Frustration With Assessment
October 14, 2010A few days ago, I wrote my FLED professor from the university about some of my frustrations with assessment, and I thought I’d share part of the letter here. It shows some of what’s been on my mind:
For me, language learning, more than anything else is a skill. As a foreign language teacher, people expect my students to learn this skills. And I believe that most of these skills are learned unconsciously when truly “acquired.” They can’t develop the skill by simply studying “how.” They have to get input in the target language, and then they will learn as their brain does the work.
So, my problem with assessment is that I don’t see that students actually have tons of control over their learning. Some of them are going to learn to produce at different times, rates, and levels of accuracy. If they all dive into the reading and engage in the classroom conversation, they are still going to learn at different rates. So how can I give them a skills based grade? If a kid is really trying his best, why should he receive a C or D or an F, just because he is a slower learner and probably just needs more exposure to comprehensible input?
I hear over and over, “I’m not a foreign language learning person.” “I can’t learn foreign languages.” And I just think it’s so not right. I believe that almost everyone can learn a foreign language, but some will not be as natural at it. Just like riding a bike or swimming. But with time they CAN learn.
Skills based assessment is great for me as a teacher to see how effective I am. It’s a good way for me to assess MY accomplishments. But I don’t like giving the students grades based on that. I think it could be okay for placement of students in levels, to try and keep the input at the appropriate levels. But how can I hold students responsible for their output?
So, then I could consider giving participation grades. I take the responsibility of the learning upon myself. They just have to be engaged and do what I ask them. But I don’t like this either for two reasons. #1, I don’t like to feel like I am manipulating or punishing my students into participation with their grade. I don’t know that that is good for the classroom environment or student/teacher relationship. I want genuine participation. And #2, then the grade isn’t reflective of their skill level. Then they’re getting A’s which would seem to indicate a certain level of proficiency, but then when they go on to the next Spanish class, they may not be ready.
I suppose I could also teach them lots of culture and grammar, and make my grades based on those things. I know that culture is part of the standards, and that research shows that it helps the language learning process. But if a kid knows the history of Spain forward and backwards but can’t hold a conversation, he’s missing the point. I guess, to be honest, I’m not convinced of culture as an outcome to be assessed. I believe culture enriches the classroom experience and aids the acquisition process, but if foreign language teacher jobs are put on the chopping block, I don’t think people are going to care about culture. I think they are going to want to see kids who can talk. As for grammar, I think that grammar is useful much like culture is. I think grammar can help make language comprehensible at times, and sometimes speed the acquisition process for some students. But I guess I see grammar and culture as the means to an end, and not so much ends in themselves. So why test those things? Why should these things be reflected in their grades?
I told you this summer (while at the Concordia Language Villages) how I liked the portfolio idea. I really do. And I just didn’t get my act together to implement that this year. And maybe that’s my answer. Portfolios. Students record and reflect on their experiences with language and culture. — Yep. portfolios.
Except that with portfolios… even with those, I still have the problem of the kids possibly finishing with grades that are not reflective of their skill set in the language.
Any thoughts, suggestions, or comments would be appreciated!
I absolutely agree that if a student is giving their best effort, they should not receive a C or lower. If so, we are just reinforcing the myth that not all are capable language acquirers. In my lower levels, the majority of my grades are simple end of class listening/reading/vocabulary comprehension checks.
Today’s quiz in one of my classes revolved around Pobre Ana and a parallel story. One of the questions was “Cori agarra su libro de su cama y va adonde? (su otra cama). In grading the comprehension checks, I was pleased to see that the students who did not pay attention generally got an 85 or lower while those who paid attention got mostly 95′s and above. The lowest possible grade is a 50. {I don’t give 0′s except when I want to communicate to student that an assignment needs to be completed. I’ll give a 50 for late work and any other attempted assignments. I learned from Scott Bennedict and imputing grades into powerschool that 0′s kill grades. Scott Bennedict made the point that giving a kid a 0 is like saying rubbing the fact that they failed in their face.]On average, each class gets approximately 2-3 of such quizzes each week.
I also do weekly timed writes. Thus far, I have only required my level I and II students to write 25 words in 5 minutes. Some of my 1′s and 2′s can barely must 25 words, although we are improving. I am not even thinking about grading for quality at this point. I have wrestled with having a participation grade for my lower levels, but have resisted doing so. Philosophically I believe participation is more of a behavioral rather than performance issue. I have decided to give my 4′s/AP a quarterly participation grade worth 100 points weighted x 3. I will only reduce their grade for repeated use of English. Before reducing the grade, I will give a personal warning outside of class time. Knowing the typical high achieving student at our school, they will jump through hoops for a grade. Although I don’t believe that the ends justify the means, I’m making a calculated exception in this case.
As for portfolios, I’ll let you take the lead on that one and let me know how that goes.