Assessment

1. ASSESSING YOUNG
LEARNERS
By Sophie Ioannou-Georgiou & Pavlos Pavlou

2. Definitions
EVALUATION Process of gathering information to meet its goal.
ASSESSMENT General term which includes all methods to gather information (knowledge,
ability, understanding, attitudes and motivation)
TESTING One of the procedures that can be used to assess a child’s performance

3. Teaching and Assessment
 Evidence of the children’s progress
 Types of assessment tools, based on:
– Communicative language learning
– Task-based learning
– appropriateness for children
– Authenticity
– Learner training
– Learner autonomy
– Critical reflection

4. Why assess young children?
• To monitor and aid children’s progress
• To provide children with evidence of their progress and
enhance motivation
• To monitor your performance and plan future work
• To provide information for parents, colleagues, and school
authorities

5. What do we assess?
 SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
–Listening
–Speaking
–Reading
–Writing
–Integrated skills
 ATTITUDES
 BEHAVIOURAL AND SOCIAL SKILLS

6. How do we assess children?
 Handle positive atmosphere
 Positive atitudes towards English and
learning in general.
 Methods proposed:
– Structured assessment activities/tasks
– Take-home assessment tasks
– Portfolio assessment
– Projects
– Self-assessment
– Peer-assessment
– Traditional tests
– Learner-developed assessment tasks
– Observation
– Conferencing

7. Is this assessment?
Assessment methods vs. Teaching activities
 Aims
 Measurable results
 Assessment criteria
 Children’s predisposition towards
the activity
 Timing
 Children’s participation
 Record keeping/learner profiling

8. How to give feedback
• Offering feedback is an integral part of the assessment process.
• As soon as possible after the assessment task is carried out.
• Different ways:
• Individual; groups of children; or to the whole class.
• Self-correction
• Peer-feedback
• Conferencing: face-to-face
• Written feedback : short comments and following it up with a brief chat
• Feedback:
• helps children to discover their strengths and weaknesses
• motivates them
• helps them to persist in their learning

9. Language portfolios
• What it a portfolio?
It is a compilation of an individual child’s work, showing
his/her language abilities, effort, and language development
over time.
It usually includes samples of written work, audio or
video recordings, drawings, teacher’s notes, tests, peer and
self-assessment forms, and reviews of books read.

10. Portfolios
• Provide a way of individualizing the learning and assessment process.
• Encourage children’s overall involvement in learning and assessment process.
• Affects class metodology: child-centred, collaborative and develops children’s feelings of trust
and respect for their teacher.
• Not easy to start to use: children more autonomous: moving around the classroom; invitation
parents to participate in their children’s learning.

11. Why portfolios?
Porfolios as:
 An opportunity to link instruction with assessment.
 A record of individual development through
continuous observation and information-gathering.
 A global view of the individual child’s progress,
including attitudes, learning strategies, interests
and talents.
 A body of work to discuss the children’s progress
 A reason to arrange conferences with each child
 A way of involving parents

12. Why portfolios?
Porfolios provide the children with:
 An opportunity to become responsable
 An occasion to reflect on their performance
 A chance to exercise some control over the
assessment procedure
 Tangible evidence of progress the children
 Increased involvement in the learning process
 Increased motivation and excitement for learning

13. Guidelines for
using portfolios
Keeping and accessing portfolios
• Place to be accessed easily
• Confidentiality
Setting criteria for choosing work samples
• Discuss the criteria
• Final list
Reviewing and updating the portfolio
• Work included does not have to stay there permanently
Portfolio revies/assessment
Getting children and parents involved

14. Examples

15. Porfolio review

16. My favourite
rhymes

17. Worksheet term
report

18. Worksheet term
report with
emphasis on
attitudes

19. Worksheet
happy flower

20. Worksheet
class
observation

21. Class progress
chart

22. Thank you very much
MariaI.Rodriguez@uclm.es