On The Application Of Formative Assessment In Middle School English Teaching

In the 1990's, many educational reformers are seeking answers to two fundamental questions: How well are students' learning? How effectively are teachers' teaching? The questions lead to how to assess our teaching and learning. A good assessment can tell teachers how to teach and let students know how to learn. Formative assessment and summative assessment are two kinds of assessment that teachers prefer to use in the middle school, especially summative assessment, which has been regarded as the best one in traditional assessment. This thesis aims at studying the necessity and usefulness of applying formative assessment in middle school English teaching by contrasting formative assessment and summative assessment, by discussing the function and characteristics of formative assessment and by discussing the practical use of formative assessment in middle school English teaching. The thesis analyzes that the two symbols of formative assessment are feedback and process, which are different from traditional summative assessment. Traditional summative assessment just provides the results of the students' study;it cannot provide instant feedback about the students' study. Most of the middle school teachers in China like to use summative assessment to evaluate the study of the students. When they use summative assessment, they are likely to pay no attention to the students' emotions, learning attitudes, learning activities, learning strategies and students' efforts and the problems they have in their studies. But learning is a process in which not only the results but also the process is of vital importance. Students are the centre of the study in this process. Teachers should try to motivate them and help them to be initiative and creative. If formative assessment is applied in English teaching, it will help us solve the problem mentioned aboveand teachers as well students will benefit greatly from it.In this thesis, the author has surveyed 100 teachers and 2126 students from different schools. From the analysis of the result of the survey, the thesis concludes that formative assessment is a good way to assess the students in their English learning;it is useful for improving both English learning and teaching. The author focuses on the importance of "feedback', because it can tell the teacher what the students have grasped and what they have not grasped. In Chapter I, the author introduces formative assessment in language teaching, illustrating what is formative assessment and what function and characteristics it has. Chapter II analyzes the application of formative assessment in middle school English teaching, with the focus on the means and modules often used in the assessment. In Chapter HI, the author elaborates on the value of formative assessment in motivating students and improving both teaching and learning. Based on the analysis of some disadvantages of formative assessment and the enlightenment we can get from the practice of applying formative assessment the author puts forward some suggestions on how to make formative assessment more effective. The Conclusion emphasizes that assessment is not for grading, but for promoting teaching and learning. Formative assessment focuses on "feedback" and students' improvement, which helps to arouse the students' self-confidence and learning motivation. But it also has some disadvantages and thereby the author gives some suggestions.