МЕТОДИКА ИЗУЧЕНИЯ ИНОСТРАННЫХ ЯЗЫКОВ
Вестник КАСУ
136
Step 3: Make your best guess at the
word’s meaning.
It is important to stress with students
that natural context most often will not lead to
аclear understanding of а word's meaning and
that some words will not contain recognizable
morphological clues. Nevertheless, it seems
useful to take the step of making а best guess
at the word's meaning since this further mental
activity is likely to make the word more famil-
iar the next time it is encountered - if the stu-
dent's understanding of the word has to be re-
vised.
Step 4a: if you do not have a good idea
as to the word’s meaning and if the word
seems important, useа dictionary or glossary
[8].
Two
touchstones
for
determining
whether or not а word is important could be
used. First, if the reader is beginning to have
difficulty understanding what he or she is
reading, the meaning of the word may con-
tribute to а better understanding of what is
being read. It is, therefore, important. Second,
if it is а word that the reader has encountered
before and still has nо good idea as to its
meaning, it is probably an important word
since it is likely to be encountered again in the
future.
Step 4b: if you think you have figured
out the meaning of the word or if the word
does not seem important, keep reading.
Telling а reader to look up every un-
known word in а dictionary it’s unrealistic;
mature readers don’t. Therefore, it is legiti-
mate to move on and keep reading if context
and morphological clues have been somewhat
helpful or if the word doesn’t seem to be im-
portant for comprehension of what is being
read or for adding to one's functional vocabu-
lary. Teachers need to strategically and flexi-
bly model and teach each of the above steps.
Eventually, as students mature in their reading
skills, they can and will internalize the steps in
this strategy. Application of these steps then
becomes much smoother and more automatic,
requiring less attention. In fact, good readers
usually "blend" these steps [9].
Thus, we may conclude the following.
1. Vocabulary should be taught both di-
rectly and indirectly.
2. Encountering vocabulary words often
and in various ways can haveа significant ef-
fect on vocabulary learning.
3. Vocabulary words that students will
find useful in many contexts should be se-
lected.
4. Restructuring tasks to be certain stu-
dents fully understand the task and the com-
ponents of vocabulary learning can lead to
increased vocabulary learning, particularly for
low-achieving and at risk students.
5. Actively engaging students' results in
larger vocabulary gains.
6. Emerging support for the use of com-
puter technology to increase vocabulary.
7. Vocabulary words can be learned
through incidental and indirect ways. Repeti-
tion, richness of context, and student motiva-
tion may add to the efficacy of incidental
learning.
REFERENCES
1. National Reading Panel. (2000). Report of
the National Reading Panel: Teaching chil-
dren to read. Washington, D.C.: National
Institute of Child Healthand Human Devel-
opment.
2. Graves, M.F. (2000). A vocabulary program
to complement and bolster a middle-grade
comprehension program. In B.M. Taylor,
M.F. Graves, and P. Van Den Broek (eds.),
Readingfor meaning: Fostering comprehen-
sion in the middle grades. New York:
Teachers College Press.
3. Anderson, R. C., & Nagy, W. E. (1992).
The vocabulary conundrum. American
Educator, (16), 14–18, 44–46.
4. Anglin, J. M. (1993). Vocabulary develop-
ment: A morphological analysis. Mono-
graphs of the Society for Research in Child
Development, 58 (Serial No. 238).
5. Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowl-
edge: Implications for acquisition and in-
struction. In M. G. McKeown & M. E. Cur-
tis (Eds.), The nature of vocabulary acquisi-
tion (pp. 19–36). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.;
White, Graves, & Slater, 1990.
6. Nagy, W. E., Anderson, R. C., & Herman,
P. A. (1987). Learning word meanings from
context during normal reading.
7. Beck, I. L., & McKeown, M. G. (1991).
Conditions of vocabulary acquisition. In R.
Barr, M. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, & P. D.
Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading re-
search (vol. 2, pp. 789–814). New York:
МЕТОДИКА ИЗУЧЕНИЯ ИНОСТРАННЫХ ЯЗЫКОВ
Вестник КАСУ
137
Longman.; Nagy, W. E., & Herman, P. A.
(1987).
8. Cunningham, A. E., & Stanovich, K. E.
(1998). What reading does for the mind.
