ASSESSMENT PLAN WEEK 6

Assessment plan:

According to Kubiszyn and Borich “the purpose of testing is to provide objective data that can be used alone with subjective impressions to make better educational decisions.” This entire assessment plan is summative since observation during class activities and multiple quizzes have given me the formative information needed. The purpose of this assessment plan is diagnostic: to measure the student’s mastery of material presented over a period of time, in this case a Unit of study as well as a comprehensive performance based assessment to measure cumulative knowledge with student’s application ability.  This is a 2-part assessment; the first part of the assessment covers objective one and two, is very specific and is an end of unit summative criterion referenced assessment.

Objective 1:  Student states and pronounces the written vocabulary using correct pronunciation and stress with 90 percent accuracy 

Objective 2: Student recalls the correct vocabulary for each photo with 90 percent accuracy and is able to identify correct photo. 

In order to assess the students mastery of objectives 1 and 2 student will be tested alone verbally and will be required to pronounce and recall  (Blooms taxonomy verbs under cognitive category level of “Remember”) the new vocabulary when I point to a photo depicting the emotion. Again as stated earlier, when teaching English, vocabulary is always taught with a common phrase.  Therefore, the target language includes the usage phrase and the vocabulary. The phrases are:  I think he/she feels______  I think he/she is ________ He/she looks ________  The vocabulary for this unit is: surprised, angry, bored, scared, excited, embarrassed, shy, confident.

I am looking for their ability to identify, vocalize and articulate the target language.

The rubric for this assessment is:

                             IDENTIFY                PRONOUNCE          STRESS               PHRASE

Surprised
Angry
Bored
Scared
Excited
Embarrassed
Shy
Confident

This rubric is designed in simple checklist fashion. The student either performs the requirement or does not. Objectives 1 and 2 can be effectively assessed with this checklist designed rubric. There are 8 words and 4 categories, thus 32 points possible for 100%. To achieve the required 90% a student must accomplish 29 points.

 Objective 3 states: Student is able to apply past and new vocabulary by describing the person/persons and situation in the photo using  correct grammar with 90%accuracy.

This is the second part of the assessment and again its purpose is a summative criterion referenced performance assessment utilizing students most recent Unit as well as incorporating all language learned previously. Summative test/assessments are “used when the purpose of testing is to evaluate the extent of student achievement after some period of instruction.” (Kubiszyn & Borich, 2010, p. 22) Thus summative assessments measure more broad achievements over time and that is the purpose here.

Students will be given a choice of photos to work with, having chosen 1 photo; they will have a week to prepare a short presentation (8 - 10 minutes) of the photo which pictures a person or persons in various circumstances. They are instructed to describe the person and the circumstances or situation. They are instructed to be creative and make up any plausible or implausible story they like, that there is no wrong answer, they are graded solely on being creative and their ability to express their ideas using English vocabulary learned with correct grammar.

Now assessing Objective 3 will take a more holistic approach since we are looking for creativity, mode of delivery, quantity and quality. This of course will entail more subjective grading. Using Blooms Taxonomy levels this project will encompass 4 cognitive levels. Under the level REMEMBER, “The learner must be able to recall information” (Bloom’s Taxonomy) thus student is required to describe the scene and person’s appearance, identify possible feelings person in the photo and recall vocabulary learned. Under the category UNDERSTAND – “The learner must be able to grasp the meaning of the information, express it in their own words and/or cite examples.”(Bloom’s Taxonomy) Therefore student is required to tell a story. Under the level: APPLY – “The learner must be able to use or apply knowledge or skills to new situations.”  (Bloom’s Taxonomy) And thus must present a description and story about the photo. Under the level - CREATE – “The learner must be able to pull together parts of knowledge to form a new whole and build relationships for new situations.” (Bloom’s Taxonomy) Thus student is required to create a hypothetical situation, a story plausible or funny or fantasy, it is up to the student’s imagination to elaborate on the photo.

Constraints: 8 – 10 minutes, student will have photo and are permitted an 5x8 note card only. Following is the holistic rubric for this assignment.

