Aims of Formative Assessments

Discuss about the Validity of Formative and Interim Assessment.

Formative assessments refers to various methods the teachers use to carry out an ongoing process test on students’ ability to comprehend, learning needs as well as the progress in their academics during either a unit, course of study or lesson. They aid the teachers in identification of concepts which students struggle to grasp, not yet achieved learning standards or the skills they find difficult to acquire. Consequently, this leads to implementing necessary adjustments in instructional techniques, academic support as well as adjusting the lessons (Regeir, 2018).

Formative assessments aim at gathering useful, valid and reliable information concerning the students’ learning process so as to:

• Check on the achievement of the student relating to the outcomes
• Offer ongoing response to students so as to make improvement on learning
• Guide future opportunities of teaching as well as learning management.

In regard to the above aims of assessment, the assessment activity type as well as the way in which the learning evidence will be collected will be different on the basis of the following;

• Evidence that is intended to be collected
• Learning as well as teaching activity
• Outcomes being assessed
• The needs of the student in the process of learning
• Context

Learners need therefore availing of opportunities so as to showcase the process of their learning by various activities for assessing as portion of an ongoing process. For all the assessment strategies chosen by the teacher, it is important to make the assessment activities accessible to each and every student.

Different strategies for assessment may help the teacher in;

• Planning and gathering reliable and valid indicators that show that the manner in which the student is learning
• Considering that both formal as well as informal evidences are balanced.

The practice of assessing the learning process was understood initially to be formative assessment which was then contrasted with summative assessment. Summative as well as formative were terms proposed by Michael Scriven in 1967 with the aim of clarifying two distinct roles which the process of evaluation could play in assessing curriculum. Benjamin Bloom together with his colleagues in the years that followed (1969; 1971) proposed application of the same distinction in evaluating the level of students’ learning- this is what is known currently as assessment. (William, 2006, p283). This led the terms summative and formative becoming fundamental in understanding of assessment in education. On one hand summative assessment is focused on summarizing or summing up achievements of schools, classes, or students. (Bloom, Hastings, & Madus 1971 in National Research Council- NRC- 2001). Formative assessment is centred on active feedback loops which enhance learning process (Black & William, 2003)

In the subsequent years after identification by Scriven and extension by Bloom of formative and summative assessment types, more interest and thus investment has been aligned to summative assessment in comparison with formative assessment type. (Stiggins, 2005). William and Black (2003) detailed the pros and cons of formative form of assessment 1970s until later in 1980s. Towards the end of 1980s there was publishing of two articles (Natriello 1987 and Crooks 1988) as well as a seminal article about the formative assessment roles in developing expertise (Sdaler, 1989) which scaled up the learning assessment interest. This rising interest was apparently backed up by Fuschs and Fuschs’ (1986) meta-analysis as well as Black and Wiliam’s (1998) who comprehensively reviewed articles numbering close to two hundred and fifty. The two researches significantly recorded positive gains in learning by the students. The 1998 work of Black and Wiliam posted positive standard deviation of more than half, whereby low achieving students posted highest improvement. Despite Dunn and Mulvenon in 2009 disagreeing with the findings of the two research studies above, further research undertaken recently as well has indicated beneficial outcome regarding learning by the student such as (Ruiz- Primo & Furtak, 2006). In addition, Dunn together with Mulvenon failed to identify any instances where formative assessment produced achievement outcomes which are negative.

Strategies for Assessment

Agreement emerged concerning possible formative assessment practice benefits, and furthermore, generally most researchers have agreed concerning formative assessment being the process whereby data on students’ learning is used during teaching to arrive at informed decisions which in turn boost learning according to Atkin, Black & Coffey (2001); Black, 1993; Bell & Cowie 2001; Black and colleagues, 2003; Black & Wiliam, 1998; Shepherd, 2000). The manner of understanding formative assessment process, integrated and implemented still varies somehow, all the researchers listed above concur that administering tests on regular basis as well as making students aware of what they have scored does not necessarily form part of the process of formative assessment. In lieu, Black and colleagues established indication of understanding as well as learning by the student gotten from one cycle in formative assessment must be applied to fit in the work of teaching to address the needs in learning.

 Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers State Collaborative (FAST SCASS) which brought together Chief State Officers comprising of both national and international researchers in formative assessment in 2007 realized and established five aspects of formative assessment process in earlier publishing which are;

• Indicators-based feedback connected with the desired outcomes of instructions as well as success criteria must be availed to students
• Identification and communication to students concerning goals in learning as well as success criteria must be clear.
• Progressions in learning process must clearly link other goals to the major goal of the learning
• Self- as well as peer-assessments are significant in offering students opportunities to enable them meta-cognitively think about their acquisition of knowledge and skills.
• Establishment of a culture in the classroom that cohesively bring together teachers as well as students to work hand in hand in the process of learning.   

This action research (a discourse which seeks to integrate action and knowledge through a cyclical and participatory process.) focused on the best formative assessment strategies that can evaluate the level of understanding of foreign language MFL in this case learning of French language and smooth transition of about 9 Year-6 pupils to secondary level at year 7. It also focused on how the achieved level of understanding can be continued in secondary school by the aforementioned class of students.

With the day-to-day advancement and sensitization of globalization, there is a very important need of students to learn and become well knowledgeable in one or more language such as French alongside English in the course of their kindergarten through grade 12 educational experience. (Regeir-, 2012). Acquisition of a second language (Modern Foreign Language- MFL) boosts students’ intellectual skills, enhances the understanding of cultures and as well increases their earning power. Therefore each student has a right to take advantage of the opportunity to master a second language. Students taught additional languages are advantaged by learning skills that enable them to realize success in other academic subjects. They are indeed informed on the interconnection among all people of different social, economic, religious as well as political backgrounds. Thus, they get motivated and will study more concerning the geography, music art and history about people of whom their languages, they are learning management.

Summative vs. Formative Assessments

Indeed, understanding additional foreign languages prepare the students for success and for life a swell in this twenty-first century. However, for the pupils to be proficiently taught any foreign language and specifically French language, fundamental changes in teaching and learning activities must be effected. What will inform the changes to be effected concerning the students’ learning of foreign language are feedback attained by undertaking evaluation to check the students’ understanding level and as well check which are the best learning styles that enable students to be truly proficient in French language.

Pupils and students learning foreign language are set to achieve proficiency in speaking in, listening to, writing in as well as reading in another language. Teachers are tasked with imparting necessary skills and knowledge to such students who are taking interest in learning the foreign language alongside foreign culture. For students and teachers to achieve the above goals, objectives of instruction ought to be stated explicitly and defined clearly. To arrive at this, there is a need for the instructors of foreign languages to be well equipped with best assessment tools or strategies (Rebecca, 1990).  

Emphatically, for foreign language instruction to be more effective, learning programs provided at various educational levels such as pre-school, primary as well as high school and even post high school should be interconnected carefully and linked. Understanding levels which are determined by assessment strategies have to be stated clearly for those students who start their learning of foreign language at particular curriculum levels and who as well carry on with their studies in the extra time (Lawrence, 1999). Effective instruction is not only measured in terms of spent classroom time but also majorly in speaking, listening, writing as well as reading abilities (Hakuta &Kenji, 1990).  

Both formal and informal strategies offer the students opportunities to show the level of their understanding, knowledge as well as skills and also their learning using various resources as well as stimulus material such as ICT (Rebecca, 1990).

Formative type of assessment is a procedural use of assessment strategies informally to collect data about learning by the student. In turn, Teachers decide on that which learners are understanding as well as on what is still needed of them to learn in order to grasp goals or an outcomes. Strategies made use of while collecting formative assessment as well as instruction are closely linked. Most of these formative strategies not only are fast but also are easy to use and adapt well into the instruction process. The collected data is neither graded nor marked. Feedback which is descriptive in nature can go with a formative assessment in order to allow the learners gauge themselves on whether they have grasped an outcome and if not, whether they still need more exercise on the same (Rebecca, 1990).   

