Alternative Assessment

provide the teacher with information about

students backgrounds, cultural differences, &

strengths & weaknesses in learning process.

provide teachers the opportunity to assess

process and product and to gain richer

understadings of what students are thinking
and how they construct meaning.

Alternative assessment methods are authentic

if they ask students to make use of skills &

abilities that are applicable to real life situations
of problems.

CHARACTERISTIC OF ALTERNATIVE
ASSESSMENT
Require

students to perform, create or

produce something
Use real world contexts and simulations
Are nonintrusive in that they extent the dayto day classroom activities
Allow students to be assessed on what they
normally do in class everyday
Use tasks that represent meaningful
instructional activities
Focus on processes as well as products
3

Tap into higher level thinking and

problem solving skills
Provide information about both the
strengths and weaknesses of
students
Are multicultural sensitive when
properly administered
Ensure that people, not machines,
do the scoring, using human
judgment
Encourage open disclosure of
standards
4

Kinds of Alternative Assessment

Performance Assessment Tasks

Portfolios
Journals
Observation
Conferences and Interviews
Peer assessment
Self assessment

DILEMMA OF MAXIMIZING BOTH PRACTICALITY AND

WASHBACK

Large scale standardized tests tend to

be one-shot performances that are
timed, multiple choice,
decontextualized, norm-referenced,
and that foster extrinsic motivation
Alternative test ( portfolio, journals,
self-assessment ):

open ended in their time orientation

and format.
contextualized to curriculum
referenced to the criteria
( objectives ) of that curriculum.
likely to build intrinsic motivation

Relationship of Practicality/Reliability to
Washback/Authenticity
HIGH

Large scale, standardized,

Multiple - choice tests

Practicality
And
Reliability

In-class, short-answer
Essay tests

Portfolio, journals,
And conferences

LOW
LOW

Washback and Authenticity

HIGH

PERFORMANCE BASED
ASSESSMENT
provide a means of assessing a

variety of student skills that cannot

be measured by objective tests.

include oral communication, the

construction of models, graphs,

diagrams, or maps, or the use of
tools and equipments (e.g.
computers, scientific instruments).
9

CHARACTERISTICS OF
PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT:

Students make a constructed response

They engage in higher order thinking ,
with open-ended task
Tasks are meaningful, engaging, and
authentic
Tasks call for the integration of language
skills
Both process and product are assessed
Depth of a students mastery is
emphasized over breadth
10

THE TEACHERS SHOULD DO IN THE

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT
11

State the overall goal of the performance

Specify the objectives ( criteria ) of the performance in

detail
Prepare students for performance in stepwise
progression
Use a reliable evaluation form, checklist, or rating sheet
Treat performances as opportunities for giving
feedback and provide that feedback systematically
If possible, utilize self- and peer assessments
judiciously

Performance Assessment
12

Advantages
measure complex learning outcomes that cannot be
measured by other means.
provide a means of assessing process or procedure,
as well as the product that results from performing
a task.
Limitations
Unreliability of ratings of performances
It is time-consuming in nature

Performance Assessment
13

Developing Performance Tests for your

Learners:
Step1 Deciding what to test
Step 2 Designing the Assessment Context
Step 3 Specifying the scoring rubrics
Checklist
Rating scales: e.g. analytical scoring (for each
trait, the rater assigns numbers representing
degrees of performance)
holistic scoring (when estimating the overall
quality of the performance and assigning a
numerical value to that quality)
Step 4: Specifying Testing Constraints (e.g. time,
reference material, equipment, scoring criteria).

