A Research Into Formative Assessment In Primary School English Teaching

This thesis is intended to apply theories and practices of formative assessment toprimary school English teaching. It is divided into four parts and deals with the followingissues respectively.Chapter one is an introduction to both educational evaluation and formative assessment.The development of educational evaluation abroad is attributed to such scholars as M.Scriven,B.S.Bloom, Tyler, Stufflebeam, Genesee and Upshur, and so on. Since Scriven put forwardthe notion of formative assessment in 1967, formative assessment has long been paidattention to and many countries have developed their own evaluation systems. In contraststudies on educational evaluation in China somewhat drop behind. Teaching staff have longregarded educational evaluation as testing and measurement, or as summative assessment. Itwas not until 2000 that the conception of formative assessment was put forward in EnglishSyllabus of middle school English teaching. Teachers have improved their understanding ofstudent assessment since 2001, when a new curriculum system was adopted and implementedin China. The new English Curriculum Standard offers new quality-oriented guidingprinciples in conducting evaluation. Then the distinctions among testing, measurement,assessment, and evaluation can be seen from their definitions. As for formative assessment,it's important to make clear the distinctions between summative assessment and formativeassessment. Some definitions such as performance assessment and portfolio assessment areintroduced too. Theories mentioned in this chapter provide the basis of applying formativeassessment in English teaching. Bachman's theory of Communicative Language Ability,Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences,and Piaget's constructivism, these theories provide support for the application of formativeassessment in English teaching. Characteristics and functions of formative assessment arealso stated in this chapter.Chapter two aims to show the necessity and significance of applying formativeassessment in primary school English teaching. Some figures shown in some charts illustratethe actuality of English teaching and assessing in primary schools. It can be easily seen thatthe main assessing method in current English teaching is still the traditional way ofpaper-and-pencil testing, while pupils expect to be assessed in various ways because nearly90% of them don't think paper-and-pencil tests can represent their language ability. To solvethis problem the Ministry of Education has made an announcement to call for and require thereform of the current assessment system. Some more detailed requirements are shown in thenew English Curriculum Standard (ECS for short), which appeals for a new evaluationsystem that can arouse students'learning interest and initiative. According to the specificrequirements from the ECS, it's necessary to implement formative assessment in primaryschool English teaching. Advantages of formative assessment over the traditional ways ofassessment can also prove the necessity and importance of the application of formativeassessment in primary school English teaching. Chapter three introduces some common formative assessment tools, includingportfolios, course work, conferences, observations, performance assessment, and projectcooperation. Portfolio assessment is an appraisal of student development based on theprocess of making portfolios and the analysis of their final results. In this chapter, thepurposes, features, types, and functions of portfolio assessment are indicated respectively,together with some forms that can be used in a portfolio assessment. Course work refers tothe task which is arranged by the teachers for the students to fulfill within a long period oftime (usually a term) and aims to be a useful supplement to paper-and-pencil tests whileassessing students. The features of it can be seen from the contrast made among course work,daily homework and unit work. In this part I also present two typical samples of course workwhich I've used in my own teaching. Conferences can take forms of conversations betweenthe teacher and students, students'accounts in their own words, discussions among students,or interviews between the teacher and students'parents. How to design and hold conferencesis discussed in this chapter. Observations in this thesis are mainly about class events,teaching and learning activities, and exchanges among students. What to observe and how toobserve are important for English teachers to consider before they observe students. The mostimportant step for observations is to record information about students. Three kinds ofrecording tools—anecdotal records, checklists, and rating scales—are introduced in this part.Then the definitions, characteristics, and principles of performance assessment are touchedupon, followed by some typical performance assessment activities such as games,...