Performance-based Assessment in the LOTE classroom: how to make your class more communicative

1. Performance-based Assessment in the LOTE classroom: how to make your class more communicative Darcy Johnson, M.ED. In Curriculum & Instruction and Spanish Brian McDonough, M.A. in Ibero-Romance Philology and Linguistics (Area of concentration: Second Language Acquisition)

2. Today’s RRISD Schedule 8:30-8:40 – Introductions 8:40-9:00 – Theory 9:00-10:15 – Speaking 10:15-10:30 – Break 10:30-11:30 – Writing 11:30-12:30 – Lunch 12:30-1:40 – Listening 1:40-1:55 – Break 1:55-3:30 – Reading + discussion/questions

3. Today’s PISD Schedule 8:30-8:40 – Introductions 8:40-9:10 – Theory 9:10-10:20 – Speaking 10:20-10:35 – Break 10:35-11:30 – Writing 11:30- 12:30 – Lunch 12:30-1:40 – Listening 1:40-1:55 – Break 1:55-3:30 – Reading + discussion/questions

4. Introductions • Name • School • Language • Levels • 2014 World Cup Winner?

5. Which one of these pictures illustrates effective communication?

6. A.

7. B.

8. C.

9. ANSWER: C. • Note how all three individuals are “chill-axing”, thus lowering their affective filter. • Our favorite definition of communication: • a technique for expressing ideas effectively (as in speech) • www.merriam-webster.com

10. What is performance-based assessment? “Performance-based standards necessitate the inclusion of a variety of assessment tasks that integrate skills and immerse students in scenarios resembling real life situations.” (http://www.sedl.org/loteced/PD_training.html)

11. Krashen (1981): • Krashen (1981) “The goal of the classroom is not to produce native-speakers or even error-free second language performance..” • “develop ‘intermediate’ second language competence,” • “bring the student to…understand the language he hears and reads outside the class and thus improve on his own.” • Interlanguage - Selinker (1972)

12. Validity of Assessment Are you comfortable sending your teenager on the road having only passed a paper and pencil driving test? Did your car mechanic take a paper and pencil test before working on your Volvo or does he/she actually work on cars? Does your doctor know about brain surgery or has he/she practiced brain surgery?

13. “When Grammar Instruction Undermines Cohesion in L2 Spanish Classroom Discourse” (Toth 2004) • Conversational Day vs. Grammar Day • Conversational day – implicit/learn by noticing • Grammar day – explicit/ask specifically for that form • Who won?

14. ConversationalDay!

15. Rote vs. Meaningful Learning (Mayer 2002) • Pledge of Allegiance • Rock-a-bye-baby • Ring around the Rosey • Sayings • Six of one, half dozen of the other • Early bird catches the worm • Girl Scout pledge • Miranda rights • Brainstorm expressions without thought • Can you see the disconnect? • When we memorize in a rehearsed manner, we do not readily extract meaning and therefore cannot readily apply what they have memorized in other contexts.

16. Authentic language acquisition:(the SOUL of language) Spoken or written language data that has been produced in the course of genuine communication, and not specifically written for purposes of language teaching. –Nunan (1999)

17. Meaningful activities • The four abilities: • Speaking • Writing • Listening • Reading *Integrate culture whenever possible/appropriate!!! Do not be the <dark one> like Sra. Johnson! *Modifiable for the level you teach!

18. Part 1 Meaningful Speaking Activities

19. Speaking: See-Tell-Draw (shared by Carolyn Wietzel, Leander HS) Objective: Students will study, memorize, explain, listen, retell, and interpret visual/ audio cues in order to reproduce a visual that is in the hall. Materials: A picture prompt (to be hung in the hall); a line on the floor (can be made with tape); butcher paper and markers

20. See, tell , draw! • Formgroups of 5. • person (A) goesoutsidetostudy a picture, painting, ordrawingforx minutes • person (B) stands at a line bythedoor and listenstoperson (A) whentheyreturntothe line • Afterwardsperson (B) goes back totherest of thegroup and describes thepicture, painting, ordrawingthatperson (A) described • Thegroupdrawstheimagethatperson (B) describes • Person (A) goes back outsidetostudyitagain and will come back in to describe itto a thirdperson (C) againwith more details. Person (C) describes theimagetotherest of thegroup, and groupmemberstaketurnsmeetingperson (A) at the line.

