments

• a final test is more effective in measuring knowledge

• have the six assessments + final test

NEGATIVE ASPECTS

Survey with intermediate-level teachers after first semester of experience (n=18)

A LOT MORE IN

NS

A LITTLE MORE IN

NSTHE SAME

A LITTLE MORE IN

OS

A LOT MORE IN

OS

EFFECTIVE FOR

LEARNING78% 11% 6% 0% 0%

PRACTICAL FOR

TEACHER50% 17% 0% 11% 6%

Survey with intermediate-level teachers after first semester of experience (n=18)

FULLY SATISFACTORILY PARTIALLY NO

UNDERSTAND REASONS FOR

CHANGE80% 6% 0% 0%

SUPPORT CHANGE 61% 17% 6% 0%

• no accumulation of content to assess

• allows for remedial work and teacher self-assessment

• student progress is more visible

• immediate and personalized feedback to students

• encourages more teacher reflection

• students are assessed at their best

• less stressful for students

• possibility to re-teach and re-assess

POSITIVE ASPECTS

• too many assessments

• students keep asking if there will be an assessment the next class

• a little more time-consuming for teachers

• difficulty with the oral assessments

NEGATIVE ASPECTS

A TEACHER'S COMMENT

I think the assessments fit adult classes a lot more, because

you have clear objectives and so do the students. The main caveat is that, in

my opinion, if the teacher doesn't believe in the system, and cannot convey it to the students, it won't

ever reflect the student's progress.

• Brown, H.D. (2004). Language Assessment - Principles and Classroom Practices. White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.

• Coombe, C., Folse, K., and Hubley, N. (2007). A Practical Guide to Assessing English Language Learners. Ann Arbor, Michigan: The University of Michigan Press.

• National Capital Language Resource Center (NCLRC). (2004) Assessing Learning: Alternative Assessment in The essentials of language teaching. Retrieved from http://www.cnlrc.org/essentials/assessing/alternative.htm

• Stoynoff, S. (2012). Looking Backward and Forward at Classroom-Based Language Assessment in ELT Journal, V.66/4 - Special Issue: The Janus Papers, pp.523-532.

• Wren, D (200-8, November 6). Using Formative Assessment to Increase Learning. Research Brief: Report from the Department of Research, Evaluation and Assessment. Virginia Beach City Public Schools. Retrieved Octover 15, 2012 from http://www.vbschools.com/results.asp?x=009156061886103500874%3Amfayemiraqy&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8query=%22using+formative+assessment%22&sa.x=0&sa.y=0

Reference

Questions and comments?

FROM SUMMATIVE TO FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT IN A TRADITIONAL ELT INSTITUTE

eflpresentations.pbworks.comClaudio Fleury Sasse - claudios@thomas.org.br