SLIDE 1 Engaging learners in the assessment
Gerardo Valazza, MEd ELT, RSA Dip TEFLA
SLIDE 2 to help teachers deal with issues surrounding motivation to write in the 21st century to provide teachers with a set of teaching ideas/classroom activities which they can take away to use with their learners to develop teachers’ understanding of the ways in which different types of classroom assessment can be used to help develop learners’ writing skills
1 2 3
Aims of the Seminar
SLIDE 3 Overview of the Seminar
Discuss the issues facing teachers trying to engage their learners in writing, and how assessment can increase motivation. Writing skills, motivation and assessment Teaching ideas and classroom activities Teaching ideas to show different means
ways to involve learners.
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PART 1: Writing Skills , Motivation and Assessment
Gerardo Valazza, MEd ELT, RSA Dip TEFLA
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lack of a genuine reason to write lack of immediate feedback lack of basic skills lack of familiarity with the required text type It’s boring It takes too long It’s too difficult I don’t know what to write
Learners’ Motivation to Write
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Some Possible Solutions
https://padlet.com/gvalazza/teachingwriting
Wi-Fi Signal: Guest Password: CLOSE2YOU
https://answergarden.ch/499045
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Personalising tasks Focusing on one writing skill at a time Brainstorming ideas (Padlet / Answer Garden) Giving model answers
Some Possible Solutions
Motivating learners via assessment Authentic writing tasks: blogs, forums Immediate feedback Time limits and regular breaks
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Purposes of Assessment
Placement
1
to decide what class to put a new learner in Summative (OF learning)
2
to check whether outcomes have been met, to assign a level or grade Diagnostic
3
to help teachers decide what to teach Formative (FOR learning)
4
to help teachers check what learning has taken place and what learning needs have not been met
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Sustainable (AS learning) to help learners assess their own learning and reflect on their abilities
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Means of Assessment
Taking a summative test, e.g. Cambridge English: Key, at the end of a course; diagnostic testing External written assessment Homework or short in-class test, could be used summatively or formatively Teacher assessment Learners assess each other’s work; formative or assessment as learning Peer assessment Learners compile over time a collection of their work; learning and formative assessment Portfolio assessment Learners assess their own work; assessment as learning Self-assessment
Assessment Criteria!
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Assessment Criteria for writing
O C C A L Organisation
The way the candidate has put together the piece of writing.
Content
How well the candidate has done what they were asked to do.
Communicative Achievement
How appropriate the writing is for the task. Has the candidate used appropriate register?
Language
Vocabulary and grammar. It includes range as well as accuracy.
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Beliefs about Teaching Writing
Survey
https://create.kahoot.it/ (Teacher) https://kahoot.it/ (Student) Wi-Fi Signal: Guest Password: CLOSE2YOU
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Beliefs about teaching writing
Survey: True or False?
1. Learners always want a grade or a mark for their writing, so teachers should always give one. 2. Learners don’t read comments or feedback, so there is no point in giving any. 3. Learners need to understand what the assessment criteria for a test are. 4. The teacher is the only person who can mark a learner’s piece of writing. 5. The teacher should always correct all the mistakes in a learner’s piece of writing. 6. Correct grammar is the most important writing skill. 7. Learners should learn to correct their own pieces of writing. 8. Teachers should only show learners pieces of writing which fulfil all the assessment criteria.
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PART 2: Teaching Ideas and Classroom Activities
Gerardo Valazza, MEd ELT, RSA Dip TEFLA
SLIDE 14 You are going to move to a new house. Write an email to your English friend Sam. In your email you should:
- Say where you are moving to
- Explain why you are moving
- Invite your friend to visit you
Write 35-45 words on your answer sheet.
6
Sample B1-Level Task
SLIDE 15 Dear Sam I have a good news! Next week we moving to London. We find a new house there, near the park. We need move there because my hussband get new job in the
- hospital. I very excited. Would you like visit me in new
house? Write soon!
Sample B1-Level Task
TASK:
- Say where you are moving to
- Explain why you are moving
- Invite your friend to visit you
DISCUSS IN PAIRS: What different ways could you use to give feedback on this piece of writing?
SLIDE 16 Write comments and feedback, including suggestions for improvement (2 Stars; 1 Wish) (WWW; EBI) Correct it (no mark
2 3
Give an overall mark or grade (no correction)
1
Ask another student to evaluate it Ask the student who wrote it to evaluate it
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Mark up what needs to be corrected, but don’t make the corrections
4
Feedback Options
SLIDE 17 Dear Sam I have a good news! Next week we moving to London. We find a new house there, near the park. We need move there because my hussband get new job in the
- hospital. I very excited. Would you like visit me in new
house? Write soon!
Sample B1-Level Task
TASK:
- Say where you are moving to
- Explain why you are moving
- Invite your friend to visit you
DISCUSS IN PAIRS: How many different types of mistakes can you identify?
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Correction Code
SLIDE 19 You need to add a word here / This word is not necessary P The punctuation is wrong VOC or WW This is the wrong word VT The verb tense is wrong VF The verb form is wrong GR There is a grammar mistake here SP There is a Spelling mistake here ART There is a mistake with the article WO The word order is wrong ? This part is not clear
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Correction Code Sample
Research Notes Issue 61
SLIDE 20
https://writeandimprove.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EwJnFRfK9I
SLIDE 21
https://youtu.be/_MtcVMK7AGU https://www.sketchengine.co.uk/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3zBLrlBWG8
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Self and Peer assessment
Learners don’t know what they’re looking for.
1
Agree on a set of ‘success criteria’ at the beginning of the writing process. Learners can be overly critical
- r negative of each others’
work.
2
Get learners to use ‘two stars and a wish’ or ‘WWW and EBI’. Learners aren’t capable of using assessment criteria.
3
Make assessment criteria clear, and practise applying them to example texts first. Learners aren’t satisfied if the teacher doesn’t mark the work.
4
Mark the work only after the peer/self-assessment; mark the peer/self-assessment as well.
5
Learners don’t take the activity seriously. Show learners how much their writing improves.
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Using Writing Checklists
SLIDE 24 6
Using Writing Checklists
Download lesson plan – Level B2
SLIDE 25 Giving feedback on writing
- Approaches to correction
- Using a word processing tool to give feedback
- Using Microsoft Word and Google docs
1
The Digital Teacher
https://thedigitalteacher.com/training/giving-feedback-on-writing- training
SLIDE 26 to help teachers deal with issues surrounding motivation to write in the 21st century to provide teachers with a set of teaching ideas/classroom activities which they can take away to use with their learners to develop teachers’ understanding of the ways in which different types of classroom assessment can be used to help develop learners’ writing skills
1 2 3
Aims of the seminar
SLIDE 27
“It is undoubtedly the best time in history to be a language learner. Websites and smartphone apps have facilitated foreign language study like no other technology to date.”
Sam Barclay (2017) English Teaching Professional, Issue 110
Isn’t it the best time in history to be a language teacher as well?!
SLIDE 28 Thank you
Gerardo Valazza, MEd ELT, RSA Dip TEFLA gvalazza@anglo.edu.uy https://angloseminars.wordpress.com/
/AngloExamenesInternacionales
www.anglo.edu.uy /CambridgeEnglishTV