                                                       Rubric

Points

5                         4

3                        2

1

                                                                                                                                                             

Fluency	Speaks fluently without long pauses and/or  stammering	Moderate fluency	Poor fluency Long pauses and/or stammering
Grammar	Uses correct grammar throughout	Some grammatical errors	Many grammatical errors
Vocabulary	Uses descriptive vocabulary. Clearly Portrays fictional   situation	Uses less descriptive vocabulary. Somewhat portrays fictional situation	Does not use array of vocabulary learned. Fictional situation is not clearly portrayed
Creativity	Outstanding -  invents very creative story or interesting scenario	Average – invents somewhat creative story or interesting scenario	Below average – does not invent creative story or interesting scenario

Assessing Strategies

Pertaining to Objective one, I was aiming at testing their mastery of pronunciation and ease of verbalizing the 8 words. This of course is the Psychomotor domain of learning.  I liken learning a language as very much like learning an instrument; it takes redundant practice of scales, riffs, and/or certain songs over and over until the knowledge is in the “muscles.” Personally I studied classical guitar when young and many of you possibly studied piano or some other instrument and therefore can identify with this “muscle memory” in your hands where your logical analytical mind steps aside. This of course is left and right brain thinking. If you never studied a foreign language, especially one that is so extremely different from English such as Mandarin, Korean or Swahili you will find that for the learner simply producing the correct sound is a challenge. For example, in Korean the “th” sound does not exist, same for the “f” and “r” “a” as well as several others.
       Therefore, simply reading these words and easily pronouncing them takes practice. Certain verbal muscles have never been used. Of course there are many learning activities that promote this necessary repetition in a fun way. Thus this test is a very direct way of measuring their mastery of the objective.

Pertaining to Objective 2 This objective is working with the Cognitive domain and focusing on knowledge (recall)  and comprehension, that is understanding the meaning of the words, therefore the test is to assess student mastery of the vocabulary. It specifically measures the students ability to recall the words in written as well as verbal format when the photo displays the meaning of the word. In ESL, students often have an easier recall when seeing a word written but have difficulty when hearing the words. Further, it takes more mastery to correctly write the word.
        ESL requires listening, speaking, reading and writing. Some tests focus more on one or the other but in this case the objective is mastery of using these specific descriptive words and thus I used a two part test that measured mastery of writing the correct word as well as hearing and identifying the correct picture (meaning).  I must note here that in my objectives I used certain phrases. When teaching ESL, I believe a teacher should never (Yes! I say never!) teach vocabulary independent of its customary usage. Therefore although these objectives focus on a vocabulary list, they are always spoken with a customary phrase. Thus in the verbal test I would not say “angry” but would say “The girl looks angry” or one of the other phrases I put in the objectives “The girl is angry” or “I think the girl is angry.” Language is a very different kind of learning; it takes both left and right brain thinking.

Further, our text speaks of the disadvantage of matching format tests because they emphasize memorization, but ESL is a subject that simply requires large amounts of memorization. Next is application of that which has been memorized.

Pertaining to the Essay in Objective 3.  Lastly is an essay type format. Clearly our text emphasizes that the wording of the instructions to an essay are very important, we are “measuring learning –whether instructional objectives have been met.” (Kubitzyn & Borich, 2010 p.158) In ESL, a very simply written essay can measure the student’s ability to use language learned up to this point and then construct  their ideas …This requires many processes, creativity in terms of making meaning using the vocabulary that one knows and using grammar that one has learned. 
        In the essay type test for Objective 3, we are looking for utilization of the target vocabulary and phrases learned. However, creativity is involved since the student has freedom to approach the picture in many different ways. Grammar and spelling to a large extent are given much more latitude in grading since I am measuring the student’s ability to verbalize in English writing what they are trying to communicate.

