INSPECTORATUL COLAR JUDEEAN SLAJ

COALA GIMNAZIAL NR. 1 PANIC

CIF-25104503 Loc. Panic, Str. Principal,
Nr. 100/A, Cod potal 457171
Tel/ Fax: 026066985
e mail: panit457171@yahoo.com

CERCUL PEDAGOGIC AL
PROFESORILOR DE LIMBA ENGLEZ
CENTRUL METODIC ZALU II.
Assessing productive skills-writing
and speaking
Prof. Tams Andrea Amlia
-coala Gimnazial nr. 1 Panic
Prof.Dani Erzsbet Erika
-coala Gimnazial nr. 1 Hereclean

5 DECEMBRIE 2016
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ENGLISH TEACHERS MEETING

5TH DECEMBER 2016
THEME: Assessing productive skills-writing and speaking
TEACHERS: Tams Andrea Amlia
Dani Erzsbet Erika

MEETING SCHEDULE

9.00-9.10

Welcome to our school!

9.10-9.25

Opening- grouping the guests

9.25-9.35

No comment video- Classroom tale

9.35-9.50

Brainstorming activity

9.50-10.40

Assessing productive skills-writing and speakingPresentation

10.40-11.00

Coffee break

11.00-11.50

Workshop

11.50-12.30

Lunch break

Activity 1- BRAINSTORMING
Just to start,would you for one minute go into your heads and tell me the first
word you think of when you hear assessment.

ASSESSMENT

Activity 2: Differences between Testing, Assessment, and Evaluation

What Do We Mean by Testing, Assessment, and Evaluation?
TEST

EVALUATION

ASSESSMENT

The goal of assessment

is __________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

WHY IS ASSESSMENT
IMPORTANT?
By this point in our life we have discovered
that learning :
CAN BE FUN! We have realized that we are
constantly learning whether we are in a
classroom, a car or a kitchen.
ASSESSMENT HELPS YOU BUILD CONFIDENCE IN
YOUR ABILITY TO LEARN.
In order to be successful, our students will need
to have confidence in their ability to learn and
they will need to become lifelong learners.
ASSESSMENT plays a key role in developing
their confidence in their ability to learn, as well
as in developing their lifelong learning skills.
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STUDENT DIALOGUE LEARNING TO BAKE COOKIES

Brian used what he learned from each batch of cookies

to improve the next batch. When we are learning a skill,
feedback is automatic. The feedback process needs to
be made visible through ASSESSMENT .

Types of assessment
Assessment is divided, for the sake of convenience, into the following
distinctions:

formative and summative

objective and subjective
referencing (criterion-referenced, norm-referenced)
informal and formal

Formative assessment

Summative assessment

Grading

Usually not graded

Usually graded

Purpose

Improvement: to give
feedback to instructor and
students about how well
students understand specific
material

Judgment: to derive a grade,

and to allow students to work
intensively with course
material

Focus

Very focused on whether

Less focused on specific skills
students have acquired
or information; instead, allows
specific skills or information students to demonstrate a
range of skills and knowledge

Effort

Requires little time from

instructors or students;
simple; done in class

Requires more time from

instructors and students;
complex; done outside of class

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN9xq90JCfE&t=3s

ASSESSING WRITING AND SPEAKING

Activity 3: How to assess speaking and writing?
I assess my students speaking and writing skills by..
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
The criteria I used to assess students communication skills are
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
The problems and challenges I have with evaluating my students
skills are
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________.

How do we assess children?

