Alternative Ways to Assess EFL Learners’ Communicative Competence

Alternative Ways to Assess EFL Learners’ Communicative Competence

By: Luh Putu Artini

Ganesha University of Education

tien_miasa@hotmail.com

Introduction

EFL teaching and learning has specific characteristics. One of the important characteristics is that EFL teaching and learning should be ‘oriented toward the broad goal of communicative competence’ (i.e. ability to communicate). This concerns both spoken or written language as well as the four language skills: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Oxford (1990) states:

“Development of communicative competence requires realistic interaction among learners using meaningful, contextualized language. Learning strategies help learners participate actively…”(Oxford, 1990:8).

This specific characteristic requires specific strategies to assess students’ competence in the language. Competence here refers to knowledge (cognitive), abilities and skills (psychomotor), and attitudes, motivation, personality (affective). In fact, for a number of decades, teachers and program administrators have struggled to identify appropriate procedures to assess the knowledge, abilities and attitudes of EFL students (O’Malley & Pierce, 1996).

In Indonesia, concern about appropriate ways to assess students’ competence in EFL has just come into play. Despite the long history of the implementation of communicative approach, assessment has ever since been mostly oriented to product and behavior (represented by scores over the achievement of knowledge), or is commonly known as traditional forms of assessment. It was the introduction of competence-based curriculum in 2004 that inspired the need of new trends in assessment, especially in EFL teaching and learning.

Objectives

This paper is an attempt to discuss some alternative ways to assess EFL learners’ communicative skills, with particular interest in communicative competence in English. In a more detailed way, the objectives of this paper are:

1.      To discuss the latest trend in assessment methods in relation to EFL teaching and learning

2.      To discuss the characteristics of authentic assessment and how it is different from conventional assessment methods

3.      To illustrate how authentic assessment, especially portfolios to assess communicative skills is implemented.

Latest Trends in Assessment Methods in EFL

Along with the implementation of competence-based EFL learning that formally commenced in 2004, a new trend in assessment was introduced. As mentioned above, competence based learning is characterized by mastery learning that covers the cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills) and affective (attitudes) factors. Conventional teaching and learning was mainly underlined by behaviorism, where learning was to be targeted to achieve ‘operationally’ stated objectives. The appropriate assessment method in this teaching and learning practice was ‘product-oriented’ and is often reflected in single scoring system. Competence-based learning on the other hand, requires a more complex assessment method and is more process oriented. This assessment is commonly known as authentic assessment (or sometimes called performance assessment or alternative assessment).

The term ‘authentic assessment’ was popularized by Grant Wiggins (1989), referring to the idea that “assessment should engage students in applying knowledge and skills in the same way they are used in ‘real world’ outside school” (Marzano, et.al., 1993:13).

According to O’Malley and Pierce (1996), assessment is authentic when:

·         It corresponds and mirrors good classroom instruction

·         The results can be used to improve instructions

The two scholars implied that authentic assessment is a part of instruction, not apart from instruction. The Relationship between assessment and instruction is illustrated by the following figure.

			LESSON PLAN

                                                                                             

			TEACHING & LEARNING PROCESS
	ANALYSIS & FEEDBACK

 

                                                                                                                 

	CLASSROOM ASSESMENT

 

Figure 1: Relationship between assessment and instruction (Quoted from Penilaian

               Tingkat Kelas,  Depdiknas 2003)

The Department of National Education (2003) presents further details about criteria of authentic assessment as follows:

• Assessment process should a part of instruction (not apart from instruction)
• Assessment should reflect real-world problems (not school-kind problems)
• Assessment should involve various measures, methods, strategies to be compatible to learning characteristics and objectives
• Assessment should be holistic, that is, to cover overall learning aspects and goals (i.e. cognitive, affective, and sensory-motoric)

The Purpose of Assessment

Chittenden (1991) suggested four purposes of assessment:

·         Keeping track: to keep the teaching and learning process on the right track (i.e. to follow the plan)

·         Checking-up: to check problems encountered by the students prior or after the learning process. This includes the checking of what students have been competent at and what they have not been.

·         Finding-out: to find out reasons for low or unsatisfactory competence or ineffective pedagogical processes.

