Discuss one of your own memorable “assessment”
opportunities (that you had to do as a student). What made it memorable? Was
it that it was valid and reliable, or invalid and unreliable? As a teacher,
would you give a similar assessment? Why or why not?
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(Additional comments on this post no longer earn points. Please choose a more recent entry).
My most memorable assessment was a speaking/listening German test that took place as a 5 minute dialogue between the teacher and the student. We were called in her office for the assessment. It was one of the most frightening assessments I ever took. While I made good grades on the tests and homeworks, the class was seriously devoid of speaking practice. So, while I could possible write down my thoughts, I simply could not articulate them in a conversation. Also, the manner in which this was assessed was very uncomfortable to me as I did not feel comfortable with the teacher. So, although I made a B, I felt very inhibited and the assessment was not appropriately indicative of my knowledge of the language or even my speaking skills.
ReplyDeleteI would never want to embarrass or intimidate my students with an assessment like this. I would only do dialogues as activities and use informal assessments when dealing with speaking/listening dialogues.
When I began taking Korean classes, I was given a written assessment only (no oral assessment at all, and no questions asked about my comfort level with the langauge, etc.). I was really at a high beginner level at the time, and the assessment test was at what I now realize was something like the high-intermediate level. I believe this was because it was a small community program and the head of the program didn't understand the need for leveled assessments - but the result was that I really couldn't answer more than 2 or 3 questions out of about 20, and I ended up being placed in the low-beginner group. I spent the better part of a semester re-learning what I had already learned because I couldn't convince them to place me higher (even though I was obviously way beyond the level of my classmates). I found the whole experience incredibly frustrating. If I were to use written assessments (which I really don't have a problem with as a concept) I would definitely try to develop assessments that had leveled sections so that students wouldn't be inaccurately placed.
ReplyDeleteOne of my most memorable assessment opportunities as a student was while I was studying spanish in Cuernavaca, Mexico. I was there for an 8 week program and took 3 different class. One of the classes acted as a conversation group. We were put into groups of about five or six students and had a conversation leader. For 2 hours, we would talk to each other in spanish about various topics. The only requirement was to speak only in spanish. It was a lot of fun. At the end of this class, our conversation leader wanted to assess us individually. To do this, she would take us to a room by ourselves and talk in a casual conversation for about 15-20 minutes and she would record the conversation.Afterwards she would give us the tape to keep and then give comments how well we did. I honestly don't remember how well I did or what my grade was, but I can remember listening to the tape later. I thought it was so cool to be able to hear myself speak somewhat fluent spanish so naturally with a native speaker. I had been talking with her for weeks so it was evident that I felt comfortable with her. Being able to hear myself was really helpful, and I always remembered that. I think it was very valid and reliable because I could hear myself speak clearly at times (giving myself the confidence I needed) and stumble at times (seeing where I may need improvement). I would most definitely give a similar assessment to my own students some day.
ReplyDeleteI think what I remember the most would be the oral exams. I remember these because it was hard work coming up with passable answers, especially when I had to teach myself how to say "fossil record" in German. I think I remember these the most because it was a lot of hard work.
ReplyDeleteI think these are good because they demonstrate pronunciation as well as grammar. It's relevant because at least one of the goals is to learn to speak the language.
I also think oral exams are somewhat problematic because you are given several days to prepare a well-formed answer, with guidance from the instructor. In any given situation, you aren't going to have a lot of time to think of an answer for a complex question.
I probably would use this type of assessment simply because it helps to demonstrate the students' ability with speaking and forming grammatical sentences, even with guidance and time.
This may not be my most memorable assessment, but it came to mind when reading about "face validity". In the last Chinese language course I took, as we were approaching the end of the semester we were winding down the material. We had fallen behind, so we did not have time to cover the last chapter as completely as the previous ones. In fact, the professor only covered half of the chapter. The final exam was supposed to be cumulative, covering all of the material from the beginning of the course. So using the study guide, I reviewed EVERY chapter we covered, including a brief review of the final chapter (only what we managed to cover in-class). I studied hard, and felt prepared. When test day came, we discovered the majority of the final exam tested that final chapter (not cumulative) and even tested some concepts that were NOT covered in-class! I felt a little upset and misled that this exam did not test what it was designed to test (or at least what we were lead to believe the final exam would test)! Considering it assessed our mastery of a chapter we only spent one week on and didn't finish, the exam felt invalid and unfair in terms of measuring our mastery of the entire course's content. The only explanation I can think of is that the instructor re-used a test from a previous year even though we had not met the same objectives.
