Integrating assessment

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Integrating assessment learning in task design
through activity theory

• Steve Andrews
• Matthew Clarke
• Christine OCallaghan

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Overview

• Distinctive qualities of assessment for learning
• Affordances of activity theory in planning
  assessment for learning assessment tasks
• An integrated task design planning cycle
• Scaffolding task completion in the language
  classroom
• Examples of assessment for learning practice from
  Hong Kong classrooms

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Assessment for learning six key features

• Learning-oriented Formative, i.e. designed to
  inform future learning, not just providing
  summative information about past learning
• Student-oriented Assessment tasks need to be
  tailored to the interests, strengths weaknesses
  of students
• Mastery oriented Providing students with
  explicit information about the rules of the
  game e.g. student-friendly assessment rubrics

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Assessment for learning six key features

• Challenge\support oriented Designing tasks that
  assist students to perform beyond just beyond
  their current level of development
• Community oriented Enabling students to
  participate in activities with currency and
  relevance beyond the classroom
• Empowerment oriented Allowing students to
  experience diverse roles e.g. as assessors via
  peer/self assessment, not just objects of
  assessment, or as leaders in a group discussion,
  peer tutors, etc.

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Integrated task design and activity theory

• Drawing on activity theory can assist in
  designing tasks that
• Reflect the authentic practices of the wider
  community
• Incorporate and build on students identities
• Provide diverse scope for engagement
• And enables students to
• Begin from holistic experience of models of
  cultural practice
• Learn through guided exploration of the rules of
  the game
• Creatively produce diverse forms of culturally
  valued knowledge

Tools (task)
Subject (learner)
Object (learning)
Rules of the game
Division of labour
Community
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Scaffolding shifting responsibility in the
learning-teaching cycle
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Balancing challenge with support Scaffolding

• Too much challenge not enough support
• Too little challenge too much support

• Scaffolding strategies include
• Modeling
• Feeding back
• Instructing
• Questioning
• Task structuring
• Cognitive structuring
• Tharp Gallimore, 1988
• Lantolf Thorne, 2006

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Four key features of successful scaffolding
(Daniels, 2001)

• Activity is currently beyond learners capacity
  to complete alone
• Assistance provided is contingent on learners
  need
• Mode of assistance potentially varies
• Assistance is gradually withdrawn

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Scaffolding and feeding forward

• The goal of scaffolding is NOT short-term task
  completion
• Scaffolding must feed forward into long-term
  learning
• Successful task completion must be used to
  motivate students to keep pushing themselves to
  the next level of challenge

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Scaffolding strategies

• Before task performance
• Task structuring
• Cognitive structuring
• Modelling

• During task performance
• Instructing
• Questioning
• Feeding back

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Examples of task design and scaffolding

• Example 1 Kathy
• Experimenting with scaffolding in oral
• formative assessment tasks with S1

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Scaffolding strategy 1

• From group to individual presentation
• I think going from group presentation
  before individual presentation might be possible
  and especially when there are high achievers in a
  group. Because in one of the groups that they
  have presentation they got a girl who speaks
  really good English and she has no problems in
  expressing herself and somehow she could lead the
  group in doing better presentation. Actually the
  presentation by them is the best among all the
  presentations Ive got. But, actually, her
  group-mates are not the smartest in English in
  school. They are actually below average but they
  did a good job. I think perhaps the teachers can
  go from group presentation to individual
  presentation, and try to ensure that the leader
  in the group who can lead the whole group.

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Scaffolding strategy 2

• Differentiating the degree and form of
  scaffolding
• For the lower ability class I had them to do
  all the things within English lessons. They were
  not allowed to bring them back home. If I allow
  them to do so, they would ask the brighter
  students to do all the work and I dont want to
  see it. While they are doing the Powerpoint, I
  went group by group and see hows the process.
  But, for the higher ability class, I gave them
  less time doing in the lesson.

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Scaffolding strategy 2

• Differentiating the degree and form of
  scaffolding
• And, it turned out that actually the lower
  ability classes had better presentations than the
  higher ability classes. I think maybe thats
  because I assume that thats a higher ability
  class so its alright for me to give them less
  help. Generally speaking, their English is really
  better. While they are presenting, their
  vocabulary range and English fluency is always
  better. However, for the overall quality like the
  information selected or creativity etc its the
  lower ability classes thats better. They did
  more to attract the audience indeed. For the
  higher ability class they did not do so.

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Scaffolding strategies 3-5

• Before task performance
• Task structuring
• Modelling
• Cognitive structuring
• I have given them three rules from the more
  important to less important, from the general to
  specific, and the last one, from the bigger
  things to small things
• Because from my experience in marking their
  writing I found that they are not aware of the
  sequencing. Even though I ask them to write a
  recipe, all the things is not logical, but they
  have applied many vocabulary items. So I think
  they should have the awareness of this

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Scaffolding strategies 6-7

• During task performance
• Instructing
• Questioning
• At first, they dont think that theres some
  problem with the sequencing. But when I ask them
  Do you know this island? Why I put this island
  first? Of course, they didnt know how to
  answer. And I ask them Should I put the more
  important thing first or the less important thing
  first? They know that should be the more
  important things first. Actually when I ask them,
  they know it ... So when they come out to their
  presentation, they put the more famous tourist
  spots first. They put the more general things
  first and more specific things at the end.

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Scaffolding strategy 8

• During/after task performance
• Feedback
• Actually before the presentation I ask them to
  come up with the criteria. The whole class do it.
  And, so, What should be considered in the
  content? And someone say information and so
  You mean it should be informative. And, so I
  write on the board informative and they write
  down informative in the mark sheet. And,
  someone may say Look at others, something like
  that and so I write down eye contact, so
  you know eye contact is important. Calm. Calm,
  so you mean you should be confident enough, okay.
  So confidence and calm, the words that they
  are familiar with ... And, so the two classes
  have different criteria. But I think thats good
  okay as long as the criteria are sensible.

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Scaffolding strategy 8

• During/after task performance
• Feedback and feed forward
• We may think that some students already have
  some ability and they can do the things
  themselves. However, if teachers can provide some
  kind of help, and so they can internalize what
  they acquire and then we have more room to build
  on more. And, the students can also have, they
  can develop more on what they have learnt ...
  This kind of strategy can help them to become an
  independent learner. And I think if we see it
  like after a longer period of time, they learnt
  that they have to recycle what they have learnt
  and to build more on what they have learnt
  instead of only completing task.

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Examples of task design and scaffolding

• Example 2 Christine
• Integrated task design for SBA with S4
• Bend it like Beckham

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Conclusions

• The importance of thinking in long-term
  teaching-learning cycles that enable students to
  move through
• Holistic experience
• Guided exploration
• Creative production
• And developing tasks that incorporate
• The skills valued in the Community
• Students diverse Identities
• An authentic level of Engagement
• Assisting students to gradually develop the
  skills to complete assessment activities in the
  language classroom by providing appropriate
  levels and types of Scaffolding

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Conclusions

• The importance of introducing task design cycles
  (incorporating Assessment for learning) from S1
• The value of teachers experimenting (individually
  or as part of a team) with task design and
  scaffolding strategies as part of continuing
  professional development

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References

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