·         Summing up: to draw a conclusion whether or not the students, in overall, have achieved the intended goals as the data to report the students’ reports to parents, schools and others.  

O’Malley and Pierce (1995), further, argue that there are at least six reasons why we need to assess our students.

1.      Screening and Identification: to identify students’ eligibility to receive special language and / or content area support program

2.      Placement: to determine the language proficiency and content area competencies of students in order to recommend an appropriate educational program

3.      Reclassification or exit: to determine if a student has gained the language skills and content area competencies needed to benefit from instruction in grade-level classroom (not specially address students’ need)

4.      Monitoring students’ progress: to review students’ language and content area learning in classrooms

5.      Program evaluation: to determine effects of federal, state, or local instructional programs.

6.      Accountability: to guarantee that students attain expected educational goals or standards, including testing for school graduation.

Authentic Assessment in EFL Teaching and Learning: How?

Authentic assessment describes the multiple forms of assessment that are consistent with classroom goals, curriculum and instruction. This method of assessment gains its popularity because conventional assessment procedures:

1. do not assess the full range of essential student outcomes
2. do not provide teachers with adequate information for instructional planning.
3. do not represent recent improvements in our understanding of what and how students learn
4. do not contain authentic representations of classroom activities
5. do not ensure student interest and motivation during assessment

The weaknesses of conventional assessment methods mentioned above implies how authentic assessment should be implemented. This is discussed from both students, and teachers’ sides below.

Students

Authentic assessment procedures require students to:

• Apply their knowledge and skills from several areas to demonstrate they can perform a learning target.
• Make something (build a finger puppet), produce a report (a report on a group project surveying parents’ attitudes towards the national examination system), and demonstration (show how to make photo album using recycle paper).

Teachers

Authentic assessment procedures require teachers to:

• Change teaching philosophy from ‘transmission-oriented’ to learner-centered
• Apply effective time and management
• Develop professional skills
• Craft and administer the task(s) so that what a student does is the actual performance that the learning target specifies.
• Properly evaluate the quality of that student’s performance.
• Clearly define scoring scheme or rubric

Authentic Assessment in EFL Teaching and Learning: Types

In most references consulted in the writing of this paper, types of authentic assessment cover the following:

1. Structured, on demand task for individual students, groups, or both (e.g. solve this story problem and how you solve it, write a story about a typical day in Sally’s life after you study the following graph that shows how she uses her time).
2. Naturally Occurring or Typical Performance Tasks (e.g. summarize the grammatical and spelling errors students make when writing a narrative).
3. Longer term project (collect and classify newspaper and magazine advertisements).
4. Portfolios[1]
• Best work portfolios (select your best writing in each of several categories: such as poems, narratives, letters, and describe why each piece was included)
• Growth and learning-progress portfolios (e.g. develop a portfolio to show how your writing has developed over the semester: include early drafts, rewrite your own criticism of earlier work and your evaluation of how your writing has improved).

Authentic Method to Assess Students’ Communicative Skills:  Portfolios

The most popular method of assessing EFL learners’ communicative skills if portfolios. This method has special characteristics in which they always include three aspects:

• Samples of student work
• Student self-assessment
• Clearly stated criteria

Samples of student work

Regardless of the types of portfolios used (usually either one of those two above), there should be a compilation of student work to show learning progress over time. The samples may consist of writing samples, speech outlines, survey reports, brochures, or formal letters. The content may depend on student or teacher preferences, the purposes of portfolio, or the instructional goals the portfolio is designed to reflect.

Student Self-Assessment

Students have a unique opportunity to learn to monitor their own progress and take responsibility for meeting goals set jointly with the teacher. Self-assessment involved in the implementation of portfolios enables students to:

·         know where they are with regard to the learning goals

·         broaden their view of what is being learnt

·         to see learning as a process

·         get developmental perspectives of their learning

Clearly Stated Criteria

Students need to know how their work will be evaluated and what standards will their work will be judged. Teachers are recommended to involve their students in setting the standards. They should make time for their students to discuss criteria and engage in goal setting. The common goals in class can be used to direct instructional activities (e.g. how to formulate conclusion or to use transitions).

