Assessment for learning (Peer Assessment)
Assessment for learning s an approach to teaching and learning that creates feedback which is then used to improve learners’ performance. Teachers have to think on the following:
• How to generate and use feedback
• How to make feedback more effective
• How to do it systematically
• How to teach kids to generate constructive feedback
• How to make feedback noticeable for observers
Today in the English language classroom we focus on speaking activities, especially on dialogue making and have students assess each other. With this purpose in mind we design a rating scale for peer assessment. They are open to constructive criticism. They are honest but not mean. The teachers draws their attention to the :
• Initiation of conversation
• Turn-taking
• Asking relevant questions
• Keeping “Question-Answer” format
• Reaching decision
Performances on production activities are assessed for
• Fluency (how smoothly the learners’ performance is delivered)
• Coherence (Organization) how the performance is put together, how long the sentences are, how sentences are connected.
• Task achievement
• Pronunciation (How comprehensible the learner’s pronunciation is)
• Vocabulary (How accurately the learner can use vocabulary that is important for the activity, how varied their vocabulary is)
• Grammar (How accurately the learner can use grammatical structures that are important for the activity; how varied the grammatical structures are)
Task achievement in interaction activity
In interaction activities, such as role-playing and pair/group discussion, the task achievement aspect is where we consider how well the interaction between learners is maintained.
This aspect is often called interaction or interaction management, and it focuses on the extent to which learners are able to:
• Begin conversation
• Ask and answer relevant questions
• Bring the conversation to a close appropriately (example successfully agree on something)
Note! Teachers can delegate responsibilities by asking the rest of the class to keep the track of the performance (colored stickers) to avoid overcorrecting during the presentation.
Developing a scale: clarifying the expectations
S-S
Exceeds expectations
Meet expectations
Needs improvement
Language
(Vocabulary/grammar/question forms,…)
Interaction
(asking/answering relevant questions/turn-taking/ reaching decisions)
Delivery
(pronunciation/ pace/volume/pauses/posture/fluency
