Title: Enhancing Effective English Language Assessment in Secondary Schools Teacher Conference, Hong Kong,
1Enhancing Effective English Language Assessment
in Secondary Schools Teacher Conference, Hong
Kong, April 22nd, 2006
- Towards more effective assessment in Hong Kong
secondary schools Findings from the chalkface - Chris Davison
- Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong
2From a testing to an assessment culture
- Assessment is the practice of collecting
evidence of student learning in terms of
knowledge, skills, values and attitudes through
observation of student behaviour when carrying
out tasks, tests, examinations, etc. - (Curriculum Development Council, 2000)
3From a testing to an assessment culture
- Assessment practices in Hong Kong traditionally
aimed to select students for education or
employment (Biggs, 1995), but major educational
reforms underway, with school-based and
standards-referenced assessment being introduced
as way to improve learning and teaching
(Education Commission, 2000 CDC, 2000 HKEAA
2003). - Official adoption of UK Assessment Reform Groups
distinction between assessment for learning vs
assessment of learning
4From a testing to an assessment culture
- Concerted move to adopt school-based assessment
(Stiggins Conklin 1992 Black Wiliam 1998
Brookhart 2003) - Integral part of teaching and learning
- Teacher-mediated, evolving
- Multi-modal (observation, inquiry, analysis,
test, etc) - Co-constructed and dialogic
- Context-dependent
- Oriented towards individual improvement rather
than system-wide comparisons
5Integral part of teaching and learning
6Teacher-mediated and evolving
7Multiple and varied formats
8Multiple and varied formats
9Co-constructed and dialogic
10Context-dependent
11Individually-oriented
12From a testing to an assessment culture
- http//cd.emb.gov.hk/basicguide/BEGuideeng0821/ch
apter05.html - Based on the beliefs that every student is
unique and possesses the ability to learn, and
that we should develop their multiple
intelligences and potentials there should be a
change in assessment practices and schools should
put more emphasis on 'Assessment for Learning' as
an integral part of the learning, teaching and
assessment cycle
13From a testing to an assessment culture
- In other words, teachers should use
assessments (e.g. as simple as effective verbal
questioning, observation of student behaviour)
and provide immediate feedback to enhance student
learning in everyday classroom lessons. The focus
is on why they do not learn well and how to help
them to improve rather than just to use
assessments to find out what knowledge students
have learned
14From a testing to an assessment culture
- Supported by the development of
standards-referenced assessment frameworks and
"authentic" alternative school-based assessment
activities/tasks embedded within the
instructional program, as well as more formal
summative school-based assessment (eg. HKCEE
2007). - Such assessment seen as complementing the recent
adoption of a more outcomes-oriented English
syllabus.
15From a testing to an assessment culture
- BUT
- experience elsewhere (and in Hong Kong with TOC
and TAS) demonstrate conclusively that the shift
from a "culture of testing" to a "culture of
assessment" (Gipps, 1994) is fraught with
difficulties - theoretical , socio-cultural and,
above all, practical - thus must be carefully
monitored, evaluated and supported.
16Our research (studies), 2004-?
-
- Aims
- To stimulate, support, document and evaluate the
development of effective formative and summative
assessment practices in English language
teaching, with a particular focus on the HKCE
2005-07. - To identify and describe factors which may
facilitate and/or hinder the connection of
formative (and summative) assessment and feedback
with learning and teaching
17Our research (studies), 2004-?
- 13 interlinked projects, part of a coherent and
systematic programme of research and evaluation
and professional development, funded by HKEAA,
QEF, UGC and the Faculty of Education, HKU,
http//web.hku.hk/sbapro - Data collected from all Form 4 English teachers
and students in all HK secondary schools through
questionnaires, individual and group interviews,
focus groups, classroom observations,
video-recordings, self-reflections and
retrospective analysis.
18The research (studies), 2004-?
