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Development is a process that occurs step-by-step, day-by-day. Assessment
of development is also a process. Therefore everything that happens
inside and outside of class is important. The emphasis in this course
is on continuous assessment, performed by students and by the professor.
The aim of this method of assessment is to promote realistic self-assessment
skills, which will be useful in life and in future careers. Course members
will evaluate their own progress and that of their peers (classmates)
in the Class
Journal.
Check
out these
links to
learn more about self/peer assessment
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Attendance
and active
participation
(25%) are good indicators of attitude and motivation. They also predict
improvement. Imagine going to a swimming pool twicw times a week, for
75 minutes at a time, for 16 weeks. If you spend all that time swimming,
and ask the trainer (teacher) for advice on your swimming technique when
you need it, then your swimming will improve.
Course
members monitor their own attendance and participation (self-assessment)
in the Classroom
Journal.
This will be available in each class and course members will enter their
attendance, participation, assessments and other comments.
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Participation:
We
learn by doing, and in a skills-based or performance- based course, development
depends on regular practice, as with learning to swim or to play a musical
instrument. If we come to every class and participate actively, we will
develop and improve our performance skills. Just by attending the class,
we will get lots of listening practice if we listen to everyone
attentively. If we also join in the activities (participate) and interact
with our classmates, then spoken English skills, confidence, motivation,
and team-work will all benefit. It has been said that interaction is the
most important thing that happens in the English class.
Q:
What does "active" participation look like?
A: It's what happens when everyone is on task (concentrating),
getting involved in the activities, using the target language (English),
thinking about what is going on in the lesson, discussing with classmates,
asking questions and thinking critically.
Q:
What does non-"active" participation look like?
A: Some examples of non-participation include:
Q:
So "active" participation
really means going to class and doing your best?
A:
That's right. Language learning is largely about beliefs and motivation.
Positive beliefs (e.g. "I will do my best" "I am a
good language learner" "I will be a good teacher")
lead to positive results, so let's do our best for ourselves and for
everyone else!
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Portfolio (30%):
Everyone
will make a portfolio as an ongoing record of what has been done inside
and outside of the classroom. Here are some suggestions for the portfolio:
- personal
introduction
- classroom
activities from the lessons
- assignments
- self-assessment
sheets (ongoing)
- peer-assessment
sheets
(your assessments of the practice lessons)
- emails
from your email-pal
- your
practice lesson materials
Click on the image to see a
video about portfolios
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Portfolio Conferences:
The portfolio will be self-assessed and peer-assessed. Course members
will assess the items they put in the portfolio, as well as assessing
each others' portfolios. In order to do this, groups will decide on assessment
criteria together, and will apply these criteria three times in the semester,
in portfolio conferences,
Course
members perform the entire process of portfolio design and evaluation:
- obtaining
a folder or ring-binder
- deciding
on portfolio
criteria
- entering
and organizing content in the porfolio
- assessing
each other's portfolios
In step 4 (Assessing
each other's portfolios), course members assess the portfolois in Portfolio
Conferences. There are three
(3)
of these during the semester. During a Portfolio Conference, course members
look at the portfolios of people in their group, and assess them according
to the portfolio criteria. They mark the scores in the Class
Journal.
In the first
Portfolio Conference (Week 5), course members assess the portfolios of
people in their own group.In the second Portfolio Conference (Week 9),
course members assess the portfolios of a group of different people. In
the third Portfolio Conference (Week 15), course members assess the portfolios
of different people. In this way, each portfolio is assessed by at least
nine (9) different peers. Each portfolio is also self-assessed, and finally
assessed by the professor.
HTTE Task Files:
The course textbook (How to Teach English) has Task Files at the back of the book. These Task Files cover the content of each chapter. Students will complete the Task Files (in their study groups) and put the completed items in their portfolios.
Extended Reading Log:
In order to introduce the topic of Extended Reading, this course requires students to read a number of graded readers, and to record their comments in an Extended reading Log, which will be kept in the Portfolio. Students should read at least one book (graded reader) per week.
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Presentations
(25%):
Starting as soon as possible (e.g. week 3), three or four people each
week will give a presentation. This will take the form of an English language
lesson. The presentations will be Self-Assessed
and Peer-Assessed.
- You
will prepare a presentation in groups.
- This
presentation will be an English lesson for middle or high school students.
- You
need to meet together in your group and discuss about the lesson.
- Download
this file
in order to help you discuss the lesson.
- You
need to:
- choose
the lesson content.
- design
and produce appropriate materials.
- prepare
the lesson.
- talk
with the professor about the lesson plan (make an appointment).
- present
the lesson (with handouts).
- make
a lesson plan, in which they explain the lesson aims and methods.
- make
a video of the lesson.
- put
a soundfile on the video, commenting on the lesson.
| Yes,
that's right. You're going to make a video of the lesson.
You're also going to make a sound file about the lesson, and put
this on the video.
Click on the
image to see videos of student presentation lessons from last year.
Don't worry.
It's easier than it looks.
We will use Windows MovieMaker. It's very easy.
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Test-design
(20%):
Teachers have to make their own tests to use in their classes. Test-design
is thus very important, and the best way to learn about test design is
to design a test. Groups of four students will each choose a (different)
Chapter from How
to Teach English
and make a test section about that chapter.
The
test section for each group will be worth 10 marks, and should take 10
minutes to complete. The test section can be Open-book or Closed book.
Course members need to think about what sort of test section they want
to make:
- Closed
book questions:
- Fact-related
questions
- True/false
questions
- Multiple
choice questions
- Yes/no
questions
- Cloze
questions (fill in the missing words)
- Open
book questions:
- Skimming
(finding information)
- Filling
in information on a chart (transferring information)
- Open-ended
questions (e.g. write a paragraph about ...)
- Opinion-related
questions
The
test is worth 20% of the overall grade. 10% is for preparing the test
section, and 10% is for taking the test.
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The Classroom
Journal
is "Common Property". This means that it belongs to everyone,
and is available for everyone to look at and to write in. There are many
empty spaces for learner-comments, so course members should feel free
to write their comments each week.
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The
Classroom Journal contains pages for attendance, participation,
and presentation marks. These marks are entered by students
and by the teacher. At the end of the semester, all the required
marks will be in the CJ, and grades can be allocated
Click on
the image to see a video of how the Class Journal works.
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Evaluation
in this course focuses on assessment of the participants
by the participants. This reflects current educational thinking
on the part of the Ministry
of Education
and sociolinguistic scholars:
- The
traditional norm-referenced system should be replaced with a new
system of criterion-referenced evaluation;
- The
students grades for each subject should be recorded in order of
rank for each individual class, but the total grade point average
should not be ranked; and
- The
aim of the record is to give not only a cumulative evaluation but
a diagnostic and formative evaluation.
- Beginning
in 1998, a variety of assessment techniques have been introduced
in the name of the overarching concept of performance assessment:
essay tests, oral tests, discussions, demonstration, experiments,
interviews, clinical observations, self-evaluations, peer evaluations,
written reports, research papers, portfolios, etc.
Diversifying
the Methods of Student Evaluation
Ministry of Education website: http://english.moe.go.kr/
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