21. Speaking: Which dead person am I? Students form groups of 5-7. Each group works in a place of inspiration (away from other groups)and smiles in Spanish (or Arabic) at fellow group members. Envelopes are given to students that contain cards. Cards have names of famous dead people on them. Students keep envelopes face down except to show group members-objective is to guess which name is on the card through information that peers supply in the target language. Each person will take his/ her turn asking QUs

22. Which dead person am I? This activity can vary depending upon level/ grammatical topic I chose to use dead people because it easily lent itself to the preterite tense, which we were using at the time in class (we spent the whole day on dead people, i.e. writing an auto-obituary, etc.), but one could easily use a famous person who is currently alive or base the people on the topic.

23. Here are some suggestions as to what students can ask: ¿Dónde trabajé durante mi vida? (Wheredid I workduring my life) ¿Con quién me casé? (Who did I marry?) ¿Quélogré? (What did I achieve?) ¿Cuándo viví/ Cuándo me morí? (Whendid I live and die?)

24. Prom Date(Shared by Alice Berry, Episcopal HS, Houston, TX) Partner everyone up A/B Send B’s outside Tell Group A they are asking their B partner to the prom and they are not allowed to take ‘no’ for an answer. Tell Group B (out in hallway) they are ‘repulsed’ by person A, will NOT go to prom with them but they must invent polite excuses as to why they cannot go.

25. Speaking: Scriptless Scruples (cuz life just ain’t scripted!) • When was the last time you memorized the conversation that you were about to have with your brother before you called him? • Think critically about former project presentations or speaking dialogues to ensure that students are not memorizing what they are going to say! • Give students presentation guidelines • Ask them to draw out their ideas, NOT script them. • Have them practice based on interpreting their own visual cues, each time saying the presentation differently.

26. When conversing in the big, bad world (AKA BBW) you won’t always have visuals cues, so training your students to speak without them is another option which provides opportunities for circumlocution (description of a word or concept when you can’t think of the word)  Look, no script! 

27. Speaking: Advice for Warriors Form groups of 3 Make a plan of advice for survival at Westwood High School. (estudiar, hacerejercicio, desayunar…etc..) Each person should talk about 3 pieces of advice using, “(Ud.)Debe.., (Ud. )Puede…, y (Ud.)Tieneque….” Draw an image to represent each idea. Prepare to share your ideas with the clase (speaking), without reading!

28. How can we change this project by removing the script? Restaurant Scene In groups of three you are going to prepare a conversation to present to the class. One student will play the role of the waiter and the other three are going to be clients in the restaurant. Requirements: 5 words in the category “talking about how food tastes” 15 words in the “food” category 4 sentences in the category “talking about unintentional events” 4 words with “ísimo” For crédito extra (1-10 points) you can wear costumes and use props during your presentation. You need to turn in the script and rubric before you present. Please mark the required vocab/ grammar on the script with different colors and make a key indicating what your colors represent!

29. What can we do to help the kiddos NOT write a script? Simple requirements…instead of asking them to apply 15 vocabulary words from a specific list, design the topic so that it solicits use of certain vocabulary authentically Train them from “an early age”! Explain why they should NOT use a script (starting at level 1)

30. Other ideas Give quick orals as part of an exam, i.e. randomly move about the room asking students questions based on the topic while they are taking the test. Oral quizzes on appropriate topics. Evidence suggests that students understand the topic better when they do it that way If technology permits, use the language lab, computer lab using Audacity, or hand-held recorders. Saves class time if they record all at once.

31. Keep ‘em on their toes! (gathering anecdotal evidence) During homework review ask them “Why?” Randomly ask a student a question during class in the target language.

32. Peer-grading • Students rotate between responding to stimuli and evaluating a peer’s response to that stimuli • For example, while studying art unit students describe works of art from target culture while partner grades them on their performance (see rubric)

33. Some Characteristics of Performance-Based Assessmenthttp://www.sedl.org/loteced/opdc/resources/characteristics_PBA.pdf Performance-based assessment is authentic, connected to everyday life. Performance-based assessment provides opportunities for students to show what they can do as well as what they know. Performance-based assessment involves students in the process of evaluation. Performance-based assessment integrates tasks involving multiple skills and knowledge of culture. Performance-based assessment helps all learners to do their best and aims to improve overall student performance .

