Lluís+Miquel

I’m sorry, Núria, for drawing so much on your diary and your activities, but they’re such good practice that I can’t think of other ways to improve them.

Language instruction -regardless of the language you teach- shares the same goal: teaching learners to communicate effectively.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA It is important that students know the criteria in advance that will be used to evaluate their performance. There are criteria for each independent dimension of the performance: communicative aspects (clarity of the intent of the communication, relevance of the message’s content); linguistic aspects (the use of culturally suitable vocabulary and idioms; strategies (the use of reference works such as word lists or dictionaries to correct texts; the use of visuals to help make oneself understood). Therefore, next year I’d like to inform my students what they are expected to achieve and how they’re going to be assessed to check if they have achieved the objectives.

By correcting an oral presentation you address two skills. It’s advisable to tell students beforehand what you are going to watch out for, e.g., third person singular missing -s, the pronunciation of certain vowels or words in the oral presentation, etc. An analytical approach is better, to separate contents and grammar.

Similarly, students should be given the opportunity to evaluate each other’s performance. Working with peers is an important motivator for promoting autonomous learning and developing metacognitive strategies and techniques that will allow each student to learn better. Formative evaluation must be task based. Nunan defines a task as a piece of meaning focused work involving learners in comprehending, producing and/or interacting in the target language.

LEARNING DIARIES I hold the view that keeping diaries has pride of place when it comes to formative assessment. This is from a teacher I had but I think it’s interesting to share it with everybody:

Learner diary feedback 1. Uses of learner diaries · To improve writing · To find out what they would like to know · To find out what kind of activities they like the most/least · To get students’ opinions about the class · To express their feelings about the topic <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· To suggest ideas, things they like <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· To evaluate their attitude, their performance <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· They can draw similes to evaluate themselves <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· To record what they have done in class <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· To record activities they have to do for the next class <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· To find out if students have any weaknesses

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. Problems with using learner diaries <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students don’t want to share their opinions with the teacher. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students might be blocked when they have to write about their feelings, emotions and opinions. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It’s a lot of work for the teacher. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It’s a lot of work for the student. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It might discourage them if you mark their mistakes. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It could be a problem if another student reads a classmate’s diary and finds something upsetting or critical.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Possible solutions to those problems <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Make them see that you take their opinions into account, that they are useful. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Allow them to draw similes. Do some bonding activities before. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Take the diaries randomly and from time to time (weekly/monthly/termly/after a unit etc.). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Make it online (blog/wiki etc.). <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Take advantage of the split groups. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Have a “group” diary. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Only allow a short amount of time for diary writing. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">You don’t need to respond to their mistakes, you only respond to the content. Make a comment (on a postit note?) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The teacher controls the diaries. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sharing diaries and views that are too personal. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Loss of interest in the activity if you overdo it. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Depending on the level it might be difficult for them to express what they want. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Teacher guides answers and gives specific questions to answer. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Don’t overdo it. Do it e.g. at the end of a unit. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Focus on content rather than grammar.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. Why are they good learning tools? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· You are listening to your students. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· You make your students conscious about what they’re learning by making them reflect. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· You foster the habit of writing. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· You help students find their own voice. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· Helps improve the lessons because you adjust the activities to the group’s likes/dislikes etc. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· They help revision. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· You give importance to using the language outside class. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· It’s a record of what students do every day in class. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· Improves creative writing. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· We can see the progress of students throughout the year. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· They build confidence. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· For shy students it’s a good way of contacting the teacher. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· Sts recall the class and realise what they’ve learnt. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· If they do it in class, they do it themselves without translators. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">· They feel important if you take their opinions into account.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As Núria said in one of her posts, keeping a diary is as important as doing a traditional exam. As she points out, it helps students to structure their knowledge. In addition to this, her students would get lost and using a Wiki helps them keep track of their diary. Creating a wiki portfolio, as in Nuria’s example, benefits untidy students and then there are no excuses for records that get lost. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The idea of a Wiki portfolio is very interesting. The problem is that some of my students may find it quite difficult because they lack computer literacy. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Another conclusion I draw is that accuracy is very important, e.g. they get an extra point if they don’t make mistakes in Catalan. This is something I will apply to my low level courses. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Diaries must reflect on the four skills and include teacher tips and written feedback (‘What errors did I make that I would not try to do again?’). Another area is exam correction. Watching a full movie in several parts is something I definitely want to do next year. Núria has got a very interesting approach in the Kung Fu Panda activity:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Innovation <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Up to now, we have always corrected this kind of presentations using Teacher / whole class interaction. However, this time I will <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What is new is that this time, as they have their laptops, they will have to: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the end, everything they have done in the groups will be public to everyone.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">upload the presentation to Slideshare and then
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">embed it on ourwiki.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> download it,
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">work on it in groups, and
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">upload it again before the class is over.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students record how their English is improving. This is very important to foster self-esteem. The teacher has to think of a structure for the learning diary, getting students to focus on particular areas as in Núria’s diary:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At least 50 entries that are a minimum of 80 words long based on the following index
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Grammar rules
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">New vocabulary
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pronunciation rules
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Teacher tips
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Exam correction
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Spelling Rules
 * 7) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Written feedback: grammar errors
 * 8) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Written feedback: vocabulary and spelling
 * 9) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Written feedback: Syntax
 * 10) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Oral feedback: Pronunciation
 * 11) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Individual research, song I hear, games I play, films I watch...

