Chapter XVI Testing and Evaluating Pupils' Achievement

THE IMPORTANCE OF TESTING AND EVALUATING PUPILS' ACHIEVEMENT

Properly organized testing of pupils' achievements gives the teacher an opportunity to get a clear idea of his pupils progress in foreign language learning. Analyzing the results of testing, the teacher will see his shortcomings both in meth­ods and techniques applied and in tire progress of each pu­pil. It allows him to improve his own work. In this connec­tion P. Oliva writes, "A test measures not only the student s performance but also the effectiveness of the teacher's instruc­tion. Tests serve a diagnostic function. They show where students have difficulties. They provide information which should lead the teacher to modify his instruction."'

Testing and evaluating pupils' achievements in language naming is of great importance. Pupils get used to working systematically at the target language. The latter ensures favourable conditions for the mastering of the foreign lan­guage, that is, for learning words, phrases, grammatical struc­tures, and developing habits and skills in using all these while hearing, speaking, reading, and writing. Thus the problem of learning is not so much how to get things into the mind (in our case vocabulary, grammar, etc.), as it is how to get them out again when they are needed for aural comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing. "The problem is less one of storage than it is of ready access." Through testing every pupil can show how he can use what he learns, hat is his "ready access" to the knowledge he receives. Although tests are used for measuring the achievement of objectives in language learning, they fulfil educational dictions as well, namely, each test makes pupils concentrate heir attention on certain language material and language kill and thereby mastering it successfully. Since testing is accompanied by the evaluation of the achievement of every pupil this stimulates pupils' desire to learn. Evaluation is an integral part of teaching; it is a process of determining the extent to which objectives have been achieved.

TESTING LANGUAGE SKILLS AND LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE

The teacher tests the pupil's command of the target lan­guage, that is, his ability to use it in its two forms, oral and written. Therefore, the items of testing should fully corre­spond to the aims and objectives. They are: (1) aural comprehension, (2) speaking (monologue and dialogue), (3) reading (oral and silent), (4) writing (words, sentences, dictations, written reproductions, etc.).

We distinguish regular testing when the teacher administers frequent, short tests to measure his pupils' achievement and assigns marks for their work at a given lesson (unit) or a topic; and final testing or examination at the end of the course. The teacher administers tests in two forms: oral and written.

In our schools oral testing often takes the form of question­ing the class or some individuals. The manner in which each pupil reacts to the teacher's questions shows his readiness for the lesson and his achievement in learning some partic­ular material. This often results in assigning marks to sev­eral pupils. Since there are many items of testing as well as pupils in the class the teacher needs special tests, objective and easy to administer, to measure his pupils' achievement. At present the following tests are available: teacher-made tests, ready-made tests (for example, in the Teacher's Book), and standardized tests (made by the Department of Edu­cation). Naturally, teacher-made tests are the best because he knows the material his pupils have covered better than anyone else, that is why he can administer a test which will correspond to his pupils' capacities. However, in administer­ing tests lie should always keep in mind the items of testing, that is, the syllabus requirements for this particular form.

Some possible approaches to testing are described herewith.

The testing of listening comprehension may be admin­istered in two ways depending on pupils' reaction to the ma­terial they hear.

1.A text is presented either by the teacher or on tape. Each pupil is given a set of pictures (3—4) one of which cor­responds to the item that he hears. The pupil listens atten­tively to the text and identifies the picture correctly by rais­ing it (immediate testing) or by putting a mark (a number) in a special place provided for it (delayed testing).

2.A text is presented, preferably on tape. The class or each pupil is given a definite task before being invited to listen to the text. Pupils listen to the text and then they are asked to react to the material according to the given assignments. These may be answering yes/no-questions choosing answers from multiple-choice items on cards dis­tributed beforehand, etc.

The testing of speaking is the most dif­ficult as the teacher will want to test pronunciation, into­nation, stress, sustained speaking, use of vocabulary and grammatical structures. The best way to measure achievement in speaking is by testing each pupil individually. But this is very time-consuming and, although the teacher does his best to question as many pupils as he possibly can, he fails to cover all the individuals on a given topic, and as a result this leading language skill is often not controlled in any way whatsoever. Instead the teacher tests knowledge of

words, structures; ability to ask and answer questions in written form; ability to write about a situation or topic ssuggested. In order to avoid this the following testing technique may be proposed. Each pupil gives his response on tape. The teacher plays back the tape as he has time and evaluates each pupil's performance. Contemporary teaching aids make this available (see Chapter IV).

It has been calculated that it takes a pupil 1—1,5 minutes to make a response containing 3—4 sentences. The test must be constructed in such a way that the pupil need not give a lengthy answer but his response must show his ability to pronounce and intone, use of certain vocabulary and gram­matical structures, and whether his speech is sustained or not. It will not take the teacher more than half an hour to evaluate the achievement of all his pupils in a given form and get a clear picture of each individual on a given topic. Regular oral tests will increase pupils' sense of responsibility and desire to master the spoken language.

