MEASURING PROGRESS 

ELPNZ Conference, Wellington, May 2015

Marilyn Lewis, Honorary Research Fellow

The University of Auckland

THE TEACHING CYCLE(SHELLEKENS 2007: 126) 

Initial assessment

Final (summative) assessment formative assessment

SPOLSKY’S FORMULA (1989:15)

K1 + Kp + A = M + O

 

One of you has won a competition with a cash prize. Out of four cameras, exchange suggestions about which one to buy. Each of the two participants has information about only two of the cameras. (Weir 2005: 149) 

1. Where have you been? We started ten minutes ago.

2. It’s hot in here.

3. Didn’t you see the red light?

 

Someone asks you what the weather’s like in your country at this time of year. (weir 2005:145)

You are late for a doctor’s appointment. What would you say to the receptionist when you arrive?

“To be in line with what is proposed in the CNECS and to measure students’ ability for use, task-based assessment should be part of the assessment system. Test tasks need to be designed to be authentic to students’ lives, to the way they are taught and learned, and to prepare them for international communication in English.” (Luo and Gong, 2015)

SELF-ASSESSMENT CHECKLIST

A. easily/fluently/spontaneouslyB. without searching too much for wordsC. can express myself fluently in some

situations such as…but not…D. at a simple levelE. understand simple exchanges in familiar

contextsF. very basic understanding and use

WHAT ACTION FOR YOU?

1. What else do I need to know?

2. What shall I try to put into practice?

3. Which of my current attitudes towards testing might need re-evaluating?