ReplyDeleteOne positive outcome of this experience is that I now understand the importance of face validity in designing exams that will be perceived as valid assessments of our students’ true abilities.
My most memorable "assessment" as a student was doing a interview in Italian. We would schedule a time to meet the instructor in her office and she would ask questions in Italian and we would have to answer them in Italian. It was set up as an interview but the questions were from topics of each of the units in the text. I remember being nervous but it was a good way to use all the Italian that we wouldn't get to use otherwise. I think the assessment was valid and reliable because it tests listening and speaking as well as if we can form the sentences properly. I would do something like this for my classes because its a good way of testing listening comprehension and speaking ability/skill.
ReplyDeleteStefani Goode
My most memorable assessment was when I bombed my AP French test in high school. That test has haunted me for a while, and it stifled me while I was preparing for it. If you want to talk about the most uncommunicative material ever written, please consult to that test. I know those are harsh words, but that is a testament to how invalid I believe the test to be. Our book taught somewhat communicatively; it was about the basic, everyday functions of life. We learned about verb tenses, but again, it was about what we liked, and if our parents were crazy. It tried to be authentic. But, the AP test was talking about French history and literature—not very authentic material. The oral portion of the test did not have content validity. The very thing that the book says does not achieve content validity is what that portion did. I thought that the test was going to test for one thing, but it came out to be about another. In the end, that test made me feel like I accomplished nothing at all.
ReplyDeleteMy most memorable assessment was the end of course oral exam that I had to pass in order to graduate my military language school. It really didn't matter what my GPA was, I just had to pass the final exams to graduate. I don't feel that this is fair in any way to students that have high test anxiety, but that's beside the point. We had no idea what the topic was until we went in for the "interview style" exam with unfamiliar teachers. We were told to use higher level tenses (like the subjunctive) to get a better score, and that was all the help we got. My discussion topic was something I knew/know very little about. "How do you feel about the way school texts are chosen in the public school system?" I tanked. I can sum up my whole answer in one word, (and did) "indifferent." The proctor had to kind of prod me along until I could come up with something more assessable. I don't feel that I was assessed accurately to this day, because I can communicate far better than the test said that I could. If this type of test is going to be administered with such weight, there should definitely be a back up topic.
ReplyDeleteIn my Spanish 4 class, which was taught online, I had to make a phone call to my professor and talk to her for 5 minutes. I thought this was a cool assessment tool for listening and speaking because it was a true gauge of students' extemporaneous speaking ability. There was literally no way to cheat or read anything because of the nature of the assessment. She gave us a list beforehand of some of the possible questions she would ask so we could be prepared, but there was no way our responses could be purely rehearsed. At the time, this about gave me a heart attack, but now as a teacher-in-training I see exactly why she chose an assessment tool like this. It's very useful at the higher levels, but I would never want to put low level learners on the spot that much.
ReplyDeleteI remember having to take the AP Spanish test in order to test out of Spanish. I would have to say that while some aspects of the test in the written and writing part may have been valid and reliable, there was one part I found strange. There was a section where you had to go into a room and speak on a recorder in an answer to a question. I remember my teacher warning me to keep talking because often native speakers who take the test actually do poorly on that section because they rattle off an answer very quickly and then stop and while they may have done a fantastic job, they lost many point because they stopped talking too soon. This then tests one’s ability to take a test rather than to speak Spanish. I would want to incorporate a speaking part to my test, certainly, but I would want to base my grading on the quality of the speaking rather than the quantity. It is important to know that students are able to speak English in addition to reading and writing it, but it is less important to know that they can take a test well.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of my fourth semester of German, I and the other students were required to participate in a short Oral exam that was supposed to let the department see what general level students were reaching in two years. This was not for a grade and we had no preparation before, so I feel like it was probably a more valid test of my actual ability to communicate in German at the time. First of all, while I was still nervous, I was no where near as terrified as I had been during similar tests for grades. Second, with no clue what I would be speaking about, I think this was a better test of my overall communication in German, even if it was just being able to explain what I could not understand, to work around words that I could not think of. During the "exam" the head of the German department started with very basic questions: What is your name? Where do you live? How old are you? The questions eventually got more in depth and soon we were discussing vegetarianism and several of my personal ethical beliefs that, until that point, I had never even tried to explain in my L2. Of course, it was a clumsy conversation full of mistakes and awkward wording necessary because of my limited vocabulary and experience. I would never want to have to assign an actual grade to this exam(and the grading system the department used was very confusing and I felt I could have been placed in 4 different levels). So yes, I feel this was a valid example of my communication abilities and but it would be very difficult to objectively judge in order to assign students a grade had that been required.
