Task 1 Mdmogy Ass.docx

Task 1 – Design Test Items Introduction Assessment has traditionally been measurement-driven, using assessment not only to rank pupils but also to keep accountability of the educational system (Broadfoot, 1996). Assessment is generally defined as the collection and interpretation of information through a process of synthesizing, evaluating and passing judgement in decision making (Airasian, 2005). Specifically, it may also be seen as an everyday, on-going part of teaching and learning in the classroom. Smith (2001) stated that assessment is the set of processes through which inferences are made about learner’s learning process, skills, knowledge and achievements. There is also a changing trend as to how assessments are used in education. Assessments are now widely administered as means to improve teaching and learning.

Listening

Speaking

Reading

Circle and... BINGO!

It's Time for Storytime!

Arrrh... My Pirate Ships!

Writing Roll a Story!

Grammar

Memory Games Past Tenses English Sound System Easy Sound Maze

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Vocabulary Vocab Twister

Alternative Assessment for each Skills 1.0

Listening Skill Circle and… BINGO!

Steps: Pupils were given a template of BINGO each. They put each picture that has been given in any boxes that they wanted. In order to play this game, the teacher will play the sound of the animals. Then, the pupils circle the picture of animal that makes the sound. The fastest person who got all 5 boxes marked in a row wins the game!

Test Item: Put each picture in any boxes given. Listen to the sound of the animals. Then, circle the picture that correspond to the sound. The first who got 5 boxes marked in a row win!

As Rost (1994) points out, of the four language skills - speaking, listening, reading and writing, listening is the most critical for language learning at the beginning stages. Therefore, this kind of game is suitable for Year 1 to 3 pupils. The purpose of this game is to let the pupils able to identify the sound of the English and also able to label the sounds to the responding animals correctly.

Grading: The pupils who circle each picture correctly, gets one mark. Excellent (8-10)

Pupil is excellent in detecting the sound of the animals correctly. Pupil has excellent knowledge about the animals and its sounds.

Average (4-7)

Pupil did a good job in detecting the sound of the animals. Pupil has a hand of knowledge regarding the animals and its sounds.

Bad (1-3)

Pupil makes lots of mistakes in detecting the sound of the animals. Pupil has lack of knowledge regarding the animals and its sounds.

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Feedback: The teacher gives feedback orally. For example, “You should listen to the sounds carefully”, “If you can listen attentively, you can guess the sounds of the animals” or “You have to listen and imagine the animals that makes the sounds”.

2.0

Speaking Skill It’s Time for Storytime!

Steps: Each pupil will get random theme that they picked from the mysterious box. Pupils find their teammate who get the same theme. One team consists of 5 pupils. They make a role play based on the theme that they got. They were given time to make the story and dialogues. After that, the leader of the team pick out numbers on who is going to perform first. They perform in front of others and teacher will give the scoring for each pupil.

Test Items: Get yourself a team who has the same theme. Make a role play based on the theme. Time is given for you to create a story and perform in front of others. Teacher scores based on your creativity. The use of English for oral communication appears to be difficult for learners of English as a second or foreign language. Zhang (2009) claims that for the majority of English learners, speaking is the most difficult skill to master. Therefore, this activity will help the pupils to learn English in a fun way as they get to interact with their peers and have space to practice the language efficiently.

Feedback: Teacher gives the feedback orally. Teacher gives compliment to the pupils and gives them support that they needed. For example, “Good job guys! However, you need to be more confident in expressing your feelings” or “You should speak out loud when delivering the dialogues”.

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Grading: The grading is in grouping as the pupils are in groups but will be scored individually.

3.0

Reading Skill Arrrh… My Pirate Ships!

Steps: 1. This game has to be played in pairs. 2. Each pupil gets a game board printed by the teacher. 3. Pupils fold the board in half so that the ‘Enemy Pirate Ships’ section sits flat on the table and the ‘My Pirate Ships’ section points up in the air. 4. Each pupil decides on the words they want to use in the game. The word will resemble as the pirate ship. Each player can put the words anywhere that they wanted to. 5. Each pair agree upon how many there will be. 6. One side says a number from 1-50. The other pupil looks at their sight words grid. If that numbered space is empty, they could say ‘aaarhh…no’ like a pirate, if there is a letter, they say what the letter is. 7. The other pupil crosses out that space on their ‘Enemy Pirate Ships’ grid so they remember it’s blank OR writes in the letter. 4

8. They take it in turns to ask about a new square, the goal being to uncover the words hiding there. 9. When a pupil discovers a whole word, they have to read the word out loud and it means that ship has sunk! 10. The winner is the player who sinks all the other player’s ships first!