To give a clearer idea of the differences between portfolios and traditional assessment, the following comparison is presented.

Portfolios

Traditional Assessment

Represents the range of reading and writing  students are engaged in Engages students in assessing their progress and / or accomplishments and establishing ongoing learning goals Measures each student’s achievement while allowing for individual differences between students Represents a collaborative approach to assessment Has a goal of student self-assessment Addresses improvement, effort, and achievement Link assessment and teaching to learning

Assesses students across a limited range of reading and writing assignments which may not match what students do Mechanically scored or scored by teachers who have little input Assesses all students on the same dimensions Assessment process is not collaborative Addresses achievement only Separate learning, testing, and teaching.

Figure 2: Differences between portfolios and Traditional assessment (Quoted from

               Popham, 1995).

Authentic Assessment in EFL Teaching and Learning: Examples

The following is how communication skills are assessed through carefully deigned tasks. The skills include listening, writing, reading and speaking

Listening / Writing

Task Outcomes:

(1)   Observe and discuss how effective music is used in TV shows

(2)   Through research, select relevant information to answer specific questions

(3)   Used listening skills by observing and commenting on the musical concepts used in a theme from a TV show.

The Task:

Choose a popular TV Show that you would like to research and answer the following questions.

(1)   Name the TV Show you have chosen to research

(2)   Why did you choose this TV Show?

(3)   Briefly describe what the TV show is about.

(4)   Describe the Theme Song for this TV Show

(5)   How effective do you think the theme song is in representing the mood and character of the show?

(6)    What style of music is used for the theme song? Why do you think this style of music was chosen?

(7)   Is background music used during the TV show? If yes, describe at least one example of how it was used and its effect on the viewer. If no, why do you think it was not used?

(8)   Describe how music is used to end the show?

(9)   Find out 5 interesting facts about this TV show.

Marking Sheet

Research	Points
(1)      Name the TV Show you have chosen to research (2)      Your reasons for choosing this TV Show? (3)      Description of what the TV show is about. (4)      Description of the Theme Song (5)      How effective is the theme song? (6)      Style of music is used? Why? (7)      Is background music used? Give example. (8)      Description of the end theme song. (9)      5 interesting facts about this TV show.	* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
TOTAL

Overall Grade for the Task

O         Outstanding    (56-65)

H         High                (51-55)

C         Considerable   (40-50)

S          Satisfactory     (25-40)

E         Elementary      (Below 25)

N         Non-Attempt (0)

Student Self-Assessment

(1)      The skills and techniques I learned from completing this task: _______________

(2)      The steps I took to complete this task: __________________________________

(3)      Some problems I faced: _____________________________________________

(4)      I overcame them by: ________________________________________________

(5)      My personal rating for this task is:

Very High      High                Medium          Low                Very Low

(6)      Which statement below is closest to the way you feel?

□  I am really proud of my effort. I don’t think I could have done much better

□  I like my work a lot. I know how I could make it even better.

□  I think my effort is OK, and I know that I could have made it better with more

      effort.

□  I know I can do better than this. The result doesn’t show what I am capable of.

□  I am not at all happy with my effort. I didn’t try as hard as I could.

□  I didn’t make a serious effort, and it shows in the end product.

□  This task confused me. I couldn’t really do it.

□  Other: ___________________________________________________________

  

Reading / Speaking

Task Outcomes

(1)     A student responds to and composes texts for understanding, interpretation, critical analysis and pleasure [1]

(2)     A student makes informed language choices to shape meaning with accuracy, clarity and coherence [5]

(3)     A student draws on experience, information and ideas to imaginatively and interpretively respond to and compose texts [6]

(4)     A student demonstrates understanding that texts express views of their broadening world and their relationships within it [9]

The Task

Imagine you are a character from a novel studied in class. Compose a three minute speech on how experiences from the novel have changed you as a person and life lessons you have learned.

