НЕТРАДИЦИОННЫЕ МЕТОДЫ ОЦЕНИВАНИЯ НА ЗАНЯТИЯХ ПО АНГЛИЙСКОМУ ЯЗЫКУ

Колтакова С.В.¹, Суханова О.В.²

^1,2 Кандидат филологических наук, Военный учебно-научный центр Военно-воздушных сил «Военно-воздушной академии им. профессора Н.Е. Жуковского и Ю.А. Гагарина»

НЕТРАДИЦИОННЫЕ МЕТОДЫ ОЦЕНИВАНИЯ НА ЗАНЯТИЯХ ПО АНГЛИЙСКОМУ ЯЗЫКУ

Аннотация

В статье рассматриваются определение, преимущества и способы внедрения нетрадиционных методов оценивания на занятиях по английскому языку.

Ключевые слова: нетрадиционные методы оценивания, способы внедрения нетрадиционных методов оценивания на занятиях по английскому языку.

Koltakova S.V.¹, Sukhanova O.V.²

^1,2 PhD in Philology, Zhukovsky and Gagarin Air Force Academy, Voronezh

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT AT THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASS

Abstract

The article deals with the definition, benefits and ways of implementation of alternative assessment into the English language classroom.

Keywords: alternative assessment, implementation of alternative assessment into the English language classroom.

Only the alignment among three main components ensures success of both teaching and learning process. These components are the following: 1) objectives that state the skills a teacher wants students to develop by the end of the course; 2) instructional strategies, a teacher chooses to foster student learning towards meeting the objectives; 3) assessment, with the help of which a teacher evaluates students’ progress [1].

The objectives are constantly being adjusted to the real life needs. Today the emphasis is put on communication. But does traditional assessment correspond to the changing objectives? Many educators today give a negative answer to this question and propose alternative assessment. The article deals with the definition, benefits and ways of implementation of alternative assessment. But firstly, we will consider the functions of assessment in general.

What is the role of assessment?

Assessment is multidimensional. It provides diagnostic feedback for a teacher as well as a student. As a result, a teacher is able to design and adapt the instruction so that teaching will be more effective. Moreover, assessment helps teachers set standards students have to live up to. As for students, assessment helps them to evaluate their progress and see how well they understand the material. Therefore, it helps students to improve their learning strategy. Assessment also helps students to relate their progress to others.

 Today most educators admit that only alternative assessment fulfils all these functions.

What is alternative assessment?

There is no single definition of this notion, but the goal can be identified in the following way: “to gather evidence about how students are approaching, processing, and completing real-life tasks in a particular domain.” [2, p.5]

What are the features and benefits of alternative assessment?

Comparison of alternative assessment with traditional one reveals a lot of benefits of the first type. Firstly, the emphasis of alternative assessment is put on students’ strength, not weaknesses, so it shows students’ achievement. Secondly, since alternative assessment is performance-based, it turns a class into a learner-centered one. In other words it focuses not on right or wrong answers, but on communication. Moreover, the aim of alternative assessment is to enable students to create performance or a product of some kind, hence it directs students to creative use of language. The key benefit of this type of assessment is that it invites students to reflect on their progress, so leads to self-correction.

How to implement alternative assessment?

The first rule fosters teachers to incorporate alternative assessment into class activities gradually, reflecting on each step. Secondly, a teacher should be patient, consistent and ready to face skeptical attitude to alternative assessment. The best way to introduce it is to start with a discussion of the benefits of alternative assessment, pointing out the limitations of traditional assessment. Teachers should try to convince and show that it will make their learning more productive. At the initial stage teachers can use checklists. If the students are comfortable with them, rubrics can be introduced. Teachers can start with a holistic rubric and then incorporate analytic, primary trait or multitrait rubrics [3].

When teachers realize that students are comfortable with these types of alternative assessment, they can turn to peer assessment. It should be offered only when a class demonstrates supportive environment, and students are not opposed to the idea that their peers will evaluate their skills. Such assessment is aimed at relating one student’s progress to the other’s one and introducing improvements into their learning strategy. The highest level of alternative assessment is self assessment, which enables students to become independent learners and can increase their motivation.

Conclusion

We have tested the proposed procedure at the military academy, and despite numerous constraints (such as time, program objectives, low language level of cadets) it proved to be successful. When a comprehensive assessment program at the classroom level balances traditional and alternative assessment, a clear picture appears showing if a cadet is relative to learning objectives and standards. The most important thing is to enable cadets to reflect and to articulate information about their own learning.

References

1. http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/learningobjectives.html (5.11.2015)
2. Huerta-Macias, A. (1995). Alternative assessment: Responses to commonly asked questions. //"TESOL Journal," 5, P. 8-10.
3. http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/assessing/alternative.htm (5.11.2015)