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the other hand, Núria also provides a checklist students can use to think about which elements to incorporate in their diaries:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It is important that students are conscious of all the sources from which they can and must draw to develop their learning diaries. These are:
 * * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Teacher
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Exam correction
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Textbook
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wiki
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Other students
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Films watched
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The MP3 files they create
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Their written productions
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Their presentations
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Their optional exams
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Individual research on the Internet, private classes… ||

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fifty entries that are a minimum of 80 words long seems a lot for my low level students. Núria’s learning diary is very thorough. I don’t know if I can carry out such a diary with my students. Having said that, effective teaching requires a means to verify student learning at regular intervals and thus allow for quick intervention with students who demonstrate certain weaknesses and strengths. In this way, formative evaluation serves as a mechanism to regulate teaching. It allows the teacher to evaluate the impact of instructional strategies and to take the necessary measures in order to achieve the expected outcomes. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Learning diaries are a good tool because they clearly target what is to be evaluated. They also help develop a strategy for planning. I think I have to place a lot of emphasis on the importance of the diary and try to drill my students to use it because it’s really an effective tool.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Redrafting <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Redrafting is another tool for formative assessment which I already use. Here is an example that can be modified and tailored to suit other needs: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1. Students finish a draft of their text and exchange them to get <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">feedback from their peers. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2. The teacher collects in the students’ texts and indicates where there <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">are problems. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. In pairs or small groups students help each other to make sense of <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">the corrections that the teacher has pointed out in their written work. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4. The teacher monitors and helps the pairs and groups, clarifying <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">anything that is unclear in the marking. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5. Students write the next draft of their text incorporating the feedback.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Assessment <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The ESL portfolio is a tool for organizing a meaningful collection of the work carried out by the student over a given period of time and allows the teacher to assess student achievement and progress. It will contain “concrete evidence of student work” with a view to an improved monitoring of his or her learning (formative evaluation).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The portfolio intends to present concrete evidence of the student’s progress. It should capture the richness, depth, and breadth of his or her learning within the context of the instruction and the learning that takes place in the classroom. It should include examples of all aspects of language learning. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Student should manage their own portfolio. To this end, teachers should explain how to collect and organize samples of work in the portfolio that demonstrate what has been learned. Students should be encouraged to collect samples regularly and systematically, and class time should be allotted to keep the portfolio up to date.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Advantages
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The portfolio lends importance to activities done in the English class
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It involves students in assessment.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The portfolio is an excellent way to show parents, administrators, and future teachers what the student has done during the term or years. There is excitement about learning.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Because it can be used for teacher-parent interviews, teacher-counsellor or teacher-student interviews, it encourages interaction.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Finally, by providing a tangible, continuous and cumulative record of language development, it is an excellent means for students to see how they have progressed during the term, year or cycle.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I must admit that I didn’t know how to work with gold stars, but after reading about how Núria uses them I think they can be effective. Assessment is based on getting gold stars for solving the problems and incorporating the feedback.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Setting up one-to-one tutorials helps the teacher to get to know each student individually and follow his or her progress.