1 Using Focus Marking and Peer Assessment in Composition Writing and Marking Mr Leung Fook Kay LST Young Ko Hsiao Lin Secondary School.

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Using Focus Marking and Peer Using Focus Marking and Peer Assessment in Composition WriAssessment in Composition Wri

ting and Markingting and MarkingMr Leung Fook KayMr Leung Fook Kay

LST Young Ko Hsiao Lin Secondary SchoolLST Young Ko Hsiao Lin Secondary School

Using Focus Marking and Peer Using Focus Marking and Peer Assessment in Composition WriAssessment in Composition Wri

ting and Markingting and MarkingMr Leung Fook KayMr Leung Fook Kay

LST Young Ko Hsiao Lin Secondary SchoolLST Young Ko Hsiao Lin Secondary School

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Detailed marking of an essay by

a F1 student

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1. Problems with detailedmarking

Teachers: Frustrated because• Many mistakes;• Similar mistakes time and again;• Students can’t learn effectively from marking

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1. Problems with detailed marking

Students: • put off by red marks; an eyesore;• have difficult in correcting;• can’t remember so many correct forms • can’t avoid making similar mistakes, Because: - learn little from mistakes - learn little from teacher’s marking

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Vicious circle

Students make many mistakes

Detailedmarking

Learn little from mistakes

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1.Consulted: Assessment for Learning (AFL) guidelines (‘Task-based Assessment for English Language Learning at Secondary Level’, CDI

2. Other literature 3. Reflected on experience

How can students learn to write with fewer mistakes?

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One at a time!One at a time!

Writing = Writing =

How to acquire the skill?How to acquire the skill?

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Can it help students to focus on using accurately one grammar item at a time?

= = focus marking?

One at a timeOne at a time

And eventually, write with fewer mistakes?

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2. What is focus marking?

• Objective of write – practice use of a grammar item: - recently learnt (e.g. past tense)

- or that requires remedial work (e.g. There have (are) 15 boys in my class.)

• Teacher concentrates on assessing students’ use of the grammar item(s) in question .

-- J. Harmer (2004) ‘How to teach writing’,

Longman

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Plan focus markingin 20 classes of F1-3

Implement

Evaluate

Cycle of project work

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4. Objective:

- help students concentrate on using the

grammar item in question students use the grammar item accurately

- help Teacher focus on marking the grammar item in question

Teacher gives quality feedback

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5. Implementation

1. T explained writing task. (Ann x Ae )

2. T explained assessment criteria. (Ann x A e & 3)

3. S did writing task.4. T used focus marking.5. Remedial work (correcting common

mistakes) 6. S corrected own mistakes.7. Teacher checked S’s corrections

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5. Implementation

1. T explained writing task. (Ann x Ae )2. T explained assessment criteria. (Ann x A e & 3)

6. S corrected own mistakes.

7. Teacher checked S’s corrections

( End of implementation)

3. S did writing task.4. T used focus marking.5. Remedial work (correcting common

mistakes

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6. Interim evaluation• Survey on teachers’ opinions All our 13 English teachers responded. Some did not answer all the questions. The answers are analyzed as follows.

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How helpful is focus marking?No. Different aspects of

focus markingVery useful

Quite usefu

l

Not quite

Not at all

1. Focused on some grammar items

69% 31%

2. Focused on some contents

23% 77%

3. Easier to mark 23% 69%

4. Mark sheet format 23% 61.5%

7.7%

5. Focused on organization

23% 31%

6.Focus marking as a whole

31% 54%

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Q 6. How useful is the focus marking exercise as a

whole?

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Very useful Quite useful Not quite useful Not useful

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Positive feedback:• Student performance improved i.e.

fewer mistakes were made. • Clear requirements & examples

Students found it easier to do the writing task.

•Teachers found marking a less grueling task.

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Other opinions:• Giving students clear instructions

& requirements is crucial.• Teachers must refrain from

correcting every mistake.• Do focus marking with them.

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Other opinions:• Teachers must be relieved of

guilty feelings – not doing their job.

• Method: - explain rationale; - seek support of

principal & parents (Content

page)

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Focus marking will be used to assess students’ work. The teacher will focus on marking certain type(s) of mistakes, certain parts or format so that students can learn more effectively. Marks are given to content, organization and language accuracy.