Children usually do not choose to learn a foreign language. The decision is made
for them either by their parents or by the school. They need other reasons to
motivate them and to keep them learning. A friendly environment can offer such
motivation. You can make learning as enjoyable as possible through drawing,
games, songs, puzzles and drama.
Our hard work in establishing a motivating atmosphere and positive attitudes
towards learning English can be severely damaged when it comes time for
assessment. To avoid this we have to carry out assessment in a way that protects
the positive atmosphere and attitudes towards English and learning in general.
METHODS:
-

Activity 4 -Assessment formats for

SPEAKING
WRITING

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ASSESSMENT PLAN
SPEAKING
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
LEVEL:
AGE GROUP:
TIME:
DESCRIPTION:

Beginners
7 and above
15 minutes
This is an information-gap activity. The children ask and answer
questions to obtain personal information.
LANGUAGE:
Question formation and asking for personal information. Whats your
name? How old are you? Whats your favorite?
SKILLS:
Speaking: asking and answering questions, providing personal
information.
ASSESSMENT
The children should be able to ask questions to get personal
CRITERIA:
information, provide information about themselves, carry out the task
successfully, use basic turn-taking skills, and work with others.
MATERIALS:
Worksheet, projector(optional)
PREPARATION: Photocopy the worksheet for each child.
IN CLASS:
1. Write the worksheet on the board, or put it on the overhead
projector.
2. Explain to the children that they have to fill in this form by
asking four of their classmates questions. Make sure they ask
children they dont sit with or know too well.
3. Tell them that they can get up and walk around the room to
find the 4 classmates and talk to them. Ask them not to make
too much noise or disturb others. If you have a very large class,
have the students sit at a different place than usual. Then they
can ask classmates near them and not have to walk around.
4. If there is any information they are unable to write, they can
ask their classmates to spell it for them.
5. Give out the worksheet.
6. The children go around asking their classmates, then fill in the
form.
FEEDBACK:

1. Invite children to tell you how they think they did, what
difficulties they experienced, and how they dealt with them.
Then give general feedback or how well you think they carried
out the task, for example how polite they were, whether they
used only English Tell them gently how they can improve,
focusing on the general aims of the activity and not on accuracy.
2. When all the children have finished, ask them to look at their
worksheets and choose one piece of information they didnt
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know about one of their classmates. The children take turns to

say what they learnt.
3. If you have chosen to observe and assess a small group of
children, give them more detailed feedback on how they
performed, in private.
ASSESSMENT
OF OUTCOME:
PORTOFOLIO:

Select a number of children to observe while they are carrying out the
task.
The children prepare a visual presentation about their classmates or a
group of friends. If possible they should bring a picture of their
classmates to accompany the report. Alternatively, they can draw their
pictures.

WORKSHEET
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
NAME:
CLASS:.
DATE:..
Choose four friends. Ask them questions and complete the form. Use English!
FRIEND 1
NAME:
AGE:
ADDRESS:
FAVORITE
FOOD:..
FAVORITE
COLOUR:..
FAVORITE
.:
FRIEND 3
NAME:
AGE:
ADDRESS:

FAVORITE
FOOD:..
FAVORITE
COLOUR:..
FAVORITE
.:

FRIEND 2
NAME:
AGE:..
ADDRESS:
FAVORITE
FOOD:..
FAVORITE
COLOUR:..
FAVORITE
.:
FRIEND 4
NAME:
AGE:
ADDRESS:

FAVORITE
FOOD:..
FAVORITE
COLOUR:..
FAVORITE
.:

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ACTIVITY 5
According to the plan we have already discussed, complete an assessment plan on the given
topic. ( SPEAKING ASSESSMENT)

Topic: LOOK AT MY ROOM

LEVEL:
AGE GROUP:
TIME:
DESCRIPTION:

LANGUAGE:
SKILLS:
Speaking: describing a room.
ASSESSMENT
CRITERIA:
MATERIALS:
PREPARATION:
IN CLASS:

FEEDBACK:

ASSESSMENT
OF OUTCOME:
PORTOFOLIO:

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ACTIVITY 6- ASSESSING A PROJECT PRESENTATION

SPEAKING ACTIVITY EVALUATION SHEET
Students name:
Grade:
Mark:
Total score: 16

Category
1.Vocabulary
Use

Excellent (4)
The
student
makes use of a
wide range of
vocabulary

Good (3)
The
student
makes adequate
use
of
vocabulary

2.Fluency

The students
message
has
easy flow and
rhythm
and
presents
normal
hesitations and
pauses

The students
message
is
generally
understandable
and
presents
few hesitations
and pauses.