American Educator, 22, 8–15.; Hayes, D. P.
(1988).
9. Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to read:
Thinking and learning about print. Cam-
bridge, MA: MIT Press.
10. Nagy, W. E. (1988). Vocabulary instruc-
tion and reading comprehension (Tech.
Rep. No. 431). Champaign, IL: Center for
the Study of Reading.
УДК 811.111: 378
THE ROLE OF SELF-ASSESSMENT IN THE KNOWLEDGE ASSESSMENT
SYSTEM IN TEACHING ENGLISH
Panchikhina R.S., Novitskaya Y.V.
Assessment plays an exceptional role in
operating and experiencing the curriculum, for
enhancement of student learning, and the roles
of feedback and comments for curriculum
practice and learning enhancement. Students'
learning should be assessed to provide sum-
maries of learning, to provide information on
learning progress, to diagnose specific weak-
nesses and strengths in an individual's learn-
ing, and to motivate further learning. Van den
Akker (2003) stated that assessment is a proc-
ess for obtaining information… in order to
make decisions about student learning, cur-
riculum and programs, and on education pol-
icy matters. In assessment of students’ learn-
ing progress and competence attained, there is
a need to gather variety of information and
determine the degree to which students have
attained the learning targets intended in the
curriculum.
Assessment has several purposes among
which are: it directs the instructional process.
Assessment as a pervasive observation, moni-
toring, and transaction that takes place in
classrooms is important kind of educational
assessment. In such case, instructors determine
whether a lesson is going well and students are
catching by observation during learning, stu-
dent responses to questions, and student inter-
actions (Nitko, 2004).
In directing instruction, assessment is a
means to diagnose learning difficulties; it
helps the instructor identify the learner’s areas
of strength and weakness. Secondly, assess-
ment provides feedback about success of a
study program. Information from the assess-
ment of student learning utilized in program
evaluation (Pratt, 1998). Thirdly, assessment
reports individual learning achievements or
grades for various parties including students,
parents, education institutes to which learners
may apply for admission, potential employers,
occupational, and professional licensing bod-
ies. As stated by Nitko (2004), results from
classroom learning activities, quizzes, tests,
class projects, assignment papers, informal
observations on how well the student has at-
tained the intended learning targets can be
used to grade students for a lesson, or unit, a
marking period, or course.
Moreover, assessment is useful in en-
hancing student motivation, self-concept, and
sense of self- efficacy. When assessment, de-
signed to produce real success in student
learning and curriculum experience, frequent
use stimulates student confidence and willing-
ness to learn. Meherns and Lehman (1991)
described the importance of assessment in in-
creasing student motivation towards a course,
encouraging good study habits, and in provid-
ing feedback that identifies strengths and
weaknesses of learners. Teachers can use as-
sessment to guide decisions about the learners.
The better the diagnostic and achievement
data from assessment the teacher has about the
students, the more appropriate will be the
guidance to provide learners about their learn-
ing, and about their academic and occupa-
tional choices. Therefore, instructors in higher
institutes should aware the salient role of as-
sessment among the curriculum components
and internalize proper skills and applications
to effectively implement curriculum at course
level.
МЕТОДИКА ИЗУЧЕНИЯ ИНОСТРАННЫХ ЯЗЫКОВ
Вестник КАСУ
138
Assessments are used for different pur-
poses. First of all they can be used as motiva-
tors. Research shows that students study and
learn more material when they are told they
will be tested on it or held accountable for the
material. Assessments also can be used as
mechanisms for review. They can serve to
promote constant review of material, which
aids in moving the material from short-term to
long-term memory in order to be accessed in
the future. Assessments also provide feedback
to a teacher about the student's knowledge and
the effectiveness of instruction, as well as to
students about areas in which they may need
to focus or on areas in which they are profi-
cient.
