Washback and Alternative Assessment

1. Washback and Alternative Assessment

2. What is washback? • The extent to which a test affects teaching and learning • What teachers and learners do that they would not usually do if there were no tests • Participants, processes and products affected by washback • Washback can be either positive or negative

3. Positive Washback • “Learning more” and “preparing for the test” doesn’t necessarily mean positive washback • Promoting positive washback • Test the abilities that we want to develop • Use direct testing • Test widely and unpredictably • Criterion referenced • Based on teaching and learning objectives

4. Alternative Assessments • Assessment procedures that are not like traditional tests with respect to format, performance or implementation • Different from traditional tests

5. Traditional vs Alternative

6. What should alternative assessments do? • Ask Ss to perform, create, produce or do something • Tap higher level thinking skills • Use tasks that are meaningful • Invoke real world applications • People, not machines, do the scoring • Require new instructional and assessment roles for teachers

7. Limitations • Claimed advantages are not research proven • Limited to the classroom • Alternatives in assessment

8. Portfolios

9. What is a Portfolio? • A purposeful collection of student work that exhibits the students’ efforts, progress, and achievements in one or more areas (Paulson and Meyer, 1991, p. 60) • Collection of works stored in folders will have little value to teachers and students • To be useful, careful consideration must be given to:

10. What goes into a portfolio? • The process of selecting what goes into the portfolio; and how the information in the portfolio is used • Sample of student work • Typical work or best work or evidence of development? • Bailey – four major elements/components • Introduction/overview • Academic works section • Personal section • Assessment section

11. Selecting work • Student led or teacher directed? • Select work that can provide additional information. Not repetition of already available work.

12. Main objectives of portfolios • Assessment • Promote Learning/development – basis for teacher-student conference

13. What should the portfolio do/have? • Portfolio should have value to both teacher and student • Provide information beyond that provided by tests • Require students to construct responses • Require students to apply their knowledge • Allow for the integration of language skills

14. SAMPLE PORTFOLIO ANALYSIS FORM DATE: 5/1/92 STUDENT: Marisel A. TEACHER: Jones GRADE: 4 EDUCATIONAL GOAL: Student demonstrates ability on variety of writing tasks

15. Problems/Challenges • Logistics • Interpretation • Design • Reliability

16. Self Assessment and Peer Assessment

17. Self Assessment • Teacher modelling of use of metacognitive processes and skills required • How can it help students? • Student trial/practice of assessment skills • Introduction to relevant assessment criteria • Clarification of abstract assessment criteria • Use of self assessment during rather than at the end of instructional unit • Example: DIALANG – students write and then compare to models (6 models indicating 6 levels)

18. Peer assessment: • How does it help students? • Reminds learners they are not working in isolation • Helps create a community of learners • Improves the product • Improves the process; motivates and even inspires • Helps learners be reflective • Stimulates meta-cognition

19. Some Limitations • Not common to all cultures • Tendency for some teachers to ask students to self-mark, not self-assess • The system must be supportive – e.g. test feedback and information so that students can self-assess • Students tend to assess higher than their actual abilities? • Students not used to assessing peers