AfL in MFL: assessment for and as learning

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AfL in MFL assessment for and as learning

• Dr Jane Jones
• Kings College London,
• Sept.2006

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The Black Box Black Wiliam

• Extensive KCL research on positive impact of AfL
• Kent / Oxfordshire average 1.5 grade increase
  for AfL pupils
• Ongoing Jersey research on teacher development,
  pupil attitude and achievement and sustainability
• Global appropriation of formative practices

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AfL in MFL a great many stars
in our practice

• Graded Q/A challenging questions
• Feedback and targets on written work
• Two and a wish
• Self- marking of exercises
• Peer-assessment e.g. of role-play
• Wait time through teacher repeating or rephrasing
  questions
• Traffic lighting, thumbs up whatever
• Language awareness

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AfL in MFL 1

• Traditional Q/A can be overly linear and
• unimaginative
• Spiralling or up and down the Q-ladder
• - 3SQ is predictable and restrictive
• Basic practice then develop unpredictability
  esp. in differentiation
• - Teachers ask too many questions pupils
  inadequately rehearsed in asking questions
• Teach question formats and provide
  opportunities to practise inc ask the teacher
• - Asking the ridiculous or pedagogical good
  practice? Comment tappelles-tu Michaela?
• Authentic questions and naturalistic responses
• Scope for revisiting and extending questioning

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AfL in MFL II

• - Feedback and targets can be non-formative/
  meaningless/ repetitive/ computer-speak versions
• Devising a broad range of comments and SMART
  targets for use and adaptation
• - TL or English? Not always systematic
• TL a way to use the language in an authentic
  context and a way to extend exposure
• - Whole class feedback can be vague
• Use error analysis to provide feedback and
  feedforward for whole class learning
• Many targets on written work
• Extend to all 4 skills
• Developing quality formative feedback and targets

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AfL in MFL III

• - Self-marking of routine exercises or from back
  of book
• Share marking criteria of exercises and extend
  self-marking to more challenging work
• - Fragmented and low level activity
• Develop the skills of self- assessment through
  sharing the vocabulary of assessment in the TL
• - Random and occasional marking
• Ongoing self-assessment every lesson

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Pupils Comments

• I would like to mark my own book as long as I
  know what I am doing. I also need time as
  sometimes Miss takes the mark scheme off before
  Ive finished.
• I am not always sure if I can have half marks and
  what for.
• Yes I feel confident to mark my own work.

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AfL in MFL

• - Peer-assessment can be rather routine and
  pupils may lack confidence
• Train pupils to peer-assess and develop
  confidence with a triangle of teacher feedback
• Good idea use of post-it feedback

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Pupils Comments

• Its a bit scary marking your neighbours work if
  you have to give them lots of crosses because
  when you give it back they might hit you.
• I like marking my friends work because I learn
  from it and get good ideas

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Wait time

• Rowes research (1974) in
• elementary School classrooms
• Mean wait time between ask a question and next
  intervention was only 0.9 seconds
• Insufficient time given for most pupils to think
  and formulate response
• Increasing wait time leads to longer answers,
  more pupils responding, more confident responses,
  pupils challenging each other (no hands up)
• Working collaboratively on responses peer
  learning
• Not to be confused with waiting time (up to 75
  of some primary school lessons according to
  Cullingford 1995) or wasting time

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AfL in MFL

• - Wait time limited, limited teacher sight range,
  star pupils, a culture of hands shooting up.
• Increase wait time- repeat and rephrase
  questions or comments
• Room scanning to read face and body language
  responses from all
• Check comprehension
• Establish expectations of all
• No hands up be ready
• Pupils have time to think.
• The art of the pause confidence-building and
  equality of opportunity

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AfL in MFL
?


?

• Traffic lighting, thumbs up can be OTT or
  over-routinised or over-used and lose their
  meaning
• coloured dots, mini-lights, waving hands, even
  teddies can all be used.
• Clarity about what your lights, thumbs and
  other semiotics mean and what you want pupils to
  be indicating by theirs

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AfL in MFL

• - Away from vague LA and the development of
  strategic competence
• language-aware and language- generating
  classrooms
• Time to reflect and consolidate stop and
  think
• developing critical skills and critical
  thinking through challenging learning and an L2L
  agenda

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Teacher development

• Not old dogs learning new tricks but old dogs
  re-affirming and redefining old tricks
• A gradual, stepped, trialling approach to
  developing AfL
• Peer observation and video-ing sequences of best
  bits
• Collaborative planning e.g. of targets, primary
  secondary liaison (literacy KS 3 strategy
  14-19 learning roles
• From practice to policy teachers / pupils
  /parents

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Issues

• The formative / summative dilemma finding
  pedagogic validity in summative assessment
• Primary school pupils have considerable
  experience of AfL
• Re-defining roles of teacher and pupil letting
  go
• Dependent on well defined learning intentions and
  success criteria
• Out damn grade! the meaning of grades and
  locating grades within an AfL framework
• Parental involvement favour quantitative data
  work in progress parental comments
• Whole school initiative required to give a
  joined-up powerful message leadership
• Resourcing pupil reference materials more
  technology for independent learning
• Time a resource like any other to be used as
  effectively as possible
• Sustaining new practices keeping them fresh

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A classroom culture of support Year 4 Primary
School children learning German 1

• Hanif to Robbie You speak with a really good
  German sound but sometimes forget to stay in
  German (he lapsed into English for counting his
  dice moves!)
• Robbie to Bethany You remember the words very
  well, but need to do the r (ref to the rolled
  r)
• Jake to Kelly I really like your clear
  pronunciation.
• Lizzie to Polly I think you are amazingly quick
  at learning new words.
• Barbara to Eliza Youre good at remembering the
  words. You have good pronunciation. Make sure you
  say what you mean (she meant a different noun on
  one occasion)

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A classroom culture of support Year 4 Primary
School children learning German 2

• Alec to Guni With your pronunciation it is hard
  to tell if youre German or English, but you need
  to put a bit more effort into your r sound.
• Guni to Alec What you said made good sense. You
  say your words very clearly.
• Billy to Eliza and Roberta You are very clear.
• Billy to Jake I like the way if you get it
  wrong, that you go back and correct yourself.
• Roberta to Billy You say your words really
  clear, and you say well done to others

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In a nutshell

• You can be sure that a pupil has understood
  something if he or she can explain it to another
  pupil. And if they dont they will ask the
  teacher as a last resort. I didnt know this was
  called assessment for learning.
• A languages teacher