The testing of reading deals with compre­hension and speed. The former is more important than the latter. Testing reading may be administered aloud or silently. Each pupil gets a passage, accompanied by a set of questions on cards which can be true-and-false type, multiple-choice, or a type that requires a statement for an answer. In case of reading aloud the test may be administered in the language laboratory with each pupil reading on tape. Subsequent evaluation is carried out in the manner described above for measuring speaking skills. If pupils read silently the teacher collects cards and evaluates comprehension by every pupil from the answers.

The testing of vocabulary and grammar is carried out indirectly or directly. All the above-men Honed tests imply the testing of vocabulary and grammar since the pupil cannot give a satisfactory answer to arty test и he does not know the words and grammar items required. This is indirect testing. However the teacher may admin­ister direct testing when he proposes a vocabulary test (see chapter VI) or a grammar test (sec Chapter VIII).

EVALUATING PUPILS' ACHIEVEMENT

All the suggested tests are easy to evaluate and the marks that the teacher assigns are objective because tests measure exactly what the pupil has learnt. Marks are assigned on the basis of the work done in a particular class.

In schools we have a five-mark grading system. There arc a good many teachers who are not satisfied with the five-mark system, they extend it to a fifteen-mark grading system when they give "five with a minus", "four with a plus", etc., though this is not supported by the authorities. The teacher must strictly follow the five-mark grading system.

It is the responsibility of the teacher to assign marks and to report progress to parents. It is easy to give a pupil a goo mark particularly if it is higher than he really expected. But there are more occasions when marks bring more disappointment than pleasure. The disappointment maybe of two kinds. We may call them "outer" and "inner". By the first we mean the disappointment of a pupil when he receives a lower mark than lie expected and expresses his feelings somehow. By the second we mean the disappointment of a pupil who receives a good mark in the foreign language, but feels that he does not deserve it, that there is something wrong with the evaluation of his achievement. He knows there are many "fours" and "fives" in class though he cannot say all his schoolmates have a good command of English. This is sometimes the case in our schools. There is a paradox in measuring the achievement of pupils. The less experi­enced and qualified the teacher is the more pupils have g marks. Therefore, "... teacher's marks... are partly fact; partly fancy."¹

To serve effectively the purpose of stimulating, directing, and rewarding pupils' efforts to learn, marks must be valid. The highest marks must go to those pupils who have earned them. "Marks must be based on sufficient evidence. Tiny must report the degree of achievement as precisely as pos­sible under the circumstances. If marks are assigned on the basis of trivial, incidental, or irrelevant achievements or if they are assigned carelessly, their long-run effects on the educational efforts of students cannot be good."

Shortcomings in marks are twofold: (1) the lack of clearly defined, generally accepted definitions of what the various marks should mean, as a result either meanings of marks tend to vary from teacher to teacher, (from school to school, which reduces the validity of the marks; (:!) the lack of sufficiently relevant objective as a basis for assigning marks. The result is marks tend to be unreliable. Many investigators found wide differences on what vari­ous marks should mean and the standards that should be followed in assigning them, among them V. P. Bespalko. ' The department of FL made an attempt to give . definition of what the various marks (5, 4, 3, 2, 1) should mean and what the standards are in assigning each of them -. {The complexity of the problem, however, and the lack of profound scientific research in the field did not allow the ; authors to give a reliable solution to the problem. It still its investigators to work out a system of objective for­eign language tests for every level of instruction and language [skill. Such a system of tests will make valid marking pos­sible. At the present time the procedures for assigning marks are about as good or as weak as the teachers who apply them. Since there is no objective approach to measuring the achievement of pupils, the teacher rely on the traditions that are observed in experience, and other chance factors

Recommended Literature:

Программы средней школы. Объяснительна записка.

Oбщая методика обучения иностранным языкам в средней школе. Под ред. А. А. Миролюбива.

Questions for Discussion:

1.Foreign language proficiency is difficult lo test. Why?

2.When testing the teacher instructs. Support this statement.

3.Contemporary teaching aids help the foreign language teacher
to administer efficient and objective tests. Do you agree? Give
examples to illustrate your opinion. Can the teacher test one skill by means of another? Give your arguments for or against. What should be done to enforce the validity of marks? State the reasons.

Activities:Prepare a short test on (I) aural comprehension, (2) reading соmprehension, (3) pronunciation, (4) speaking on utterance level.

Chapter XVII

Teaching English to Pre-School Children and Children in a Primary School

The problem how to teach a foreign language to pre­school children and the children of a primary school has not been solved either in this country or abroad, though some methodologists and teachers have shown an interest in it and there are some books, papers and theses dealing with this problem. For instance, soon after World War II the Modern Language Association in the USA, with Theodore Anderson at the head, began a campaign for the leaching of foreign languages in primary schools. A broad experiment was organized in many elementary schools throughout the country. It was done lo prove that it is necessary to begin the teaching of a foreign language in the first grade and even in the kindergarten if good results are to be achieved. Other­wise the younger generation will not master foreign languages.