As in the recent understandings, as-
sessment is not something that follows learn-
ing process or is separable from it. Rather as-
sessment shapes, and is a part of the learning
process. Assessment and instruction should be
seamless, each contributing to the goal of im-
proved learning. Moreover, effective instruc-
tors integrate assessment and teaching, and
how learning activities are structured. Recent
developments in assessment procedures have
also encouraged having students participate in
the generation and even in the scoring of
learning activities and assessment tasks, or
having choices in aspects of the learning activ-
ity (Smith, 2003). In describing the advantages
of classroom assessment environment for the
student, (Brookhart, 2003) stated that from the
students’ point of view, classroom assessment
information is not merely information about
himself or herself, rather, it forms a major part
of his/her learning life, becoming part of the
lesson he or she is expected to learn, the rela-
tionship he/she has with the teacher and the
subject matter, and relationship with peers.
Assessment can be divided into four
main types: formal and informal, formative
and summative. All these types of assessment
vary according to their purpose and can help
the educator to determine what students are
learning, and to re-evaluate the teaching
strategies.
Formative assessment is the continuous
use of assessment to guide the educational
process, rather than provide a summary of at-
tainment.
It occurs in the short term, as learners
are in the process of making meaning of new
content and of integrating it into what they
already know. Formative assessment can be
formal and informal. It is the most powerful
type of assessment for improving student un-
derstanding and performance.
The formative assessment process itself
is part of the learning because, it is in this
process that students come to understand the
standard quality work with which their work is
compared. This differs from summative as-
sessment in which the assessor is the only one
who necessarily has to understand the standard
(Brookhat, 2003).
Summative assessment usually takes
place at the end of the course in order to find
out what has been learnt and what standard the
learner has reached. It has the least impact on
improving an individual student's understand-
ing or performance. Teachers use this assess-
ment to identify strengths and weaknesses of
curriculum and instruction, with improve-
ments affecting the students. Summative as-
sessment requires that teachers become mem-
bers of community of practice, where as for-
mative assessment requires that learners be-
come members of same community of practice
(Black & William, 1998).
Formal assessments have data which
support the conclusions made from the test.
We usually refer to these types of tests as
standardized measures.
Informal assessments are not data
driven but rather content and performance
driven. For example, running records are in-
formal assessments because they indicate how
well a student is reading a specific book. For-
mal or standardized measures should be used
to assess overall achievement, to compare a
student's performance with others at their age
or grade, or to identify comparable strengths
and weaknesses with peers. Informal assess-
ments sometimes referred to as criterion refer-
enced measures or performance based meas-
ures, should be used to inform instruction.
The teacher can have variety of assess-
ment methods to use in the classroom. For
instance, observation is greatly used by ex-
perienced teachers to identify students pro-
gressing or having difficulties in their learn-
ing. Some teachers maintain a logbook in
which they record observations on students’
daily work habits and progress they show in
learning, particularly when working in groups.
МЕТОДИКА ИЗУЧЕНИЯ ИНОСТРАННЫХ ЯЗЫКОВ
Вестник КАСУ
139
Portfolio or records of work are also another
important classroom assessment used by
teachers. Portfolio is a kind of file in which a
students’ written work, or the best examples of
it are kept. It provides cumulative record of
student performance that show learning pro-
gress over time in much detail and substance
than a mere list of scores. Portfolios enable the
teacher to make much more specific instruc-
tional plans and recommendations than of
standard test scores.
Self and peer assessment are essential to
learning. Students’ self-reflection and their
understanding is used to inform future teach-
ing, and their feedback indicates in what areas
the teacher needs to spend more time and ef-
fort. Assessment may be justified as means of
engaging students, to develop and demonstrate
students’ deep understanding, to communicate
individual differences, or to provide students
with opportunities to be successful. Brookhart
(2001), Shepard (2001), and Stiggins (1999,
2001) maintained that students should be ac-
tively involved in assessment through self-
evaluation. They argued that students need to
monitor their progress by applying ongoing
meaningful feedback that is helpful in show-
ing them how to meet ultimate learning tar-
gets. However, self –assessment will happen
only if teachers help their students develop the
assessment skills, because there is always dif-
ficulties to get students think of their work in
terms of set of learning targets (Black & Wil-
liam, 2004). Peer-assessment is also important
component to self-assessment that helps real-
ize curricular targets for students’ learning.
Peer assessment is valuable to attain curricular
goals because the interchange is in language
that students themselves naturally use. Peer-
assessment is useful in placing the learning
task in the hands of students. In this case the
teacher is free to observe and reflect on what
is happening and frame helpful interventions.
