Assessment tools for young learners of English
The portfolio is a record of the child's process of learning: what the child has learned and how she has gone about learning; how she thinks, questions analyzes, synthesizes, produces, creates; and how she interacts--intellectually, emotionally and socially--with others.
2) Structured assessment activities
In a structured/simulated assessment activity to test competency we develop such assessment tools:
* A scenario/outline of the situation
* Scripts for people involved in the activity/simulation
* Instructions for the candidate and the assessor
* An observation checklist
Project-based assessment allows students to engage their learning in more concrete and creative ways. During the hands-on project, students learn how to apply their knowledge to practice. Also, they are more motivated to investigate the issue more deeply, so they remember more after such assessment. PBL is student-centered and requires reflection on both the process and the content to be meaningful. The key benefits of this assessment tool are:
* Authenticity (providing real-life experiences);
* Motivation (students are given voice and choice)
* Metacognition (providing significant feedback to students about their progress along the way)
* Collaboration (students learn how to work in a team)
* Creativity (projects require problem-solving and critical-thinking skills)
Student self-assessment involves students in evaluating their own work and learning progress.
Self-assessment is a valuable learning tool as well as part of an assessment process. Through self-assessment, students can:
* identify their own skill gaps, where their knowledge is weak
* see where to focus their attention on learning
* track their own progress
* if online, decide when to move to the next level of the course
This process helps students stay involved and motivated and encourages self-reflection and responsibility for their learning.
In peer assessment, a collaborative learning technique, students evaluate their peers’ work and have their work evaluated by peers.
Often used as a learning tool, peer assessment gives students feedback on the quality of their work, often with ideas and strategies for improvement. At the same time, evaluating peers’ work can enhance the evaluators’ own learning and self-confidence. Peer involvement personalizes the learning experience, potentially motivating continued learning.
6) Learner-developed assessment tasks
This assessment tool is based on the tasks developed by students. This develops students’ creativity, responsibility, and autonomy. But the development of such tasks should be guided or facilitated by the teacher.
Parents may see behaviors and skills that children demonstrate in only the home setting. Home inventories collect valuable information through a survey or set of short, open-ended response items completed by the adult at the child’s home.
Observation is a very useful way to assess. But, as with all assessment tools, it needs to be well planned and designed. Because it is observation, some people can tend to be a bit slack about the planning and record keeping. This is not good enough.
In this case, conferencing refers to the one-on-one student and faculty communication to discuss a current or recent assignment. The ultimate goal is to help the student and the entire classroom of students to improve.
Having analyzed the assessment tools above I have decided that, in my opinion, the most effective ones are: Project-based assessment, Peer assessment, and Portfolio assessment.
Project-based assessment is very good for developing creativity and autonomy. To create a project, students need to have a good knowledge of the subject and possess creative-thinking skills. Also, this type of assessment is really motivating and interesting for learners.
Peer assessment is an effective assessment tool which gives the opportunity to develop responsibility and improve knowledge of the subject. Also, students work in groups and pairs and learn how to give a constructive feedback.
Portfolio assessment is great for primary school and kindergarten. It contains all the works and achievements of the student and gives a good understanding of the progress made. Also, it helps to indicate the problem areas for improvement.