- Research school-based, co-participatory and
action-oriented - Action research rejects the concept of a
two-stage process in which research is carried
out first by researchers and then in a separate
second stage the knowledge generated from the
research is applied by practitioners. Instead,
the two processes of research and action are
integrated (Somekh, 1995) - Results consistently demonstrate that there needs
to be more attention to developing teacher
assessment (un)readiness, and to system-level
support.
19The contribution of theory The stages of
concerns model
- Hall, George, and Rutherfords (1977) Stages of
Concern Model is one of best known
individual-oriented models found in the
educational literature which can be used to track
the concerns of teachers adopting or implementing
edcational innovations. - Hall et al. define concern as the composite
representation of the feelings, preoccupation,
thought, and consideration given to a particular
issue or tasks (p.5).
20The contribution of theory The stages of
concerns model
- Two key assumptions are made in the model
- Assumption 1 Teacher concern is a
- multi-dimensional construct.
- 7 distinct stages of concern assumed to exist
irrespective of the nature of the educational
innovation - Self-concerns Awareness, Informational,
Personal. - Task concerns Management.
- Impact concerns Consequence, Collaboration,
Refocusing. -
21The contribution of theory The stages of
concerns model
22The contribution of theory The stages of
concerns model
23The contribution of theory The stages of
concerns model
24The contribution of theory The stages of
concerns model
- Assumption 2 Teacher concern is a developmental
construct. -
- Initially, a teachers self-concerns are
expected to be the most intense. As the teacher
becomes more comfortable, task concerns begin to
dominate. Finally, impact concerns become most
important and the teacher starts to demonstrate a
strong sense of professionalism and control. - A teacher can move back and forth across several
stages as they develop.
25The contribution of theory The stages of
concerns model
- Analyzing teachers stages of concern and their
paths of development helps us to evaluate
teachers assessment readiness and the nature
of support they require. However, teachers are
not unfettered free agents, but strongly
influenced by their own personal histories and
beliefs (including perceptions of self-efficacy),
and the implicit and explicit discourses and
practices at the institutional and societal
level - All action is socioculturally mediated, both in
its production and in its interpretation - (Ahearn, 2001, p. 112).
26TEACHER KNOWLEDGE, BELIEFS AND ATTITUDESeg. Role
of education nature of assessment, teaching and
learning nature of (English) language and
language learning, prior experiences of
assessment/change, etc
SITUATIONAL FACTORS eg. Time, trust, collegial
support, student numbers/characteristics,
perceived impact of assessment, etc
EXTERNAL PRESSURES eg. Syllabus and exam
requirements, other educational reforms,
parental/community expectations, etc
Teachers assessment orientation and
decision-making processes
ASSESSMENT PRACTICES (Davison, 2004, in progress,
adapted from McMillan 2003)
27Findings
- Although a range of assessment activities are
being practiced in the schools, they are mostly
summative assessments for grading purposes. - Assessment activities like dictations, formal
examinations are more common than portfolios,
student-teacher conferencing and/or
student-student conferencing, and self and/or
peer assessment. - Alternative assessment activities are usually
tried out on a more informal basis and account
for a small percentage of marks.
28Findings
- In terms of assessment practice, teachers are
still more likely to assess discrete skills (e.g.
speaking, writing, reading, listening) rather
than integrated skills (e.g. writing notes before
speaking/oral presentation/ - discussion).
- Students tend to have more experiences of
individually-based assessment rather than
pair/group, self and peer assessment. - The focus of assessment is upon the final product
rather than the learning process.
29Findings
- There is a wide range of teachers concerns about
school-based assessment in both its formal and
informal modes. - Our data suggest about 20-30 of teachers are
still exhibiting Stage 3-type concerns about
alternative assessments, about another 20-30
are at Stage 5, or higher, with the rest still
demonstrating characteristics associated with
Stage 4, but with clear shift in the upward
direction, especially after the experience of
active group experimentation and sharing.