Benefits of Formative Assessments

Formative strategies are applied through the entire study unit. They are connected to the focus as well as instruction about deciphering that which learners have known as well as the need to understand about the desired outcome or goal. Instructors apply formative assessment in the course of process of learning and apply the findings to adjust the way of their teaching so as to satisfy the needs of the learners in a better way. Employing formative assessment during the unit course will avail the instructors with more information on the learners’ learning processes of the. They may apply one of the assessment strategies, adapt or change the teaching method, and thereafter re-evaluate using either the same strategy or a totally different one to measure whether the teaching practice impacts student learning outcome or attainment of learning objectives.     

Such activities do occur following interaction among the students who are engaged in the completion of a task which is common. Under this strategy, the student, as a team, toil together, physically both inside and outside the class. They can either employ the application of ICT in order to facilitate discussion in groups or total collaborative assignments intra-school, inter-schools at the local, national or international levels. Activities in groups are;

• Challenging as well as evaluating perspectives via discussions in groups
• Presentations on particular aspects of the language being learnt prepared by groups
• Team investigations and assignments as well as cooperative group work which may include allocating specific roles as well as responsibilities.
• Tasks in pairs in the form of think-pair-share, sharing of emails, forums as well as brainstorming.

This strategy can give information concerning the achievements of the student in relation to outcomes. In such a strategy, observations can be made and recorded informally as well as formally where; formal observation entails planning to get an a chance to observe specific learning outcomes, while informal observation as well as feedback take place in the course of teaching as well as learning activities (Furtak, Ruiz-Primo, Shemwell, Ayala, Brandon, & Shavelson, 2008).

Some of the assessment activities under teacher observation include;

• Student/teacher conferences or discussions
• Participation by the student in practical demonstrations and activities
• Questions strategized to evaluate individual level of understanding
• Observing the students while they participate in as well as engage in the course of learning activities like listening to their use of language as well as their applying skills to contexts which are new as well as the integrating ICT among many others (Omaggio-Hadley & Alice, 1993).

Teacher observation aims at assessing the students’ ability to either; showcase their understanding of concepts which are key, explain the how or why, make use of their understanding to new concepts as well as situations, apply appropriate language while sharing their learning experiences or communicate effectively (Linder, 1977).

These tied strategies do offer information which guide the teacher to plan teaching as well as learning opportunities for the students. They can be formal or informal. It is at teachers’ disposal to decide whether to apply peer and self-assessments in learning, teaching as well as assessing to aid learners in developing a higher level of understanding on their own. The strategies can also well encourage them to undertake a reflection on how they acquire skills and knowledge by relating to the results, and as well realise future course they need take to boost their learning.

Five Aspects of Formative Assessment Process

Under peer assessment strategy, teachers have to design suitable language and as well clarify what is expected of the students in regard to activities to bring in peer feedback. The peer response can either be written, digital, or oral and may as well offer the peers (students) a chance to boost their collaborative, reflective as well as social skills (Linder, 1977). Learners can choose to give their peers feedback concerning; strengths and the aspects they have completed well, achieved targets, suggestions or propositions on how to improve their learning or alternative strategies to bring their work to completion. While under self-assessment strategy, the students are enabled to identify what they have known, where they are supposed to be and how to get to the peak of their learning. Collecting information on the manner in which students think and reflection their can offer teachers information that will inform future learning and teaching as well. The way in which students interpret feedback is enhanced by strengthening the skills of self-assessment.

The Metacognitive Thinking development while the pupils view themselves as recipients of learning process and as well realize their best style of is encouraged by self-evaluation. Self-evaluation as well encourages the pupils to relate their set goals to outcomes of the syllabus, take note of achievement in their learning and what is still needed of them to study and react to the feedback as well. Samples of work, portfolios as well as journals such as online journals can enhance the reflective process which enable pupils to review their objectives and check on the progress in learning as well.

ABC Brainstorming. ABC brainstorming as a strategy is used midway through a unit in order to provide the teacher findings concerning that which the students already have achieved on a given topic. The students can work in pairs, individually, as a class or in small groups- for 9 pupils they can work in groups of three- to memorize phrases and words which start with each letter of the French alphabet as well as which relate to the study unit in question.  A look at the memorized lists enable a teacher to determine which skill is missing and as well offer guidelines for planning adjustments that address these loopholes in learning.