Language plays a vital role in reading. According to Maasum & Maarof (2012), the process of reading is a doorway to gain and learn more knowledge as it is an important skill for the learners. The function of the game is to inculcate fun learning and improve the capability of young learners to know alphabets and able to read the words with correct pronunciations.

Feedback: Teacher gives compliment for the pupil who is able to read and pronounce the word correctly. For example, “Good choice of word to make your opponent confuse”. Teacher also gives help to the pupil who is not capable to pronounce the word. For instance, “Try to read the word using the correct sound. Try and distinguish the word letter by letter”.

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Grading: Once the pupil wins, he/she will get to collect the reward that has been given by the teacher. 1

2

identify

the word with

identify

identify the

identify the

the word.

teacher’s

the word.

word.

word without

 Unable to

guidance.

the word.

pronounce the

 Able to

 Able to

5

 Able to identify

 Able to

 Able to

4

 Unable to

pronounce

 Able to

any help.  Excellent in

pronounce

the word.

the word with

pronouncing

good

the word.

word with

read the

teacher’s

read 5-7

enunciation.

word at all

guidance.

out of 10

 Able to read

out of 10 words.

 Excellent to

pronounce

 Could not

 Could read 1-4

4.0

3

 Could

 Have a great capability in

words with

all words

reading the

ease.

correctly.

words.

Writing Skill

Roll a Story!

Steps: 1. Pupils are divided into groups of 4. 2. Each group will receive a Roll a Story board and a dice. 3. Each person in the team takes turn to roll the dice to get the character, setting and problem. 4. After requiring all three, they brainstorm and string phrases to form a sentence. 5. Pupils write a short story based on the character, setting and problem that they got.

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The aim of this fun activity is to introduce on how to write a story in an informal way yet creative. This can also help the pupils to imagine and think outside the box as they cannot figure out which one that they will get. Barab, Warren and Ingram-Goble (2006) stated that to establish an immersive experience for improving pupil writing skills, teacher needs to think out of the box.

Feedback: Teacher gives comments on their writing styles. Teacher should give feedback thoroughly, for instance teacher can comments on the use of words, the expansion of the vocabulary and the writing style. For example, teacher write Good story line but then, try use other words than using the same word redundantly. By using the bombastic words, you can make your story becomes more interesting. Grading: Marks

Good

Great

Excellent

Scene

Pupil able to Pupil able to tell where Pupil able to tell where to story

Setting

tell where to to story is taking place is taking place, how it starts, story is taking and he/she used some what it sounds and smells like place.

interesting

words

to in the story. The opening of the

describe on how it looks story is interesting. like. Introducing Pupil tells the Pupil tells the names of Pupil tells the names of the the

names of the the character in the character in the story and

character

character the story.

in story and one of his/her describe traits.

thoroughly

about

him/her.

Language

Pupil

uses Pupil uses good words Pupil uses bombastic words

Used

some

good and include interesting that

words. Creativity

The

words. whole The

creates

the

story

to

become more interesting. story

is

quite The story is interesting and has

story is too interesting and has a moral values to it. dull and there dull plotline. is no action.

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5.0

Grammar Skill Memory Games – Past Tenses

Steps: 1. Teacher divides the class into groups of five. 2. Teacher used the cards to play Memory Games. 3. Each group has their own deck of Memory Games. 4. Each pupil gets a turn to choose two cards. 5. He/she turns them around. 6. If they match, he/she keeps the pair. 7. If not, the cards are put back and the turn passes to the next player. 8. The games end when there is no pair left and the pupil who has the most card wins!

Test Items: The Memory Games is about memorizing the pair of the present and past tense. Each of you pick up a card, for example “eat”. Then, find the pair which is the past tense of “eat” – “ate”. If the card does not match, put back and next player gets to play.

The purpose of this game is to show that grammar can be learn in fun way. It also to let the pupils be competitive among themselves and not only they can have a healthy competition, they can also learn to memorize in an interesting way.

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Feedback: Teacher compliments the pupil who got the correct pair. For instance, “Good job for getting the correct pair”. However, if the pupil gets wrong pair, teacher can ask high order thinking question to trigger thinking skills. For example, “Why do you think this is the right pair? Why does this pair is the one that you choose?”

Grading: Each correct pair gets 1 point. Category

Descriptions

Excellent

Pupils able to get most of the pairs correctly. Pupils able to

(8-10)

6.0

distinguish the differences of present and past tenses.