30Findings
- Examples (background, beliefs/understandings,
attitudes, practices, changes) - Peggy not yet professionally trained, rather
confused about fundamental concepts (eg.
formative vs continuous assessment, training vs
teaching), feeling totally overloaded, very
uncertain, constantly seeking reassurance, has
become more rather than less anxious over the
last six months, needs much stronger support. -
31Findings
- Steven qualified, but fairly traditional,
positive about direction of change, but focus of
teaching on logistics, workload and time
issues, still strongly influenced by current
practice (eg. video-records show SBA group
interactions still very stilted and unnatural,
students encouraged to use memorized phrases and
reliant on notes), not convinced he is doing it
properly, but quick to change when has
opportunities to discuss and compare with peers.
32Findings
- Mandy well qualified and experienced, very
enthusiastic and creative, video-records show
students confident and engaged, activities
tailored to suit specific context, feels positive
about student development, main concerns are
about lack of systematic and school-wide
approach, and misunderstandings of colleagues
and in community, and the effect on students of
such uncertainty.
33Findings
- All teacher informants concur that the aims of
assessment proposed by EMB are good for learning
and teaching, but they think that their schools
assessment programme is not effective enough in
meeting the new demands, schools and community
still preoccupied with recording data about
students progress for ranking/comparative
purposes, including for promotion. - Teachers argue that schools have put too much
emphasis on this aim, at the expense of
assessment for learning
34The need for more school-level support
- Planning
- The assessment activities are not well-planned
and coordinated - From 4 teachers have never met together there
is no common planning time - Provision of feedback
- Students cannot get detailed individual comments
about their own performance - Only marks or grades are given to the students.
Teachers don't have time to talk to students
individually
35The need for more school-level support
- The need for more formative assessment
- Currently, almost all assessment activities are
traditional and summative. They can give students
some feedback on their progress but not quite
effective in helping them to develop - Formative assessment tends to be neglected by
both students and parents as they only believe
studying for the exam is the ultimate goal of
learning
36The need for more school-level support
- The need for (much) more whole school
understanding and collaboration - I can try out some new methods in my own class
provided that they don't interfere too much with
the normal curriculum - It's hard. Many of these policy and practices
are old and traditional. Unless I get most of my
colleagues to agree to the new change, it will be
difficult
- The school is pre-dominantly composed of
teachers who do not strongly believe in the
effectiveness of assessment policy and practice.
I'm not a heavy weight in the English panel
37The need for more school-level support
- The need for (much) more whole school
understanding and collaboration - The management level of our school should update
and equip themselves with policy for whole school
assessment and to what extent SBA be incorporated
into the curriculum.
- More seminars should be given to school
authority so that we don't have to fight for
support when carrying out the new assessment
policy - There is not much an individual can do
38Conclusions
- Need to continue to negotiate ways to develop
assessment readiness which take into account the
school community, not just the teacher, as the
key unit of change, by - Reconceptualizing assessment not as a top-down
change imposed upon schools, but as a process of
dialogue between teachers, learners and the wider
school community.
39Conclusions
- Providing teachers and schools with the
opportunity to share evolving assessment beliefs
and practices in order to develop a sense of
ownership, common understanding of the assessment
process, and a more critical but informed
perspective on practice - Fundamental changes in school assessment
practices need to be planned, discussed, shared,
negotiated and agreed by all teachers in each
school. A corresponding assessment policy and
mechanisms to bring it about need to be worked
out at whole-school and classroom levels
parents (need to be informed) of the rationale
underpinning the change in assessment practices
(CDC, 2003)
40Conclusions
- Providing opportunities for teachers, students,
parents and administrators to experience how
assessment for learning looks and feels very
different (Leung, 2002) to traditional
exam-oriented assessments of learning.
41Conclusions
- Acknowledging that for most teachers
understanding of theory only emerges through
practice, and practice must not only be
theoretically sound, but also totally practical,
perhaps the greatest challenge of all - At the heart of change for most teachers is the
issue of whether it is practical in the ethic
of practicality amongst teachers is a powerful
sense of what works and what doesnt, of which
changes will go and which will not not in the
abstract, or even as a general rule , but for
this teacher in this context. - (Hargreaves, 1994 12)
-