In our country the interest for leaching young children a foreign language was aroused soon after (he first schools with a number of subjects taught in a foreign language were opened in Moscow and other cities. Expe­rience has proved that the earlier the children begin to leant a language, the better they master it. Besides, some teachers, first in Leningrad, then in other cities and towns, volunteered to instruct children in a foreign language in kindergar­tens. The experience and the results they have achieved are described in a number of articles published in „Иностранные языки в школе^”, „Дошкольное воспитание”. A few guides for teachers have appeared. To help teachers and parents in teaching children a foreign language lotto in four lan­guages (Russian, French, English, German), dominoes in the English language, and various pictures have been issued.

It is necessary to distinguish between teaching pre-school children in the kindergarten and teaching children in pri­mary grades in the elementary school, as there are some psy­chological age characteristics which should be taken into account. Here are some of them.

I. A child of 5 or 6 easily learns words and sentences of a foreign language and associates them directly with the things, actions, etc. He learns a sentence as a sense unit without any strain as easily as he learns isolated words. He encounters the same difficulty in learning the sentences My name is Mike. I tike this black cat. Give me a bear, please and words a cat, a bear. Moreover, it is easier for a child to learn a sentence than isolated words.

For example, if a child knows only isolated words, he includes them in Russian speech: Дай мне doll. Закрой door.

Sometimes a child does not notice that he uses English words in a sentence said in Russian. Я сейчас shall show you. English words live side by side with Russian words and the child uses those words which first come to his mind. There­fore in teaching English the children must be given words in connection with selected sentence patterns.

For example: a doll. Give me a doll. (There are some dolls on the table.) Give me the doll. (The teacher points out the doll she wants the child to give her)

Under these conditions the children will not mix up English and Russian words in a sentence. They will use sentence patterns, and include the words they need (Give me a doll. Give me a bear, a boll, etc.), though there is a tendency to continue the thought in Russian: Give me a bear, я буду с ним играть.

This phenomenon does not occur in the elementary school. The children of primary classes are more careful in their speech. They use either English or Russian sentences. Their Russian speech habits are much stable. They do not learn a sentence only as a sense unit, but as a model, a stereotype to be used for building up other sentences by analogy.

2.The imitative ability of рге-school children is better than that of school-children. They experience fewer diffi­culties in the assimilation of English pronunciation. Besides, they like to repeat sounds, words, and sentences. They try to pronounce in imitation of the teacher, and they usually succeed in imitating. Teaching pronunciation to school­children is also based on their imitative abilities though some explanation may be given. Thus, the teacher may not only show his pupils how to pronounce, but explain to the chil­dren how to produce this or that sound. For example, place the tongue a little bit back, while producing la] — car.

3.The natural activity of a child of 5—6 is a play. He lives in a world of various games. Moreover, if the child helps grown-ups in doing a room, cleaning a garden, in dust­ing chairs, watering plants, etc., he is playing because he pretends to be a grown-up. In teaching the English lan­guage to pre-school children the teacher must take this fac­tor into consideration and suggest different games to them. This is one of the ways to make them learn words and sen­tences in a foreign language. Playing is, therefore, the best motivation for children to work at assimilating the language.

A child of 7—9 likes playing very much as well. He can and must work hard, however, in overcoming the difficul­ties he encounters. He is taught to do many things: to read. write in the mother tongue, count, make various things of paper, etc. Therefore in teaching him English playing, though very important, is not the only means to encourage him to learn the language. Various exercises should be performed alongside.

AIMS OF TEACHING

The Ministry of Education has issued a draft programme on foreign languages for kindergartens. The aims and objectives of teaching a foreign language according to the programme are: to develop elementary skills in oral language, i. е., the understanding of the spoken language and talking in a foreign language. Learning a foreign lan­guage will stimulate the development of a child's intellect. As a result of learning a foreign language in the kindergarten pre-school children should be able (1) to understand orders and requests in a foreign language and little stories on fa­miliar linguistic material within the topics of the programme; (2) to answer questions and use sentences connected with games and children's activities; (3) to recite little rhymes, sing songs, etc.

CONTENT OF TEACHING

Pre-school children must assimilate about 200—250 sen­tences, these sentences may include 100—150 words; learn 8—10 rhymes and little songs by heart.

The material is arranged in the following topics:

(1)greetings, acquaintance, requests;

(2)games (the names of some toys, some words denoting actions with the toys, sentences the children say while play­ing);

(3)words (phrases) and sentences connected with chil­dren's daily activities: washing, playing, laying the table, clearing up, going home;

(4)holidays, the names of some holidays, some sentences connected with children's preparation for the holidays.

Pre-school children begin to learn the language at the age of 5—6. Children should have 4 periods a week, each lasting 25—30 minutes.