This term the hot topic in NSW amongst secondary teachers is the recent change to the Stage 6 assessment task schedule. Even if you are not in NSW, the topic will resonate with you – how can you assess your students at a school level without succumbing to just practising for the test? The dilemma for NSW teachers is that they can only have 3 tasks and only 1 of these can be an exam style task. The non-exam tasks also need to be conducted in one sitting each – so no portfolios or ongoing work; and they need to assess multiple skills in order to cover the outcomes.

So what to do?

One idea is to film a native speaker talking about an object or photograph. The students could then answer questions in English about the speech (listening skills) in Part A of the task. Part B could require them to summarise the text as the script of a conversation between the student and the native speaker (writing skills). They could be encouraged to not only ask questions relating to the content but also to provide details about themselves.

For example if the speaker (B) introduced their school club the dialogue could develop into a text as follows:

A:ぶかつどうは何をしていますか。

B:ぶかつどうはバスケットボールをしています。十三才の時からしています。

A:そうですか。じつは私もバスケットボールのチームに入っています。でも、私のチームは強くないです。

B:好きなプロのせんしゅはいますか。

A: とくにいませんが、きょ年クラスのえんそくでプロのしあいを見に行きました。シドニーキングズというチームがかちました。とても楽しいけいけんでした。

The marking criteria would need to outline the expectations clearly such as:

Write the script of a conversation between you and the speaker from the listening text.

An excellent response will:

• direct the conversation with questions that allow you to include information provided by the text
• extend the conversation beyond the information provided to include relevant details about your own experience relevant to the conversation
• demonstrate a range of grammatical structures and vocabulary
• demonstrate accurate use of script, vocabulary and grammatical structures
• demonstrate an understanding of aizuchi and other intercultural skills such as modesty when discussing ability etc

I hope that gives you a starting point for combining skills in a single task without replicating just an exam format.

Further reading:

You may also be interested in our post on feedback at https://www.mantenresources.com.au/teachers/blog/5-steps-to-better-feedback/

Feedback is not perceived as exciting to the same extent as many other aspects of teaching (such as organizing an excursion or designing an assessment task). In formal assessment tasks, teachers often dislike writing it, and students frequently fail to read it properly. It seems as if everyone is focused only on the mark or grade, their ranking against others. This is a disappointing state though as feedback has been ranked as one of the top ten influences on student achievement (Hattie 2009). It is also one of the most variable influences suggesting that all feedback is not equal. Why isn’t there more consistency produced by feedback? Why aren’t we doing it well?

Luckily for us there has been some interesting research conducted in this area in recent years. Unfortunately most teachers and schools are just too busy to read it though! If you haven’t had time to finish last term’s cup of coffee then this list is for you. It is a summary of how to save your feedback from failure.

Step 1 : Provide explanation feedback not correctional feedback

For example if correcting a written text of a student who had forgotten to indent at the beginning of a paragraph; “You didn’t indent one box.” , would be an example of correctional feedback. “You needed to indent one box as that would indicate to the reader that it is the start of a new paragraph.”, would be an example of explanation feedback. The student may not make the connection between the correction and the fact it is needed as it is the start of a new paragraph without such detail, and hence may not be able to repeat the indent in future contexts.

Step 2 : Tell them what they did well, not just what they did wrong

Many teachers give excellent explicit feedback about what is incorrect but gloss over or leave out what was well done. For example “great use of punctuation” tells them very little. “I was impressed to see that you remembered that the full stop shares the box with the letter if it appears at the end of a row. Well done.”, is far more explicit and useful to the student.

Step 3 : Avoid negative phrase like “you should” and “wrong”

“You have written the dash in シドニー the wrong way. You should write the dash horizontally when writing a text horizontally.”, is an example of feedback that is unlikely to motivate a student. Instead try phrases like :

“I was really impressed to see you stretch yourself to include the new kanji from chapter 2 of Jblog 2. Take a look at the kanji index on page 125 of Jblog 2 and see if you can find the reason I have highlighted this kanji.”

Step 4 : Provide objective feedback not subjective feedback

Students don’t need to hear “You are awesome at kanji”. That encourages a fixed mindset and will ultimately lead to them playing it safe to avoid making a mistake and disappointing you. Instead try honest but subjective phrases about their effort and persistence, and explain why it was impressive. Eg “You used some great conjunctions in your letter to link ideas and actions such as でも、ですから and そして. This makes your text more interesting for the reader.”

Step 5 : Stop the teacher monopoly on feedback                      

Feedback is not supposed to be about you justifying the grade you gave a student. It is an important opportunity for the student to improve and learn. Try to embed more peer feedback and self-analysis components in your next assessment.

The examples in this text are taken from The Stage 5 Formative Assessment Writing Resource. This resource is available for purchase for $70 from Manten resources and includes professional development readings and a ready-made assessment task to get you started. More information is available at this link : https://www.mantenresources.com.au/teachers/blog/new-growth-mindset-formative-assessment-resource/ 

Further reading:

You may also be interested in our post on growth mindset at https://www.mantenresources.com.au/teachers/blog/growth-mindset-more-than-just-a-poster-on-the-wall/

Reference :

Hattie, J., & Ebooks Corporation. (2009). Visible learning : A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement / John A.C. Hattie. London ; New York: Routledge.