Analogies. This strategy is invaluable and focuses on asking the students to create an analogy of what they have learned (new information they have just gained) with something they are very familiar with. The students can as well be asked to construct sentences using the names of various natural creatures and features to enhance their understanding of the new language they are learning. Asking them to describe and elaborate on the analogies do indicate the level of their understanding on a given topic.

Importance of Foreign Language Instruction

Checklists – In class, checklists are indeed great avenue for data collection on the students in the course of study unit. Just before embarking on a unit which is new, a list of made up of skills that need to demonstrate students’’ mastery of that particular topic outcomes is made. The students’ names are listed on a chart in form of a column on the left hand side and the list of the skills in form of rows on top. Then, the chart is clipped to a board and is then positioned on a point where all students can easily access. While the learners participate in different opportunities of learning, the teacher observes them and monitor the skills seen in learners which they can comfortably demonstrate.

Choral Response- In order to assess student understanding quickly, students are asked to answer a set of questions on a particular topic as a class. By listening carefully to the content and number of responses, the teacher draws a clear picture and get sufficient information that indicate clarity of students’ presentations. Responses in form of choruses motivates every student to participate actively in the process of assessment.

Cloze procedure- This s strategy is employed to measure understanding level of students in regard to a topic given or a study unit. On choosing the passage to use, the teacher has to be keen. Passages closely relating to the study unit are created. These passages should as well be at a level readable by the students. Either two or more than two but less than four passages which are at different levels of readability may be necessitated for accommodation of every student in the class. Make sure the starting and ending sentences are left unaltered to enhance understanding by the students.

Conferences – Student level of understanding can as well be formatively assessed by use of face to face conferences with every student under instruction. Selected groups of students can as well participate in this strategy of whom the teacher would like to foster their understanding. The target questions are identified beforehand to make sure that the information gathered will loosely relate to the outcome or goal. Notes should be taken during conferences for reference later when planning a lesson (A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. 1983.)

Computer Surveys – This strategy gives a way that is quick to measure the level of understanding of students on a given topic of study. Questions testing on responses which are about ten which can either be multiple choice or true/false questions are created. Platforms such as SurveyMonkey can be used as well in creation of the assessment to be carried out. This provides room to visualize responses by individuals and gives responses in class in a brief way (Hertz and Robert, 1987).

Effective Assessment Strategies for Foreign Language Instruction

Discussions – Planning for a discussion in class as a section of a study unit offers a teacher a valuable information that concerns what the students understand concerning the subject matter. Such discussions should focus on thinking skills that are at higher levels and gives room for students to shortly undergo reflection pertaining to their learning process as they prepare to begin the discussion session. Learners should then be encouraged to share their acquired knowledge and made to understand how such knowledge impacts their day to day lives. The teacher should brainstorm ways in which the acquired skills and knowledge are to be disseminated across their areas of live or other situations they may encounter (Natriello, 1987).

Responses given by the students should be listened to carefully by the teacher. This will offer very information necessary for planning and preparing for instruction in future.

Email questions –  The advances in Technology has become a resource of great value for twenty-first century instructors and it acts as well as a medium majority of students are well acquainted a part from using it comfortably while (Modern Technology in Foreign Language Education, Smith, 1989). In case the institution offers every student an email address, questions which are concentrate on skills of high order of thinking are sent to them. Students should be encouraged to focus their thinking on all the chances for learning they participated in as well as well as how such practices suit well to their own background knowledge (Regier, 2012; Michael, Bushand, Robert & Terry 1998).

Examples/ Non-Examples – Under this strategy, the students are encouraged by the teacher to give examples as well as examples not on the study topic. Examples as well as non-examples offer the teacher information concerning the understanding depth of his or her students.

Fist of Five- For a fast and instant assessment exercise, the fist of five is chosen as the great strategy. The learners are asked questions and are then allowed to respond by demonstrating their understanding level. Students are instructed to hold one of their fingers in case they are not sure still of a concept and therefore demand provision of more information on the same. When they are about to grasp fully, they can hold up three or four of their fingers. For those learners who have grasped the topic and can show their understanding as well as knowledge would can stretch their five fingers. A look at the students gives indication concerning the level of understanding of the students and gives room for the teacher to adapt the instruction accordingly.