3.Accuracy

The
student
uses a variety
of
grammar
structures
which
facilitate the
speech
comprehension

The
student
makes
few
errors
in
grammatical
structures even
though
the
speech
is
understandable.

4.Organization The
student
of ideas
presents all the
information in
a
logical
sequence

The
student
presents most
of
the
information in
a
logical
sequence

Poor (2)
The student
makes some
inadequate
use
of
vocabulary
The
students
message is
difficult to
understand
presenting
awkward
hesitations
and pauses.
The student
makes
frequent
grammatical
errors
which
makes
it
difficult to
understand.

Needs Work (1) Score

Inadequate use
of vocabulary

The student
presents
lack
of
coherence in
the majority
of ideas

The
student
presents
incoherence
and no logical
sequence
of
ideas

The students
message cannot
be understood
presenting
many
hesitations and
pauses
that
interfere with
the ideas.
The
student
makes
many
grammatical
errors
which
makes
the
message
non
comprehensible

(PROJECT PRESENTATION)
How do you measure different aspects of a speaking activity?
Observations

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ENGLISH SPEAKING TEST

Task Orientation
Opened: There is a situation and students are free to discuss which is the better choice, there is a final decision to
take. Students are able to talk and communicate as they wish, by using words and tenses they decide to use.
Level : Lower-Intermediate
Interactional Relationship
Interactional: Two ways interaction: There is an interaction between both students with no intervention from the
teacher.
Language Skills to be tested: Speaking
Goal Orientation
Students have to speak with each other, so the communication process happens. There is communicative purpose, a
decision that has to be taken.
Interlocutor Status and Familiarity
Student- Student (know)
Students- Teacher (know)
Topics
Places around the city.

Students A and B
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Now you and your classmate are having a meeting in the city for your foreigner friend. However,
one of you got lost and cant find the way to get to the place you guys agreed to meet. Decide
which student will be the lost person. Imagine that youre having a phone conversation and the
lost person is asking for directions to get to the place.

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Sample of Students Performance on task.

17

Activity 7
Round Table
Each person at your table should write one thing he/she has learned about assessing productive
skills.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY :
Weir, C. (1990). Communicative Language Testing. Prentice Hall.
Brown, D. (2004). Language Assessment, Principles and
Classroom Practices Longman
Bailey, K.M., & Savage, L. (1994). "New ways in teaching
speaking." Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other
Languages.
Burns, A., & Joyce, H. (1997). "Focus on speaking." Sydney:
National Center for English Language Teaching and Research.
Sophie Ioannou- Georgiu, & Pavlos Pavlov. Assessing young
learners, Oxford
Jeremy Harmer - The Practice of English Language Teaching,
Longman Publishing House,2001
Videos- assessing productive skills
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOmxqPZ7oBo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlLLddT5w0U
http://busyteacher.org/7082-top-10-ways-to-assess-your-students.html
http://www.open.edu/openlearnworks/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=57372&section=6
http://www.open.edu/openlearnworks/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=57372&section=7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN9xq90JCfE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjmM1iN-m-E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ogt0yI8xA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTGnJnuVNt8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfJkiqLRHF4

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Assessment Quotes
Assessment is the engine, which drives student learning.
(John Cowan)
When implemented well, formative assessment can effectively double the speed of student
learning.
(William, 2007)
Useful assessment generates data about what students know and are able to do, rather than
merely identifying student weaknesses.
(Turner, 2014)
Effective feedback occurs during the learning, while, there is still timet o act on it.
(Jan Chappuis)
Great teachers engineer learning experiences that put students in the driver`s seat and then
get out of the way.
(Ben Johnson,, Euducator)
Assessment data should be used in real-time as a way of driving teaching practice, rather than
being used at the end of the process to judge whether someone passed or failed.
(Hekia Parata)

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