MPDP 2010 Session 1: INTRODUCTION TO EVALUATION

How much do you know about evaluation? Stand up. Walk 11 steps in any direction. Pair up with the person closest to you.

Evaluation Evaluation is the systematic collection and analysis of data needed to make decisions. Generally refers to either curriculum, evaluation or materials evaluation, or both. Evaluation should not be confused with assessment. An A-Z of ELT

Evaluation Involves looking at ALL the factors that influence the learning process: syllabus objectives, course design, materials, methodology, teacher performance, and assessment. An A-Z of ELT Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness. American Evaluation Association

Refers to the different ways of collecting information about a learner´s progress and achievement. Assessment includes both formal and informal procedures. An A-Z of ELT Assessment

Activity: reflecting on the aspects of assessment. Assessment

Tests Examination: formal test administered by an examinig body – Cambridge ESOL Examinatiions, TEFL - ETS Formal Assessment Tools

Those that are not discrete point tests. Procedures carried out by the teacher in the course of a lesson. The advantages of alternative assessment focus on "how well," rather than "how many" (Gripps, 1994) and the individual achievement relative to self. Informal Assessment Tools Alternative

The other advantage of alternative assessment is the emphasis on competency rather than intelligence or in simpler terms, how well one knows the material for the test. Porfolios Projects Role Play Informal Assessment Tools Alternative

Activity: appropriate assessment. Assessment

Evaluation System Collection of instruments, procedures and criteria used to evaluate a learning process. Instruments: tools – tests, projects, portfolios, interviews, etc. Procedures: time, frequency – when, how often, how Criteria: points and values, parameters, rubrics.

Who corrects? Self-correction: if students are going to become more accurate they must learn to monitor themselves. Always give the students the chance to correct themselves. Student-student correction: it has the advantage of involving all the students in the correction process, making learning more cooperative, reducing student dependence on the teacher, increasing the amount the students listen to each other, giving the better students something to do.

Who corrects? Teacher correction: try to leave it last. No matter how you do the correction, get the student who made the error to say the correct version, if possible in its original context. This is a vital part of any correction process. Self-assessment activity.

Mistakes can be thought of as slips of the tongue or the pen. The student is able to correct him or herself. Errors are usually produced regularly and systematically because the student might believe what he/she is saying or writing is correct, not know what the correct form should be, know what the correct form should be but not be able to get it right. An A-Z of ELT Mistake VS Error

How do you correct? The main stages of the correction process are: The student must know something is not accurate. The student must know where the error is. The student must know what kind of error it is.

Kinds of Error Error can be classified according to basic type: Omissive, additive, substitutive or related to word order. Classified by how apparent they are: Overt errors: obvious even out of context "I angry". Covert errors are evident only in context “Why do you study the English?”

Kinds of Error Classified according to the level of language: Phonological errors, vocabulary or lexical errors, syntactic errors. For Error Analysis: Interlingual error results from language transfer which is caused by the learners’ native language “She not is here” Intralingual error results from lack of partial learning of the target language “He can plays…”

When is correction not appropriate? When building confidence and encouragement is more important than production. When you are eliciting from the students. When your main focus is on fluency, coherence, meaning rather than form.

Thank you! Happy Teaching! Jimena Lizalde