PORTFOLIO
A planned collection of learner

achievement that documents what

student has accomplished and steps
taken to get there.
Shows growth in competence and
understanding across the term or
school year.
include many of the assessments
including drawings, concept maps,
journals, open-ended problem
solutions, laboratory reports,
homework.
requires at least the following 6 steps

14

Material of Portfolios
Essays and composition in draft and final forms
Reports, project outlines
Poetry and creative prose
Artwork, photos, newspaper or magazine clippings
Audio and/ or video recording of presentations,

demonstrations, etc
Journals, diaries, and other personal reflection
Tests, test scores, and written homework exercises
Notes on lectures
Self- and peer- assessments comments,
evaluation and checklists
15

ATTRIBUTES OF PORTFOLIO
( CRADLE )
Collecting
Reflecting
Assessing
Documenting
Linking
Evaluating

16

BENEFITS OF PORTFOLIO

Foster intrinsic motivation, responsibility and

ownership
Promote student-teacher interaction with the
teacher as facilitator
Individualize learning and celebrate the
uniqueness of each student
Provide tangible evidence of a students work
Facilitate critical thinking , self-assessment and
revision proccesses
Offer opportunities for collaborative work with
peers
Permit assessment of multiple dimensions of
language learning

17

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

STEPS AND GUIDELINES IN

DEVELOPING PORTFOLIO
State objectives clearly
Give guidelines on what materials to
include
Communicate assessment criteria to
students
Designate time within the curriculum
for portfolio development
Establish periodic schedules for
review and conferencing
18

Designate an accessible place to

keep portfolios
7. Provide positive washback giving
final assessment
6.

19

Portfolio self-assessment questions

(OMalley & Valdes Pierce, 1996, p. 42)

1. Look at your writing sample.

a. What does the sample show that you can
do?
b. Write about you did well
2. Think about realistic goals. Write one thing
you need to do better, be specific
20

JOURNAL
A journal is a log ( or account) of ones
thoughts, feelings, reactions, assessments, ideas,
or progress toward goals, usually written with little
attention to structure, form, or correctness.
Steps for using journal as assessment intruments :
Sensitively introduce students to the concept
of journal writing
State the objectives of the journal

Language learning log

Grammar journal
Responses to readings

21

Strategies based learning log

Self assessment reflection
Diaries of attitudes , feelings, and other factors
Acculturations logs
Give guidlines on what kinds of topics to include
Carefully specify the criteria for assessing or
grading journal
Provide optimal feedback in your responses
Three kinds of feedback( McNamara(1998,p.39) :
Cheerleading feedback
Instructional feedback
Reality check feedback

22

 Designate appropriate time frames and

schedules for review

Provide formative, washback- giving final
comments
How do journals score on principles of
assessment?
Practicality remains relatively low
Reliability may rich only a moderate level
Content and face validity are very high
Washback is off the charts

23

Conferences And Interviews

Conferences is a standard part of the process
approach
to teaching writing , in which the
teacher , in conversation about a draft, facilities
the improvement of the written work.
Possible functions and subject matter for
conferencing:
Commenting on draft of essays and report
Reviewing portfolios
Responding to journal
Advising on a students plan for
an oral
presentation
Assessing a proposal for a project
Giving a feedback on the results of performance
on a test
Clarifying understanding of a reading
Exploring
strategies
based
options
for

24

Checking a student s self- assessment of a performance

Setting a personal goals for the near future
Assessing general progress in a course

Genesee and Upshur ( 1996, P.110) offered generic

questions that may be usefull to pose in a conference :
What did you like about this work?
What do you think you did well?
How does it show improvement from previous work? Can
you show me the improvement?
Are there things about this work you do not like? Are there
things you would like to improve?
Did you have any difficulties with this piece of work? If so,
where, and what did you do to overcome them?
What strategies did you use to figure out the meaning of
words you could not understand?
What did you do when you did not know a word that you
wanted to write?
25

Interview
Interview is intended to denote a context in
which a teacher interviews a student for a
designated assessment purpose.
The goals of interview:
1. Assesses the students oral production
2. Ascertains a students needs before
designing a course or curriculum
3. Seeks to discover a students learning styles
and preference
4. Requests an evaluation of a course

26

27

The followings are guidlines to frame the

questions efficiently :
1. Offer an initial atmosphere of warmth and anxietylowering
2. Begin with relatively simple questions
3. Continue with level check and probe questions , adapt
to the interviewee as needed
4. Frame questions simply and directly
5. Focus on only one factor for each question.
6. Be prepared to repeat or reframe questions that are not
understood
7. Wind down with friendly and reassuring closing
comment