Formative Assessment Strategies

Four Corners- This strategy is the most active and is a great avenue of getting learners come out of their desks. A bigger portion of students learn better when they are moving around classroom and thus is appealing to their learning preference. At every corner in the classroom the teacher is to provide a label. In one of the corners label “Strongly Agree” another “Agree” and yet another one “Disagree” and yet the last one strongly Disagree”. A notion is then called out by the teacher a regarding the current study topic or concept. In response, the students move and stand at the corner that is in line with their response. The students are then encouraged to share the reasons that made them to choose their responses. Let one student or more from every corner disseminate their responses to other students. The teacher will be able to assess the learners level of understanding as he or she listens carefully to the sharing by the students thus is guided in preparation of future lessons (Gertrude, 1978).

One minute Fluency- The students’ ability to red fluently is a very important skill. In this strategy, the fluency of every student is assessed regularly to make sure that they are an appropriately reading at a set rate for their grade understanding level.

Making decision concerning what type of formative assessment strategy to employ is informed by various factors. Foremost, the teacher need to determine what aspect of learning of the student is to be measured. Thus, they need to take into consideration the preferences of the learners in their learning process. Formative assessment strategies are either offered to students at individual level, in pairs, as a whole class or in small groups. For the case at hand class of year 6 9 student who are learning French . Also the formative assessment type of grouping will determine the selection of the strategy. Therefore, instructors need not depend on only one assessment strategy form.  Different individual as well as formative assessment strategies focusing on groups are to be employed. The individual strategies enables the teacher to draw a true picture about every student and their level of understanding of the unit or even skill that is being assessed. On the other hand, group strategies enable the teachers to acquire general information concerning learning of students to be applied in planning for future instructions. Learners can on their part make use of formative assessment information to implement adjustments to their process of learning process. (Bennett, 2009.)

Role of Formative Assessment in Learning Process

Conclusion:

Various studies have indicated that formative assessments do have a significant role in the process of transforming the learner and thus boosting learning in the classroom (Bachman, 2005). In addition, further studies have clearly indicated that formatives assessments can either motivate students or result in much gains in scores during assessment process (Brookhart & Durkin, 2003; Harlen & Winter, 2004; ReaDickins &Gardener, 2000; Weeden &Winter, 1999). The learners getting motivation as a result of assessments was viewed by Brookhart and Durkin (2003) reviewed a single-case (Brookhart, Andolina, Zuza, & Furman, R. 2004).

The key premise to formative studies is in the aim of helping the learner in establishment of an index to their own learning. Probably the most common and probably the best as well as most intuitive type of formative assessment is that of Question-and-answer during the teaching of a lesson and in particular French as a foreign language. This enables the teacher as well as the student to acquire instant feedback on learning and understanding. In this view, formative assessment is obviously now uh a new concept. Socrates’ favourite way of teaching as actually to question the student, employing questions to boost higher order of thinking as well as foster learning (Gareis, 2006). Formative assessment as an instructional method allows the learner to make contribution to their own learning process by offering a quick index to their learning in the course of the instruction process. Students under this situation are then enabled to ask questions and thus express non-understanding of the lesson as the teacher is still undertaking the discussion of the topic (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall & Wiliam. 2006)

References

A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. 1983. A report to the nation and the Secretary of Education, United States Department of Education, by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. Washington, D.C.: National Commission on Excellence in Education.

Atkin, J. M., Black, P., & Coffey, J. E. (Eds) 2001. Classroom assessment and the National Science Education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Bachman, L. F. 2005. Building and supporting a case for test use. Language Assessment

Bell, B., & Cowie, B. 2001. Formative assessment in science education. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Press.

Bennett, R., 2009. Formative assessment: A critical review. Presentation at the University of Maryland, College Park, MD.

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. 1998. Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy and Practice, 5(1), 7–73.

Adapting Instruction to Learning Needs

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. 2003. ?In praise of educational research‘: Formative assessment. British Educational Research Journal, 29(5), 623–637.

Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., & Wiliam, D. 2006. Developing a theory of formative assessment. In J. Gardner (Ed.), Assessment and learning (pp. 81–100). London: Sage.

Brookhart, S. M., Andolina, M., Zuza, M., & Furman, R. 2004. Minute math: An action research study of self-assessment. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 57(2), 213–227.

Crooks, T. J. 1988. The impact of classroom evaluation practices on students. Review of Educational Research, 58, 438–481.

Dunn, K. E., & Mulvenon, S. W. 2009. A critical review of research on formative assessments: The limited scientific evidence of the impact of formative assessments in education. Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, 14(7), 1–11.

Fuchs, L. S., & Fuchs, D. 1986. Effects of systematic formative evaluation: A meta-analysis. Exceptional Children, 53(3), 199–208.

Furtak, E. M., Ruiz-Primo, M. A., Shemwell, J. T., Ayala, C. C., Brandon, P. R., Shavelson, R. J., & Yin, Y. 2008. On the fidelity of implementing embedded formative assessments and its relation to student learning. Applied Measurement in Education, 21(4), 360–389.

Hakuta, Kenji. 1990. “Bilingualism and Bilingual Education: A Research Perspective,”    NCBE Focus: Occasional Papers in Bilingual Education (Spring), 1. Handbook for Planning an Effective Foreign Language Program. 1985. Sacramento:California Department of Education

Hertz, Robert M. 1987. Computers in the Language Classroom. Menlo Park, Calif.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

Modern Media in Foreign Language Education: Theory and Implementation.1998. Edited by Michael D. Bushand Robert M. & Terry. A CTFL Foreign Language Education Series. Lincoln wood,Ill.:McGraw-Hill/Contemporary.California

Modern Technology in Foreign Language Education: Applications and Projects. 1989. Edited by William Flint Smith. ACTFL Foreign Language Education Series. Lincolnwood, Ill.: National Textbook Company (out of print).

Moskowitz, Gertrude. 1978. Caring and Sharing in the Foreign Language Class: A Sourcebook on Humanistic Techniques. Boston: Heinle Thomson Learning.

National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project. 1996. Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21^st Century. Lawrence, Kans.: Allen Press.

National Standards in Foreign Language Education Project. 1999. Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21^st Century. Lawrence, Kans.: Allen Press.

Natriello, G. 1987. The impact of evaluation processes on students. Educational Psychologist, 22, 155–175.

New Perspectives and New Directions in Foreign Language Education. 1998. Edited by Michael D. Bush and Robert M. Terry. ACTFL Foreign Language Education Series. Lincolnwood, Ill.: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary.

Omaggio-Hadley, Alice. 1993. Teaching Language in Context: Proficiency-Oriented Instruction (Second edition). Boston: Heinle Thomson Learning.

Oral Communication Testing: A Handbook for the Foreign Language Teacher. 1977. Edited by Cathy Linder. Lincolnwood, Ill.: National Textbook Company (out of print).

Oxford, Rebecca L. Language Learning Strategies. 1990. Boston: Heinle Thomson Learning. Quarterly, 2, 1-34.

Regier, N. 2012.  Book two. 60 Formative Assessment Strategies. Regier Educarional Resources.

Ruiz-Primo, M. A., & Furtak, E. M. 2006. Informal formative assessment and scientific inquiry: Exploring teachers‘ practices and student learning. Educational Assessment, 11(3 & 4), 205– 235.

Sadler, D. R. 1989. Formative assessment and the design of instructional strategies. Instructional Science, 18, 119–144.

Scriven, M. 1967. The methodology of evaluation. In R. W. Tyler, R. M. Gagne, & M. Scriven‘s (Eds.), Perspectives of curriculum evaluation (pp. 39–83). Chicago, IL: Rand McNally.

Shepard, L. A. 2009. Commentary: Evaluating the validity of formative and interim assessment. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 28(3), 32–37.

Stiggins, R. 2002. Assessment crisis: The absence of assessment for learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 83(10), 758–767.

Wiliam, D. 2006. Formative assessment: Getting the focus right. Educational Assessment, 11(3 & 4), 283–289.