In this webinar, Empower author Craig Thaine explores some methods for improving assessment and evaluation in the classroom. We pick up considerable amounts of information about learners during lessons, he pointed out: how can we capture and use this for the benefit of learners?
Learning Oriented Assessment offers a way to do just this, and to use our informal observations about learners – items of vocabulary that a student might be struggling with, for instance – to inform our future teaching, so that we can fit our lessons more closely to students’ needs. Such on-going assessment can be less intimidating to learners than more formal tests, and regular feedback can help them take ownership of their learning by setting their own learning objectives based on a better awareness of their position.
Craig then considers in some detail how a teacher might “tune in” to students’ learning activities – for instance, free oral practice – to evaluate learning better. The key to success, he suggests, is making informed decisions about your evaluation: deciding on the best way of listening to learners without distracting or intimidating them – standing behind them, for instance, or without making eye contact; choosing one language item to focus on and listening only for that, rather than trying to monitor everything; targeting a small number of learners for each activity and then making sure that you’ve covered the entire class over the course of the lesson. You can also decide whether to record learners (with their consent!), which will give you the opportunity to analyse their performance more closely and with less time pressure; this will also make it easier to discuss problems with your colleagues.
Gathering such data on students’ language production allows you to give personal and detailed feedback, leading to clear learner objectives.
To hear more of Craig’s ideas about evaluation and assessment, why not watch the recording below?
Find out more about our LOA-informed course, Empower, here!