Assessing Achievement with the ELL in Mind: Key points of Unit 4
Note 2: ELL = English language learner. The corresponding acronym used elsewhere on this site is ESL student = English as a second language student. [ More ]
Unit 4: Grading with the ELL in Mind
Peer and self-assessment
Peer assessment provides opportunities for both meaningful interaction between ESL students and their native English peers in the class and for obtaining useful feedback on how to improve the work in question.
Self-assessment gives ESL students to gauge the quality of their work according to criteria devised by the teacher or collectively as a class. Portfolios are a common way to provide students with opportunities for self-assessment.
Done well peer and self-assessments help develop meta-cognitive strategies and learner autonomy.
Points to note:
- Both peer and self-assessments need careful preparation, often involving a rubric, checklist or Likert scale. It is helpful if the teacher can model exactly how students are to conduct these assessments.
- When doing peer assessment, ESL students benefit from sentence frames that reduce the amount of language they must generate. Example: "I think you did a good job in... ".
- Teachers need to provide appropriate feedback on the peer and self-assessments. The information they gain from the students is, of course, an example of formative assessment.
More on peer and self-assessment
A link to various useful resources on the topic, provided by the University of Reading.
A brief but useful overview of the advantages and disadvantages of both peer and self assessment.
A short video on the topic by influential educator Dylan Wiliam.
Rubrics
Rubrics can be used at various stages of the learning cycle: at the beginning to make task outcomes or learning objectives clear to students; in the middle to measure progress towards the learning objectives (formative assessment); and at the end as the means to evaluate success in meeting the objectives (summative assessment).
Points to note:
- Students can gain a clear understanding of the criteria for success in fulfilling the learning objectives if they jointly construct the rubric with the teacher.
- Teachers may wish to create alternative rubrics for the ESL students in their classes.
- ESL teachers can advise on modifications of rubrics to make them appropriate for the English proficiency level of the ESL students in the class.
More on rubrics
Student-directed Assessment in ESL/EFL: Designing Scoring Rubrics with Students
A good discussion of the value of joint construction of assessment rubrics, and how to do so.
First chapter of the book of the same name by the ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development). A very good introduction.
Workshop: Creating a Good Rubric
Another useful guide to creating rubrics, with several examples - in the form of a question and answer dialogue.
The 5 Best Free Rubric Making Tools For Teachers
Links to five websites that make it easy to create every type of rubric.
Corrective Feedback
Corrective feedback here refers to the way that subject teachers respond to the language errors of their ESL students. In essence, there are three ways to respond: not all, with implicit feedback, with explicit feedback.
Implicit feedback indicates in some way to the student that a language error has been made, and provides the correct form - but without a metalinguistic explanation.
Explicit feedback identifies the error, and explains how and why it differs from the grammatical form.
Points to note:
- There is no research consensus on the effectiveness of corrective feedback.
- In general, corrective feedback should be given only if the error results in a failure to communicate accurately, or if the error is in a key aspect of the language needed to complete the task (for example, past tense in a historical report).
- ESL students may be embarrassed by explicit or even implicit corrective feedback that is audible to the rest of the class.
- Mistakes are a natural part of learning a language, and corrective feedback should not result in students being afraid to make them.
More on corrective feedback
Should I correct an ESL student's grammar mistakes?
One of the FAQs on a page elsewhere on this website. There are similar FAQs on the same page that advise on the correction of spelling and pronunciation mistakes.
Understanding mistakes in written language
An overview of the different types of written mistake made by ESL students. Also from elsewhere on this website.
Corrective Feedback in SLA: Classroom Practice and Future Directions
A scholarly article that "reviews the main surveys on corrective feedback, providing the theoretical rational for and against error correction".