OBSERVATIONS
Observation is a systematic, planned procedure for
real time, almost surreptitious recording of student
verbal and non verbal behavior.
The objective of observation :
To assess students without their awareness of the
observation so that the naturalness of their linguistic
performance is maximized.
What kind of students performance can be usefully
observed?
Sentence level oral production skill:

Pronunciation of target sound , intonation

etc

Grammatical features( Verb tenses,

question formation
28

 Discourse level skill

Interaction with classmates
Reaction to particular students, optimal productive

pairs and group, which zones of the classroom are

more vocal, etc
Frequency of student initiated responses
Quality of teacher elicited responses
Latencies, pauses, silent periods
Length of utterances
Evidence of listening comprehension
Affective states
Evidence of attention-span issues, learning style
preferences
Students verbal or nonverbal response to materials,
types of activities, teaching styles
Use of strategic options in comprehension or
production
Culturally specific linguistic and nonverbal factors

29

STEPS FOR CARRYING THE CLASSROOM OBSERVATION

30

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Determine the specific objectives of the observation

Decide how many students will be observed at one time
Set up the logistics for making unnoticed observation
Design a system for recording observed performance
Do not overestimate the number of different elements
you can observe at one time- keep them very limited
Plan how many observation you will make
Determine specifically how you will use the result

Below are the ways in recording the

observation :
Anecdotal records:
It should be as specific as possible in focusing on the objective of
the observation, but they are so varied in form.
Checklist :
Checklists are a viable alternative for recording observation
result. Some checklists of students classrooom performance,
such as COLT observation scheme devised by Spada and
Frohlich(1995), are elaborate grids referring to such varibles as :
Whole-class, group, and individual participation
Content of the topic
linguistic competence
Material being used
Skill ( Listening, Speaking, reading, writing)

31

 Rating Scale:
One type of rating scale asks teachers to
indicate the frequencies of occurence of
target performance on a seperate frequency
scale( always: 5, never: 1). Another is a
holistic assessment scale that requires an
overall assessment within a number of
categories( for examples: vocabulary usage,
grammatical correctness, fluency).

32

S ELF- A N D P EER
A SS ESS M EN T
SELF- ASSESSMENT
without the presence of an external prod
To independently monitor
Developing intrinsic motivation that comes
from a self-propelled
PEER- ASSESSMENT
Cooperative learning
Collaboration in learning
Collaborative education
33

TYPES OF SELF- AND PEER

ASSESSMENT
1.

2.

3.
4.
5.

direct assessment of (a specific)

performance
indirect assessment of (a general)
performance
metacognitive assessment
socioaffective assessment
student self-generated test

34

CONFERENCES &
INTERVIEW

CONFERENCE
Is a standard part of the process approach
to teach in which the teacher facilitates the
improvement of the written work.
Teacher as a facilitator and guide
Offers positive washback

THE FUNCTIONS OF
CONNFERENCE
Commenting on draft of essays and reports
Reviewing portfolios
Responding to journals
Advising on a studenta plan for an oral
presentation
Assessing a proposal for a project
Giving feedback on the results of
performance on a test
etc

INTERVIEW

Intended to denote a context in which a

teacher interviews a studetn for designated
assessment purpose.

THE GOALS OF INTERVIEW

Assess the students oral production
Ascertains a students needs before
designing a course or curriculum
Seeks to discover a students learning styles
and preferences
Asks a student to assess his or her own
performance
Requests an evaluation of a course.

THE GUIDELINES TO DO
INTERVIEW
Warm up, offer initial atmosphere
Begin with relatively simple questions
Continue with level-check and probe
questions
Frame questions simply and directly
Focus on one factor for each questions
Wind don with closing comments

CONFERENCE AND
INTERVIEW
TIME CONSUMING
VARY RELIABILITY
HIGH VALIDITY
HIGH WASHBACK
HIGH AUTHENTICITY

OBSERVATION

OBSERVATION
To assess students without their awareness
so that the naturalness of their linguistic
performance is maximized.
Checklists are viable alternative for
recording observation result, the variables
of checklist:

Whole class, group, and individual participation

Content of the topic
Linguistic competence
Materials
Skill

The example of checklist

GRAMMATICAL FEATURE
3rd person
singular

Plural /s/

-ing progressive

Ignored

III

II

III

Treated by the
teacher

Self-corrected

I
I

II

THE STEPS OF DOING

OBSERVATION
DETERMINE THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE
DECIDE HOW MANY STUDENTS WILL BE
OBSERVED
SET UO THE LOGISTICS FOR MAKING
UNNOTICED OBSERVATION
DESIGN A SYSTEM OF RECORDING
PLAN HOW MANY PBSERVATION WILL YOU
MAKE
DETERMINE SPECIFICALLY HOW YOU WILL
USE THE RESULT

Moderate practicality and reliability

High validity
Moderate washback
High authenticity

SELF AND PEER

ASSESSMENTS

SELF ASSESSMENT derives from a number

of well-established principles of second
language acquisition. The principle of
autonomy as the main foundation. The
ability to set ones own goal both within and
beyond the structure of a classroom
curriculum, Developing intrinsic
motivation that comes from self desire.
PEER ASSESSMENT derives from
cooperative learning.

Benefit
Direct involvement of students in their own
destiny, the encouragement of autonomy,
increased motivation because of their selfinvolvement.

Types of Self and Peer

assessment
Assessment of a specific performance
Indirect assessment of general competence,
Metacognititve assessment
Soocioaffective assessment

1.

DIRECT PERFORMANCE OF (A SPECIFIC) PERFORMANCE

a student typically monitor her- or himself

the evaluation take place immediately very

soon after the performance
For example :
*
the student views a video-recorded lecture
and complete a self-corrected comprehension
quiz.
*
Internet sites offer many self-correcting
quizzes and test.
A leaner may access a grammar or vocabulary
quiz, and then self-score the result which may
be follow by comparing with a partner.
*
Television and film media

51

2. INDERECT ASSESSMENT OF (A
GENERAL) COMPETENCE
opposed to one specific,
relatively time-constrained
performance
the distinction between direct and
indirect assessment is the classic
competence-performance distinction
self-and peer assessment of
performance are limited in time and
focus to a relatively short
performance.
52

53

Assessment of competence may encompass:

a lesson over several days
a module
a whole term of course work
The objective is to ignore minor, nonrepeating
performance flaws and thus to evaluate
general ability.
A list of attributes can offer a scaled rating,
from strongly agree to strongly disagree

Indirect self-assessment rating scale

I demonstrate active listening in class.
5 4 3 2
1
I volunteer my comments in small-group work.
5 4 3 2
1
When I dont know a word, I guess from context. 5 4 3 2
1
My pronunciation is very clear.
5 4 3 2 1
I make very few mistakes in verb tense.
5 4 3 2 1
I use logical connectors in my writing.
5 4 3 2 1

54

3.METACOGNITIVE ASSESSMENT (FOR SETTING

GOALS)
Goal-setting self assessment was offered by
Smolen, Newman, and Lee (1995)
1. My goal for this week is to stop during reading
and predict what is going to happen next in the
story .
2. my goal for this week is to finish writing my
Superman story.

55

4. SOCIOAFFECTIVE
ASSESSMENT
learners resolve to assess and
improve motivation,
to gauge and lower their own
anxiety,
to find mental or emotional
obstacles to learning, an then
plan to overcome those barriers,

56

5. STUDENT-GENERATED TEST
a type of assessment that is not
usually classified strictly as self-or peerassessment is technique of engaging
students in process of constructing test
themselves.
can be productive, intrinsically
motivating, autonomy-building
processes.

57

Self and peer

Assessments
Guidelines
- Tell students the purpose of the
assessment
- Define the task
- Encourage impartial evaluation
of performance or ability
- Ensure beneficial washback
through follow-up tasks
58

PRINCIPLED EVALUATION OF
ALTERNATIVES TO
ASSESSMENT
principle
portfol journ conferen intervie observatio Self/pee
io

al

ce

Practicality

Low

low

low

mod

mod

mod

Reliability

mod

mod

low

mod

mod

Low

Face
validity

high

mod

high

high

high

Mod

Content
validity

high

high

high

high

high

High

Washback

high

high

high

mod

mod

High

Authenticit

high

high

high

mod

high

high59

60