HKU SBA Seminar Series 2008-09 Moving Students Forward via Interactive Assessment The Impact of IA on Student Learning, Challenges Teachers Face Practising IA and the Way Ahead Nicole Tavares & Liz Hamp-Lyons Faculty of Education The University of Hong Kong Prepared by Nicole Tavares, Sept 2008

The Study Part of a much larger study to investigate what strategies for capacity-building are needed to help assessment-for-learning “take” in the junior secondary curriculum 17 teachers in 7 schools, Grades 1 – 3 Teacher action research, followed with focus group interviews with teachers and students http://web.hku.hk/~sbapro/nov24.html

The Theory closely linked to work we have been doing with teachers of secondary-age learners in Hong Kong in which we have been providing professional development to support the introduction of an innovative, teacher-delivered assessment drawing on the work of Black & Wiliam and the London Reform Group in assessment for learning.

Five key strategies of AfL Engineering effective classroom discussions Providing feedback that moves learners forward Sharing learning intentions and success criteria with learners Activating students as owners of their own learning Activating students as learning resources for one another Dylan Wiliam, “Assessment for learning: Putting it into practice”, Scottish Education Festival 2005

Focus on one AfL strategy Engineering effective classroom discussions Providing feedback that moves learners forward Sharing learning intentions and success criteria with learners Activating students as owners of their own learning Activating students as learning resources for one another

Moving learners forward The Zone of Proximal Development According to Vygotsky, all learning occurs in a range at and a little above the learner’s current level of knowledge and skill: this is the ‘zone’ in which development can be stimulated to occur – the zone of ‘proximal’ development. The corollary of this is that learning will not occur if the distance between the learner’s current level and the level at which the teaching is pitched is too high.

The ZPD in applied linguistics Vygotsky’s theory has been implemented as dynamic assessment in special education, and more recently by applied linguists, particularly Lantolf and Poehner (2004), Poehner and Lantolf (2005) and Poehner (2008).

The ZPD in language education However, we see the concept of the ZPD as having more in common with work in assessment with children who are developing normally, for example by Stiggins (e.g., 1998) in educative assessment, and by Wiggins (e.g., 2004) on assessment as feedback.

ZPD and interactive assessment Because the context in which we have been working is classroom-based and frequently involves groups in collaborative talk or in peer response to classmates, we describe what we are building as interactive assessment.

What is Interactive Assessment? OUR CONTEXT A very clear and carefully developed system of assessment for learning which emphasises formative uses of an eventual summative assessment: Teachers engage students with thinking about their learning during the assessment process; Assessment is one stage of the teaching, learning and assessing cycle in the classroom; Every assessment is therefore for feedforward as well as for feedback.

Interactive Assessment requires that teacher-assessors intervene during learners’ spoken performance in order to: scaffold and support learners in producing an assessable performance that they know they are capable of in everyday settings; stimulate and challenge them to reach a higher-level performance than that being produced – to reach for a performance just at the edge of their ability.

Teachers moving forward This new paradigm in assessment calls for a re-conceptualisation of the teacher’s role and strategy use as an assessor in the classroom-based assessment of normal language development and proficiency in school-aged children. In our context these are Chinese-speaking children in English language classes. BUT the theory and much of the practice can be applied across subjects.

Teachers moving forward: Challenges faced Before the Project Cycle 1 of the Action-Research Study Cycle 2 Summative Formative + Summative Interactive Teacher-as-Assessor Teacher-as-Mediator …………………….……   Non-Intervention Interruption  Intervention Positive Intervention   by the Teacher by Students Post-Task Feedback Post-Task Feedback Concurrent Feedback Evaluative Feedback Informational Feedback Feedback for Feeding Forward …………  

Understanding Mediated Assistance Focus: Language to Organise Discourse? (Textual) Structure Quality of Ideas Gesturing: X Smiling/Nodding … … Wait Time: Too little Too much … … Questioning: Back-channelling, Probing & Prompting Questioning: Guide/Template Contextualised Spontaneous

HKU SBA Seminar Series 2008-09 An ESL Teacher Learning to Assess Interactively in an ‘Individual Presentation’ Context Prepared by Nicole Tavares, Sept 2008

Using IA Strategies Mediation and support via … Guided Questioning Graduated Probes and Prompts Responsive Back-Channelling Strategic Use of Wait Time Non-Verbal Cues … …

Teacher and Students as Engaged Co-Participants Positive Teaching, Learning & Assessment Attitude Students' Enhanced Readiness to Express Themselves & Better Performance Right Degree of Challenge for the High-Ability Group? Reduced Helplessness among Low- Achievers Teacher and Students as Engaged Co-Participants Confidence Building Increased Support for Average Students Collaborative & Supportive Culture Communicative ELT Environment

Enhancing Mediated Assistance Language Development: Accuracy? Focus: Language to Organise Discourse? (Textual) Structure Quality of Ideas Helpfulness & Correctiveness? Gesturing: X Smiling/Nodding … … Responsive to Learner Needs? Wait Time: Too little Too much … … Range vs Staging of Questions? Questioning: Back-channelling, Probing & Prompting Just-in-Time Questioning? Questioning: Guide/Template Contextualised Spontaneous

Major Challenges & Recommendations – 1 Practical Recommendations Nurturing Students’ Language Development 1a) Teacher Modelling 1b) Gesturing - ‘Thumbs-up’ Strategy 1c) Flash / Cue Cards // Slips - he OR she?

Major Challenges & Recommendations – 2 Practical Recommendations Handling Large Class Size & Nurturing Students’ Language Development 2) Beginning with mini speaking tasks Ss/C as Attentive Observers & Thinkers; T as IA Model & Facilitator Ss/C as Participants; Focusing on more ‘controllable’ aspects     Effective implementation of a range of formative assessment approaches in classrooms school-wide could be ‘as much as 20 times more cost-effective than class-size reduction programs’ (Wiliam, 2007)     –ed T P Ss as Peer Evaluators in Multiple Groupings

Major Challenges & Recommendations – 3 Practical Recommendations Teachers’ Language Awareness & Pedagogical Expertise 3) Ongoing Teacher Professional Development a) AfL principles and practice b) SBA as an integral part of the curriculum c) IA and error-correction strategies d) Pedagogical content knowledge e) Catering for learner diversity f) Teaching skills – Just-in-time questioning, multiple groupings, … g) … …

Major Challenges & Recommendations – 4 Practical Recommendations 4) a) Continuous practice and reflection b) Receptiveness and responsiveness to students’ feedback and needs Teachers at a personal level

2009 Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination English Language Handbook for the School-Based Assessment Component (2007, p. 26)

2009 Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination English Language Handbook for the School-Based Assessment Component (2007, p. 31)