Guidelines:

You will be evaluated on:

-          understanding of chosen character

-          ability to use appropriate examples, experiences, memories from the novel

-          ability to reflect on the character’s whole experience (themes)

-          choice of what to focus on in the speech

-          grammar/language usage

Marking Criteria

	4	3	2	1
SPEAKS CLEARLY	Speaks clearly and distinctly all the time, mispronounces no word	Speaks clearly and distinctly all the time, but occasionally mispronounces words	Speaks clearly and distinctly some of the time, mispronounces a few words	Difficult to understand, mispronounces words
VOLUME	Volume is loud enough to be heard by all the audience throughout the presentation	Volume is loud enough to be heard by all the audience at least 80% of the time	Volume is loud enough to be heard by all the audience at least 60% of the time	Volume is often too soft to be heard by all audience members
POSTURE AND EYE CONTACT	Stands up straight, looks relaxed and confident, establishes eye contact with audience	Stands up straight, establishes eye contact with audience	Stands up straight and establishes eye contact occasionally	Stands slouched and makes no eye contact
TIME LIMIT	Presentation is 3 minute long	Presentation is 2 minutes, 30 seconds to 3 minutes long	Presentation is 1 to 2 minutes long	Presentation is less than 1 minute
CONTENT	Shows a full, complex understanding of character	Shows a good understanding of character	Shows a satisfactory understanding of character	Does not seem to understand the character
VOCABULARY	Uses appropriate vocabulary, extends audience vocabulary with new words	Uses appropriate vocabulary, includes 1-2 words that might be new to audience	Uses appropriate vocabulary, does not include any new words	Uses several (5 or more) words or phrases not understood by audience
STAYS ON TOPIC	Stays on topic all the time	Stays on topic most (85%-99%) of the time	Stays on topic some (60%-85%) of the time	Difficult to tell what the topic was
PROPS	Uses several props that show considerable work/creativity and which make the presentation better	Uses 1 prop that shows considerable work/creativity and which make the presentation better	Uses one prop which makes the presentation better	Uses no props or props chosen detract from presentation

Discussion

The examples of tasks and methods of assessing them engaged the students to use not only their knowledge but also skills in the language. Besides, the tasks revolved around real life and students are encouraged to self-direct their learning and work autonomously. Even though they work on the same task, it can be expected that students will vary in topic, strategy to go about it, and also goals. Instructions can be adjusted to students’ needs when completing these tasks. A lesson might need to be planned on discussing about music, language usage to describe a music type, or exercises about language use in argumentative type of writing.

The task is about ‘real life’ and the assessment method applied can be structured, natural and portfolio. Students are provided with opportunities to self-access their performance and express their attitude or perception about the task. Through this assessment, EFL teachers can evaluate what students know, what they are competent at,  how much they know and to what extent their competence in the topic, and what they are not competent at and why. In addition, the marking criteria are clear that it is not difficult for the students to know where they are in their learning span.

Conclusion

Authentic assessment in EFL teaching and learning has just been recently introduced. This method of assessment requires an EFL teacher to deliberately change their philosophy of teaching, from teacher centered to student centered learning. Teacher should be creative in designing their instructional so that the assessment become the integral part, closer to real life and providing space for students to be involved in deciding on their learning goals.   

References

Depdiknas. (2003). Penilaian Tingkat Kelas. Pedoman bagi guru. Jakarta: Pusat Penilaian Pendidikan, Badan Penelitian dan Pengembangan.

Johnson, K. and Morrow, K. (1981. Communication in the Classroom. Application and Methods for a Communicative Approach. Essex: Longman.

Killen, R. (1996). Effective Teaching Strategies. Lessons from Research to Practice. Maryborough: Social Science Press.

O’Malley, J.M. and Pierce, L.V. (1996). Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners. Practical Approaches for Teachers. Ontario: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.

Nitko, A.J. (1996). Educational Assessment of Students. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice- Hall Inc.

Marzano, R.J., Pickering, D., and McTighe, J. (1993). Assessing Student Outcomes. Performance Assessment using the Dimension of Learning Model. Alexandria: ASCD.

Popham, W.J. (1975). Educational Evaluation. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice- Hall Inc.

Popham, W.J. (1995). Classroom Assessment. What Teachers need to know. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

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[1]Other types of portfolios (not popular): (1) showcasing (student chooses favorite work); (2) process documenting (student places commentary and documentation a along term project); (3) demonstrating and composite achievement of a group of students).