CONTENT PAGE

No.

Date Title/Description Focus Area Marks

Designed by Ms W. S. Cheung

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Vicious circle

Students make many mistakes

Detailed

marking

Learn little from mistakes

Enhance

?fewer

FocusFocus

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Can assessing their peer’s work help students Can assessing their peer’s work help students

remember the remember the correction formscorrection forms

and and use the grammar itemsuse the grammar items accurately in future? accurately in future?

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3. What is peer assessment?

Students assess peer’s work with the help of some clear and specific guidelines.

-- P. Weeden (2002) ‘Assessment –

What’s in it for schools?’,Routledge

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2nd Cycle of project work

Plan peer assessmentIn 6 classes of F3

Implement

Evaluate

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4. Objective: - Students use focus marking to assess peer’s work Students learn through assessing peer’s

work

- Teachers use focus marking to assess students’

work Teacher gives quality feedback

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7. Implementation of Cycle 2

1. T explained writing task.2. T explained assessment criteria. 3. S did writing task.4. T used focus marking to sample correct about 5 student works5. T trained students to use focus marking to assess peer’s work (by correcting common mistakes focused on the grammar item in question.)6. S assessed peer’s work.7. Teacher did focus marking. 8. Students compared S and T assessment results. (Annex 5)

9. Students corrected their own mistakes. (Ann x AAe

10. Teacher checked students’ correction. (End of implementation)

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Limitations- room for improvement:

1. Didn’t measure student improvement quantitatively.

2. No descriptors for marks 1 to 5 in feedback form.

3. Need for a resource bank (e.g. common mistakes) for students.

4. ……………. ?

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1. Survey student opinions (more exercises and more skilful peer assessors).

Evaluation (to be done)

2. Compare students’ performance before and after the practice.

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- introduce the practice to other levels - introduce the practice to other subjects

The way ahead - sustainability of project

• Open up other professional development areas,

e.g. peer assessment in oral presentation(trying out in F6 & 7)

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8. Conclusionof this sharing

• Teacher’s reflection is necessary.• Give priority to effectiveness of

learning.• Quality feedback holds the key to

effective learning.

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ONE AT A TIME!

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THANK YOU!

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• Writing: Sample Sub-paper

• Your cousin Paul from Canada is visiting Hong Kong. You were on a tour of Hong Kong with him. Your teacher wants you to write a short article about the tour for the school magazine.

• Describe what happened and how you felt about the tour in approximately 150 words. You can use the following pictures to help you write your article. They show what you saw and did during the tour.

?

Annex 1

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LANGUAGE & ACCURACY Remarks

Language patterns

Use of ‘and’, ‘first’, then’ etc. (First, we took a tram to the Peak Tower…. Then we took some photos of the harbour.)

Use of reported speech. (Paul said that he was hungry.)

Use of direct speech. (‘Shall we have dim sum for lunch?’ said I.)

Language accuracy

Are the verbs used in the correct tense? For example: We look ( looked √) over the beautiful Victoria Harbour when we are (were√) on the Peak Tower.)

Do the verbs agree with the subjects/nouns in number? For example: a. We was (were √) very happy. b. There were four girl (girls √) and five boys in the Ocean Park Tour Group.

Student’sMarks

0 1 2 3 4 5

Teacher’s Marks

0 1 2 3 4 5

Other comments: ……………………………………………………………

Checked by: ………………Date: / /2006 Marks before correction:

Marks after correction:

Annex 2

Only in Peer marking

LOK SIN TONG YOUNG KO HSIAO LIN SECONDARY SCHOOLTeacher’s Feedback Form

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Language accuracy

Are the verbs used in the correct tense? For example:We look (looked √) over the beautiful Victoria Harbor when we are (were√) on the Peak Tower.

Remarks

Do the verbs agree with the subjects/nouns in number? For example: a. We was (were √) very happy. b. There were four girl (girls √) and five boys in the Ocean Park Tour Group.

Teacher’s Marks

0 1 2 3 4 5

The teacher will consider MAINLY the following areas when marking your work.

(From the focus marking feedback form)

Annex 3

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Annex 5

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Annex 6