ReplyDeleteKailey Watson
One of my most memorable assessment opportunities was performing a skit in my intermediate Spanish class. For this skit, I was given a partner, a long list of requirements, and an exam grade. We were required to create a skit that reflected the cultural topic we were currently covering, had at least X occurrences of certain forms, and lasted for a certain duration of time. I think the professor intended this to be a fun way to replace an exam, but for me it was nerve-racking. I had to find time to meet with my partner outside of class, experience the frustrations of trying to communicate via email, and then stage fright of performing to a class.
ReplyDeleteThough the test did examine speaking skills, it really only tested pronunciation, because the script had to be memorized. Also, it did not necessarily give an accurate measure of our abilities, because the performance aspect of it made us nervous. I think this would have been a more valid assessment if our task had been simply to write a script or dialogue (this would test writing skills and the required grammar constructions). Also, this test was rather unreliable because it was very difficult to compare groups (some were pairs, some three or four people). Some groups might give a wonderful performance, but leave out the required forms, while others might stutter their way through, but follow the directions. There were so many possible outputs of the task and performances might vary greatly from class period to class period. I do think that skits can be good ways to encourage free production, but are better if used as short, in-class activities that do not have so many requirements and such an important grade.
The most memorable and recent assessment test was when I was in Spain. I was wanted to be in a language school called Estudio Sampere in Madrid. What made it memorable was how horrible it was for me. I got there before school was supposed to start and before I was supposed to stay with my host family, so I stayed at a hostel for a few days. When I moved from the hostel to the host apartment I tried to save money and did not take a cab, so I used the subway. Getting to the platform with all my bags using stairs, getting lost in the station, getting off at the wrong stop so I had to walk around a lot which made me very exhausted. By the time I actually made it to the host apartment I was covered with sweat and had to run to the school. When I took the completely written test I did poorly and was told that I would be in level one the next day. The next day I arrived early and talked to the administration woman in spanish. I used short phrases and simple vocabulary, but just telling them about my short time in Spain, they were shocked that I was going to level 1 and changed me to level 3. It was challenging but I got an B in the class and felt a lower level would not have been good for me. Obviously my mood affected the test, but I also feel just a written aptitude test when it comes to language does not cover what all needs to be tested. I will always try to get some kind of oral interview with my students if I can. I also have to say that the AP test method of using recording devices is practical (because finding that many people to hold oral interviews would be impossible),but if students have never used this exercise they tend to do poorly on that section.
ReplyDeleteI think that the most memorable assesment was having a conversation with the teacher that I had for conversation spanish. I though that having to hold a conversation was a completely fair assesment tool. However, she had picked out certain topics that we had to talk about and that was really difficult because it consisted of very specific advanced vocabulary and if we forgot how to say something she would take off points. She would also take off points for each mistake that we made grammatically. I kind of thought that this was unfair because the whole reason that I was taking the class is because I didnt know the language perfectly and it was extremely discouraging when she would mark down for each mistake and felt like no matter how hard I tried I would still make mistakes and still lose points
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher I would defintitely give this as an assesment because I think that it is totally valid! However, I would not write down each mistake that they made because I know it can really kill any confidence that I did have.
One of my most memorable assessments is ‘portfolio.’ When I was an undergraduate student, a professor gave a long-term assignment to students that we had to make a portfolio and compile all of class materials such as notes, homework, reflections, and any other additional materials each student used during the semester. Each student organized their own portfolio according to their intention. Of course, although the professor also assessed all assignments separately every week, students were also assessed not only how they organized the portfolio well and how they sincerely completed that but how they had progressed for the whole semester. As a result, originally advanced students took A in this class, and some students who were not best at the beginning of semester but progressed a lot can also took A.
ReplyDelete