In using peer assessment, one teacher de-
scribed his astonishment as in the following
(Black & William, 2004: 15).
Van Cecil defines self-assessment in
learning as a child's development relies greatly
on what they learn in the classroom. It is not
only about reciting facts, or being able to cri-
tique a piece of literature, but also includes the
student's ability to assess his or her own per-
formance. Self-assessment in the classroom is
important for building lifelong skills that will
be used in work and interpersonal relation-
ships.
Participation in self-assessment is much
more than just checking for errors or weak-
nesses. It involves making explicit what is im-
plicit, and thus it requires students active
learning. As one student stated it ‘after a stu-
dent marking my investigation, I can now ac-
knowledge my mistakes easier. I hope that it is
not just me who learned from the investigation
but the student who marked it did also’ (Black
& William, 2004:16). Collaboration between
teachers and students can produce a supportive
environment in which students explore their
own ideas and evaluate them. Research find-
ings also indicated that students trained to pre-
pare for examinations by generating and then
answering their own questions outperformed
comparable groups who have prepared in con-
ventional ways. Preparing test questions in the
form of self-assessment … help students de-
velop an overview of the topic (Black & Wil-
liam, 2004). In general, assessment practices
involving students have salient contributions
for effective practice of curriculum. For im-
proving classroom practice with respect to
assessment, Black and William (2004) have
suggested the following:
Students should be encouraged to keep
in mind the aims of their work and to assess
their own progress toward meeting these aims
as they proceed. Then they will be able to
guide their own work and so become inde-
pendent learners.
Furthermore, Stinggins (2001) under-
scored the importance of student-involved
classroom assessment, involving students in
the design of assessments, in self-assessment
over time, in student record keeping of pro-
gress, and in student self reflection to bring
effective learning environment. These motiva-
tional principles are ones that teachers need to
be aware of appropriate assessment decisions.
For example, teachers could be guided by a
series of questions about assessment proce-
dures that focus on student engagement. These
are: “Are assessment tasks meaningfully re-
lated to student interests, backgrounds, and
goals?”, “Are assessment tasks challenging to
students?”, “Are students provided with mean-
ingful feedback and comments as they learn?”,
“How is student engagement determined?”,
МЕТОДИКА ИЗУЧЕНИЯ ИНОСТРАННЫХ ЯЗЫКОВ
Вестник КАСУ
140
“Is student self-assessment' used to help un-
derstand their progress and criteria for judging
success?” and “What skills do students need to
be good self-assessors?”.
Assessment is one essential component
of curriculum practice that has salient contri-
bution for effective curriculum operation and
implementation. Instructors' recognition for
continuous assessment and practice has sig-
nificance for students learning of substantive
knowledge and skill. They should integrate
plan for continuous assessment with the in-
structional process to raise learning standards
of students. Moreover, they should devise as-
sessment tasks that practically challenge stu-
dents, engage students in the assessment proc-
ess. However, as discussed in this review arti-
cle, the current state of assessment, particu-
larly formative/continuous assessment in
higher learning programs is not in line with
best practices to enhance student learning and
actualize curriculum intentions. Furthermore,
current changing paradigms of learning such
as cognitive and constructivist have implica-
tions for awakening and changing instructors'
views and practices of assessment in order to
prepare competent graduates with marketable
knowledge and skill in their specific fields of
study.
Here is a part of the lesson where the
educator promotes self-assessment to the
learners to improve their reading skills. Each
student should be provided with the computer.
Learners work with Audacity program to cre-
ate podcasts. Audacity is an open source cross
platform audio editor. (It can be downloaded
from http:// audacity. sourceforge. net/). This
is a great reflective tool for students to assess
their own reading by recording themselves and
then listening back to the recording. Students
like to work with this program, because it al-
lows them to record themselves and listen to
their pronunciation. After the text is recorded,
students listen to the text they have recorded
and try to answer such questions as: “What do
you do well when you read aloud?”, “How do
you think your pronunciation sound?”, “Do
you change your voice as you read?” or “How
could you improve your reading?”. At the end
of this activity students save their readings and
share them with the teacher. The teacher gives
analysis to the students and discusses their
answers to the questions mentioned before.
Достарыңызбен бөлісу: |