Fair

Pupils get 5 correct pairs out of 10. Pupils able to distinguish some

(5-7)

present and past tenses.

Unsatisfactory

Pupils unable to get correct pairs. Pupils do not able to distinguish

(4 and below)

the present and past tenses.

Vocabulary Skill

Vocab Twister

Steps: 1. Teacher puts on the Twister Mat on the floor. 2. Teacher pastes the words on each of the coloured circles. 3. Teacher reads the definition and the pupil put his/her hand or foot on the proper word. 4. If the pupil gets to put all four of his/her hands and feet, that pupil wins the game. 5. After each session ends, the pupils have to write the definitions on the words in their book.

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The purpose of this simple activity is to get the pupils to be better in using their vocabulary skills. Vocabulary is central to English language teaching because without sufficient vocabulary pupils cannot understand others or express their own ideas. Wilkins (1972) wrote that “. . . while without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. Therefore, this activity can help pupils understand and communicate better with others in English. Feedback: Teacher gives encouragement for the pupils to try their best in the activity. For example, “Go for it! Try and guess the word based on the definitions. Think of using the words in the writing and imagine you using the word in the correct context”.

Grading: Marks

Poor

Fair

Good

Excellent

Matching

Pupil is able to

Pupil is able to

Pupils is able to

Pupil is able to

word to the

match only a

match some of

match most of

match all of the

definition

few words to

the words to

the words to

words to their

their definitions.

their definitions.

their definitions.

definitions.

Write

Pupil is able to

Pupil is able to

Pupil is able to

Pupil is able to

definitions

write only a few

write some of

write most of

write all of the

definitions.

the definitions.

the definitions.

definitions.

Pupil often

Pupil

Pupil seldom

Pupil never

misspells, does

sometimes

misspells, does

misspells, does

not capitalize,

misspells, does

not capitalize,

not capitalize,

does not use

not capitalize,

does not use

does not use

correct

does not use

correct

correct

punctuation.

correct

punctuation.

punctuation.

Mechanics

punctuation.

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7.0

English Sound System

Easy Sound Maze

Steps: 1. Each pupil gets a word maze. 2. The objective of the game is to find a path from the entrance in the top left side of the maze to the exit in the bottom right. 3. Point out the phonetic symbol and an example of the word above the maze. 4. You can only cross a square if it contains a word with the same sound. 5. You can move from one square to the next horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally. 6. Once you get to the end of the maze, you are going to win the maze! Purpose of this activity is to get the pupils to get used to the sounds. Intonation, the rises and falls in tone that make the ‘tune’ of an utterance, is an important aspect of pronunciation of English, often making a difference to meaning or implication (Chen, 1983). Stress, for example, is most commonly indicated not by increased volume but by a slight rise in intonation. So, this game can help the pupils to use the correct sounds in uttering the new words that they are going to learn.

Feedback: Teacher gives help whenever the pupils need to. Teacher encourages the pupils to try utter the word with the correct sounds. For instance, “Try to say the words with the correct sounds. You will never know if you did not try to utter the word”.

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Grading: Marks

Vowels

15-20

Pupil able to produce a close to native of English vowels. No inconsistencies are found.

14-10

Can distinguish and produce almost all the English vowels with minor inconsistencies.

9-7

Can distinguish and produce the majority of vowels accurately, but have some difficulties distinguishing one of the sounds.

6-3

Pupil makes no distinction between the sounds.

2-0

Pupil is unable to utter the sound and have a lot of difficulties.

Conclusion We may conclude that alternative assessment methods are competence oriented and they are based on cognitive abilities and affective learning (Weir, 1990). The interactive nature of modern teaching extends to the assessment stage of learning, turning it into a valuable tool of practicing communication abilities and competences. Alternative assessment is compatible with the constructivist theory, which views learners as active constructors of knowledge (Shepard, 2000). Meaning cannot be imparted from teacher to pupil; rather meaning is made, not given. The sociocultural view of learning suggests that individuals become proficient in learning by engaging in social interactions (Shepard, 2000). Alternative assessment has the potential to reverse the tradition al paradigm of pupil passivity and replace it with pupil initiative, self-discipline, and choice. For example, during portfolio development, pupils collect their own work, select the pieces that are best evidence of their achievement and, finally, reflect on why they chose certain pieces over others (Valencia, 1998). Through this process, pupils engage in self-evaluation and set goals for their learning. They are no longer "defense less vessels waiting to be filled with facts" (Wasserstein, 1994). Instead, they are masters of their own learning and sense making.

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