by Chan Kwong Tung and Kwek Siew Hoon
Introduction
In Singapore and elsewhere alike, teachers experienced tension in assessment due to the multiple duties or purposes that assessments have to serve (Chan, 2019). It is against this backdrop that we introduced Learning-oriented Assessment (LOA) (Carless,2007; 2009) into the local context. Through a project that aims to implement the LOA principles in the Chinese language (CL) classrooms, we attempted to help CL teachers reconcile the tension between formative assessment (FA) and summative assessment (SA) by focusing assessment efforts on the development of students’ language ability. This project aims to enhance CL teachers’ assessment literacy by exploring the theoretical and empirical literature on LOA in the context of CL classrooms at the secondary school level. Eight teachers from four secondary schools of different profiles were engaged to implement LOA in their CL lessons.
Specifically, this project seeks to find out how teachers understand and apply LOA in their CL lessons. It explores the processes in which teachers carried out the three principles of LOA (i.e., assessment tasks as learning tasks, student involvement in assessment and closing of feedback loops) (Carless, 2007). In line with this aim, the main means of data collection were classroom observations and team professional reflections and discussions.
The conceptualization of LOA
LOA “seeks to contribute to the reconciliation of formative and summative assessment tensions by focusing on good assessment principles potentially applicable to both” (Carless, 2009, p.83). According to Carless (2007), the two main purposes of assessment (the element of certification and learning) set up the starting point of the LOA framework. Essentially, the area where these two elements intersect is believed to be where assessment is functioning at the most optimum level and thus there should be substantial overlap between these two functions. The aim of LOA is to strengthen the learning aspects of assessment and this can be achieved through FA or SA.
Carless (2007, 2009) explained that the first principle of LOA is represented by the term assessment tasks as learning tasks. It is believed that there is a direct relationship between high-quality learning and assessment. Learning task should be aligned to the objectives and authentic. The assessment task should promote the kind of learning dispositions required of graduates. The second principle is student involvement in assessment. This is to develop a better understanding of learning goals, success criteria and standards. Through directly engaging students with learning objective, criteria, quality exemplars, peer assessment and self-evaluation, the standards required and the transparency of the whole assessment processes can be enhanced. The third principle of feedback as feedforward posits that if feedback is not acted upon by students, then it will not promote learning. For feedback to be useful, it has to be timely and engaging. Both teachers and learners can be feedback providers.
The learning team
To explore how the LOA principles could be applied in the CL classrooms and to enhance teachers’ assessment literacy, we spearheaded a Learning Team, which consists of eight teachers from four secondary schools of different profiles. We exchanged our perspectives from that of a curriculum specialist, a master teacher and classroom teachers. The eight classroom teachers shared their experience and observations on the effects and challenges of employing LOA in their respective classroom. In summary, the Learning Team have gone through the following activities:
- Understanding the rationale and conceptualization of LOA
- Designing strategies and sharing how to apply LOA in CL lessons
- Discussing and reflecting on the effect of LOA in CL lessons periodically
- Examining the sound application of LOA principles from teachers’ experiences and consolidating learning points
Our interpretation of the LOA framework from theory to practice are summarised in the following figure.
Figure 1
Interpretation of the LOA Framework
To bridge the gap between LOA principles and classroom practices, we came up with six areas of practice (i.e., duration, teaching process, learning focus, assessment task, assessment strategy, constructive feedback) which would help teachers to craft their lesson plans. In this way, we could see how the principles of LOA may be directly implemented in the CL classrooms. Indeed, teachers found the guiding areas useful when planning their LOA lessons.
A summary of how LOA was enacted in the CL classrooms is shown below:
Table 1
Applications of LOA
|
Schools |
Meridian Secondary |
PLMGS (Secondary) |
Outram Secondary |
Raffles Institution |
|
Learning objectives |
Able to use characterisation in descriptive essay writing |
Able to construct relevant content when engaged in a speech |
Able to design dialogues relevant to context of the narrative essay |
Able to present a report relevant to the audience |
|
Assessment task |
From reading to writing, students learn to improve their writing of characters via self and peer-assessment |
Students to generate relevant speaking content via peer- assessment and feedback |
Students to learn to assess the quality of dialogues with teacher and peers |
Students learn to present a report via peer- and self-assessment |
|
Assessment tools |
Analytic Rubric |
Analytic Rubric |
Analytic Rubric |
Analytic Rubric |
Before we enter the classrooms for observations, we are more concerned about how teachers understand and interpret the LOA in the context of CL teaching. Coincidentally, all eight teachers attempted to apply LOA in their language output lessons (writing and speaking) that activated students to use peer- or self-assessment. Such attempts are valuable because by involving students in the learning or assessment task, the three principles of LOA would naturally be in place.
Our findings
From the lesson observations, it was found that CL teachers showed variation in their understanding and application of the three LOA principles in the initial stage. Some of the reasons may include different teaching experiences and students’ profiles, as well as varied competency in instructional skills and assessment. Nevertheless, all the CL teachers consciously integrated assessment task into their lessons. Towards the later stage of the project, it was found that their ability to execute the assessments task has improved over time. This was especially prominent after doing reflection with peers during the post-lesson discussions. For example, they are more aware of how the assessment task could involve students and what kinds of feedback to provide to feed students forward.
For students who have participated actively in the learning or assessment tasks, they showed evidences of improvement in the content mastery and self-assessment ability at the end of the project. For example, they produced more content and higher quality of work in the essay writings and oral presentations. However, it was also observed that some students might have lacked the basic peer-assessment skills which directly affected the effectiveness of the LOA practices.
From the professional reflections and discussions, it was found that, teachers’ conception of LOA has become more concrete and focused, given the fact that there were a few rounds of team learning and discussion on the LOA lesson plans. It was also found that teachers’ feedback to students on the assessment task has become more targeted. More importantly, although teachers felt that involving students in the assessment task is not easy and necessary, they found it fruitful when students exhibited higher quality work from the LOA lessons. In conclusion, LOA seems to be welcomed by teachers and proved to be feasible in CL lessons. However, we are not able to establish the claim that LOA can help CL teachers reconcile the tension between FA and SA, Further research would be recommended.
Conclusion
This project attempts to explore how teachers understand and apply LOA in their CL classrooms. While LOA may look promising in these teachers’ classrooms, more research is needed to ascertain if it is able to reconcile the tension between FA and SA in our context.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank Ms. Lin Rongchan for her contribution in the initial stage of this LOA project and her feedback on this article.
Suggested citation:
Chan, K. T., & Kwek, S.H. (2021). Learning-oriented assessment: How does it look like in the Chinese language classroom?. Assessment for All Learners (AfAL) Bulletin, July 2021. https://assessmentforall.blogspot.com/search/label/Featured
References
Carless, D. (2007). Learning-oriented assessment: conceptual bases and practical implications. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 44(1), 57-66.
Carless, D. (2009). Learning-oriented assessment: Principles, practice and a project. In L. H. Meyer, S. Davidson, H. Anderson, R. Fletcher, P.M. Johnston, & M. Rees (Eds.), Tertiary assessment & higher education student outcomes: Policy, practice & research (pp.79-90). Wellington, New Zealand: Ako Aotearoa.
Chan, K. T. (2019). A phenomenographic study of Singapore Chinese language teachers’ experience of assessment tension. (Unpublished EdD thesis). Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.