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">English teachers also need to bring real and authentic materials to the classroom. That’s the reason why an activity such as watching Kung Fu Panda also has to do with formative assessment. E.g., when you prepare a quiz you’re testing students in a fun way and providing them with feedback. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nuria prepares quizzes on what the students watch. Also, the homework after watching a section of Kung Fu Panda, writing and translating five true sentences about the film on the class wiki is formative assessment. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">That’s another practice I want to implement next year, doing quizzes so that students get feedback on a range of topics.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nuria’s activity on error correction is wonderful, not only is it learner-centered, but also fosters learner autonomy and reflection on language (I like very much the part where students have to explain why the sentence is wrong, apart from correcting it). An activity like this may enable students to correct certain difficulties and progressively perfect certain aspects of their language proficiency. Different formative assessment tools also cater for different learning styles. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Developing strategies through formative assessment and reflecting on them on the learning diary. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Redrafting includes a lot of peer assessment and feedback. Nuria also takes this into account in her activity after exam correction, where she singles out a mistake she thinks her students can solve.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How can I encourage self-assessment? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Learning diaries <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Word spiders or mind maps <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Quizzes <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Redrafting <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Completing or correcting the transcripts <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Conduct a survey on the kind of activities students liked best or disliked or about different aspects of a task the teacher has set. They survey may ask each student to indicate if the task was difficult, if explanations were clear, if the activity was interesting. etc. The overall response will guide me in deciding on which action should be taken.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Apart from one-to-one tutorials, there can be student conferences. For example, two students may have a discussion about each other’s texts, referring to the criteria on a checklist.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mind maps <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I found this article on mind mapping: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“So what is mind mapping? Mind mapping is a learning technique which uses a non-linear approach to learning that forces the learner to think and explore concepts using visuospatial relationships flowing from a central theme to peripheral branches which can be inter-related. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">According to Buzan and Buzan, a mind map should be drawn on blank paper that is larger than standard 8 ½ by 11 inch paper. The rationale behind using a large sheet of paper is that it allows the student the opportunity to break away from the boundaries established by standard sized paper. The medium for drawing the mind map is usually colored pens or pencils. Students begin by drawing an image in the center of the paper that reflects the central theme, or topic, of the mind map which is to be created. By placing this central image in the center of the paper it allows the student 360 degrees of freedom to develop their mind map. Next, the student draws main branches with key words extending from this central image. The branches represent different categories which the student perceives as being relevant to the content of the key concept of the mind map. From these main branches, sub-branches are created. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One key tenet of the mind map is that each of the branches and sub-branches should contain pictures to aid in recalling the information. These sub-branches of key words or pictures can be linked together resulting in the integration of different parts of the mind map. Recently, many on-line computer versions of mind mapping have emerged such as[|iMindMap] (Tony Buzan),[|MindMeister] (MindMeister Labs),[|Visio](Microsoft), and[|MindNode](MindNode Software). A key question which needs to be further investigated with these online programs is, “do they limit the creator’s creativity in developing the mind map because of software limitations?”

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Another way to foster a learning to learn approach is implementing mind maps or word spiders. Mind maps could be included in the learning diaries not only as scaffolding activities. María Ascensión’s very good example in German gives me a lot of insight. Mind maps are not only very good for organising vocabulary, but also foster critical thinking. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lessons usually focus on a topic, I am going to ask students to draw a mind map of vocabulary in L1 related to the topic. For homework they have to look up the translation of the vocabulary in the mind map. Not only can mind maps be used for scaffolding, but as a tool to summarise a unit.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Online collaborative projects <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Finally there are collaborative online projects such as eTwinning. In my case I’d better pull my socks up and get to grips with these kind of projects.