Transcript Assessment - University of California, Irvine

Assessment
Foreign Language Pedagogy
EA 125
What is assessment for?




What do we want to assess?
How do teachers benefit from assessment?
How do students benefit from assessment?
How much assessment is necessary and
appropriate?
 What is the relationship between
assessment results and student
motivation/self-efficacy?
Types of Testing (p. 391)
 Achievement Test
 Proficiency Test
The Purpose of the Assessment
(p. 392)
 Administrative
• Placement/ Exemption
• Certification/ Promotion
 Instructional
• Diagnosis/ Evidence of progress
• Evaluation of teaching/curriculum
 Research
• Evaluation/ Experimentation
Teaching and Testing
 Teach for the Test.
• Criticism for standardized tests.
• Is this really bad?
 The test should reflect what students
have learned.
--Testing-Sampling principle of testing
 Tests=small sample of large domains
 Valuable inferences are about the
domains, not the samples
 Scores are useful only if one can
generalize from them to mastery of the
domain

(from lecture ppt by Dr. Jimmy Kim)
 Observed test score=true score + error
Some threats to test-based
inferences
 Performance fluctuations (over time)
 Scoring inconsistency
 Inappropriate test preparations (and
cheating)
 Biased items
 Excessive difficulty or easiness
 Idiosyncrasies of items used
(from lecture ppt by Dr. Jimmy Kim)
Core concept of validity
 Validity characterizes the ‘inference’
based on test scores, not the test itself.
 Validity is an evaluation of the
adequacy and appropriateness of the
‘interpretation and uses of assessment
results.’
(from lecture ppt by Dr. Jimmy Kim)
Grading
-Purposes of Grades 1. For administrative purpose
 2. To give students feedback about
their progress and achievement
 3. To provide guidance to students
about future course work
 4. To provide guidance to teachers for
instructional planning
 5. To motivate students.
 (Marzano, 2000)
De-grading
-Argument by Kohn (1999) Primary reasons for de-grading
 1. Grades tend to reduce students’ interest
in the learning itself.
 2. Grades tend to reduce students’
preference for challenging tasks.
 3. Grades tend to reduce the quality of
students’ thinking.
De-grading
-Argument by Kohn (1999)More reasons for de-grading
 Grades aren’t valid, reliable, or objective.
 Grades distort the curriculum.
 Grades waste a lot of time that could be
spent on learning.
 Grades encourage cheating.
 Grades spoil teachers’ relationships with
students.
 Grades spoil students’ relationships with
each other.
Why do we teach?




Good teachers tell.
Excellent teachers explain.
Superior teachers model.
Great teachers inspire.
 (Author unknown)