       Here I am assessing their application ability of vocabulary and phrases learned. Essays according to our text measure more “complex cognitive skills” (Kubitzyn & Borich, 2010 p.158) For an ESL student this is the most difficult task since a very primitive and simply written paragraph takes straining their mind for possible vocabulary nouns and verbs and then straining to use these in a phrase somewhat correctly. Further, the student must use creativity; they are given only a picture in order to make up a description. For an Asian student, this is very hard since they are culturally cultivated into knowing and giving “correct” answers, and it is difficult to explain to them that there isn’t a correct answer, I only care about their ability to express something in English, to be creative in making up a scenario. It is the “vehicle” I am interested in, the English language, not the actual content of their answer. Really, it takes awhile for a student to understand this especially since in class we are constantly focusing on “correct” pronunciation, “correct” grammar, “correct” tense etc… If this is not explained and understood when giving an essay or spoken presentation, the student just sits there frozen completely unable to proceed. Also, I have to be very specific about how many sentences I want and thus I use a “Resticted Reponse Essay” since “Extended Response” essays are all but impossible to explain to an Asian student of this level. (Again, they can only focus on “correct”)

Learning Outcomes

Grade level: 6               Subject: English as a second language

This is a Unit to be studied for a week titled: Describing feelings.

The unit consists of 8 new vocabulary words “surprised, angry, bored, scared, excited, embarrassed, shy, and confident.” Further in this lesson, student will be given correct phrases to use with these words when describing people. These are:

 I think he/she feels______  I think he/she is ________ He/she looks ________

 

Objective1.

 .

Student states the written vocabulary using correct pronunciation and stress with 90 percent accuracy

Objective 1 refers to the “psychomotor domain” thus the student uses the verbal muscles to pronounce these English words correctly, also note that student is at a level in which phonetic reading using our alphabet is sufficient.

Objective 2.

Student recalls the correct vocabulary for each photo with 90 percent accuracy and is able to identify correct photo. 

Objective 2 refers to the Cognitive domain in which the student displays “knowledge” and thus is able to identify and recall the 8 vocabulary words.

Objective 3.

Student is able to apply vocabulary by describing emotions of the person in the photo using the scripted phrases with 90%accuracy.

Objective 3 also refers to the Cognitive domain in which the student displays “application” in which the words are applied creatively using correct phrases and former lessons.
 

In each of these objectives I attempted to use the 3 necessary components according to our text: observable behavior, special conditions and performance level considered proficient. (Kubizyn & Borich, 2010, p. 110)

Testing these objectives:

Objective 1 test.

This is an oral test, taking only a very short time per student. Words are printed on paper; student simply reads aloud each of the eight words. This is a performance based test and not as easy as it may appear. The rubric as follows:

Scale is 1-5 with “1” showing least ability and “5” highest

                     Highest score possible 5 each =15=100%

                     Each item worth 33.3 percent of grade

1. Reads fluently without pauses and stutters.                    _____       

2. Pronounces the correct phonetic sounds of the words    _____                

3. Puts correct syllabic stress on each word                       _____

2 Part Test for Objective 2.  

Test 1 (Objective 2): In the first test student is given a paper with photos displaying the 8 target vocabulary emotions, beside each is one of the 3 phrases eg. “The girl is __________” Student correctly writes the vocabulary word referring to photo. (Time allowance 15 minutes)

Test 2 (objective 2):  A second segment of the test for the same objective will be given after the first is removed; this is in a matching format. Student is given a paper with 10 photos,(each labeled with a letter) and each representing the 8 target emotions (with two pictures not displaying target language) Then test numbered 1-8 where teacher verbally speaks the phrase including the word. Student writes letter of correct photo. 

Essay test Objective 3   The essay instructions are written AND verbally explained (by a native speaker for thorough understanding of what is expected) The instructions: You are given a picture of a person or persons in some place. Your task is to describe the person and scene any way you think. There isn’t a right and wrong way. Describe how YOU THINK they look and feel, what YOU THINK is happening to make them feel like this. Use whatever vocabulary you know to do this. You can even make a possible story about what is happening explaining why this person feels or looks this way. Write it the best way you can using complete sentences. Write 10 or more sentences. No less than 10, more is better. 

Creativity in use of vocabulary – 50%   That is: Ability to communicate ( make meaning)using whatever vocabulary known. 50%

a. How much descriptive vocabulary used

            b. How creative the situation is described

Writing complete sentences – 30%

Spelling – 10%

Grammar – 10%  

This will be graded on the 5 point scale with five showing highest level of mastery for each assessment section.