34. Part 2 Meaningful Writing Activities

35. Meaningful writing activities • Journaling • Grading techniques: • Completion with observation • Grading 1 out of every 5 • Sample writing rubrics (see packet) • www.rubistar.com • Open ended use of language providing for student ownership • Give students choices (of topics) • Give varying target audiences …use humor! • Give students silly mediums (graffiti art)

36. Lado (1961) – Testing Discrete Points • Discrete-point testing - language knowledge divided into a number of independent facts: elements of grammar, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation, pronunciation, intonation and stress. (multiple-choice recognition tasks). • Integrative testing - realistic language use requires the coordination of many kinds of knowledge in one linguistic event, and so uses items which combine those kinds of knowledge, like comprehension tasks, dictation, speaking and listening. • Pros and Cons • Discrete-point testing risks ignoring the systematic relationship between language elements; • Integrative testing risks ignoring accuracy of linguistic detail.

37. Teaching discrete points • Spanish example: por vs. para • difficult concept • traditional method: fill in the blank tasks • memorization of uses • fried brains • 50/50 chance of guessing correctly • communicative method: tasks that elicit the desired word

38. Por/para practice • Select a use of por or para to focus on • For example, we use por to tell how much you bought something for (exchange). • Have them write a paragraph (We use journals) telling how they just went on a shopping spree and they bought each item for (price). • The next class day, ask students randomly how much they can buy something for, emphasizing the word “por”. • The next class, bring it up again. • How are you possibly going to get through all of the uses of por and para? • Teach it throughout the year rather than in 2 class periods. • Repeat and recycle constantly.

39. Por/para on an exam • Choose a writing or speaking task that elicits the use of ‘por’ and ‘para’ after having sufficiently covered both over an extended period of time • Grade on a rubric that requires production of ‘por’ and ‘para’ as one (and only one) of the characteristics of a properly produced task.

40. Rubric for grading discrete point

41. Writing while integrating cultural knowledge Legend project: Students investigate an ancient civilization and take notes on relevant facts: mode of transport, religious icons, sustenance, etc. Students study components of a legend Students use the facts from the civilization to write a legend in small groups that explains a phenomenon from that culture Students then present the legend the rest of the class by acting out the story while a narrator from the group reads

42. Legends Project

43. Communicative Writing Activity Give students a topic, list of 10 verbs to use, or a starting sentence. Each student will write for 3 minutes at the top of notebook paper starting a story w/ the given topic. After 3 minutes, students will pass the story to the person behind them for that person to continue where they left off. Students continue rotating, switching every 3 minutes until there is a crazy, but entertaining story told by the entire row. Teacher can enhance and reinforce writing organization strategies by giving the next student a lead word like, "First...", "Later.....", "However"...., Thus....

44. Integrated tasks • Employment • Students will: • Read classified ads, internet job search • Create a classified ad • Create a resume • Writing a cover letter • Conduct an interview

45. Writing topic share time Journaling Projects Essays

46. Welcome back from lunch!

47. When you think of authentic sources, what kind of sources do you think of first? Written? But what about other types of authentic sources??? Students should listen, read, speak, and write in contextual settings that mimic the real world. With respect to listening: students should hear second language voices from a variety of native-speakers as well as non-native speakers. In addition, motivation can be enhanced by witnessing instructors successfully communicating with other speakers of the language.

48. Part 3 Meaningful Listening Activities

49. Meaningful listening activities Using authentic or textbook generated videos, radio, etc. (see handout) Fill in the blanks from a transcribed copy of the audio selection Make your own comprehension questions appropriate to the level of the class. Students read transcript outloud and then listen Create charts, tables to fill out based on listening

50. RESOURCES for listening practice • Spanish: • streets of your own town, malls, restaurants, panaderías, taquerías, • UT Spanish Proficiency Exercises http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe • BBC world in Spanish: www.bbcmundo.com • Radio de lasNacionesUnidas: http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/spanish/ • German: festivals in German-American towns in Texas, Wurstfest • French: • Francaisinteractif: http://www.laits.utexas.edu/fi/ • United Nations Radio in French: http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/french/ • Chinese: • United Nations Radio in Chinese: http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/chinese/ • Latin: the Vatican • ASL: ASL videos on You Tube, Texas School for the Deaf