8/10/2019 FInal Version - Diploma Thesis http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/final-version-diploma-thesis 1/84 MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE Assessing Young Learners Diploma thesis Brno 2008Author: Lenka Přibilová Supervisor: Mgr. Naděžda Vojtková
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If parents and teachers want to understand their children and pupils, then it is
necessary to know something about their psychological development. Very important
people who influenced the ways of developmental psychology, and the points of view
on children are Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson. They are well known for two most
accepted theories - Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and Erik Eriksson’s
psychosocial theory.
Jean Piaget is one of the well-known researchers in the area of developmental
psychology during the 20th century. Later in his life Piaget became interested in how
children think. He noticed that young children's answers were qualitatively different
from older children. His work on cognitive development is the most complete theory
available today. Piaget concluded that there are four stages of development in child’s
life. These stages help explain the way children think, retain knowledge, and adapt to
the environment (“A Brief Biography of Jean Piaget”).
Piaget’s four stages in cognitive development are these:
1. Sensorimotor stage (up to two years of age) – Piaget states “this stage marks
the development of essential spatial abilities and understanding of the world”
(“Theory of cognitive development”). In this period intelligence is demonstrated
through motor activity without the use of symbols. Knowledge of the world is
limited but developing because it is based on physical interactions or
experiences. Memory starts to be active at the age of seven months. Physicaldevelopment allows the child to begin developing new intellectual abilities.
Some language abilities are developed at the end of this stage.
2. Pre-operational stage (up to seven years of age) - in this period intelligence is
demonstrated through the use of symbols, language use matures, and memory
and imagination are developed. “One object can represent another, as when a
broom is turned into a "horsey" that can be ridden around the room, and a child's
play expands to include "pretend" games” (“Cognitive development“). Thinking
is done in a non-logical, nonreversible manner. Thinking is still egocentric.
3. Concrete operational stage (up to eleven years of age) - in this stage intelligence
is demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related
to concrete objects. “Children can add, subtract, count, and measure, and they
learn about the conservation of length, mass, area, weight, time, and volume”
(“Cognitive development“).
4. Formal operational stage (eleven years and up) - in this stage, intelligence is
demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts.
Children become concerned with the hypothetical, future and ideological
problems. “They become able to reason scientifically and speculate about
philosophical issues. Abstract concepts and moral values become as important as
concrete objects” (“Cognitive development”).
Erik Erikson’s lifelong interest in psychology of identity may be traced already to his
childhood. He belongs to a group of psychosocial theorists who based the development
on the outcome of crises that occur during the life of a person. His psychosocial theory
states that human beings develop according to a preset plan, „the epigenetic principle“,
that consists of two main elements The epigenetic principle is an idea that states that
every organism is born with a certain purpose, and continues to develop how it was
intended to in interrelation with its environment (“Epigenetic principle”).
A first element is that personality develops according to a predetermined pattern that
is maturationally set.
Second, each society is structured to encourage challenges that arise during these
times. According to Erikson’s theory, “Individuals proceed through eight stages of
development, which begin at birth and conclude at death” (“Erikson´s PsychosocialDevelopment Theory“). If the particular crisis is handled appropriately, the outcome
will be positive. If not, then a negative outcome will be the result.
2.1.1. Young learner – development of basic skills and abilities
A young learner – who is he or she? This term covers a wide age range. This can be
anybody from the age of three to the age of eighteen. There is a big difference between
what a –three-year-old child can do and what a child of fifteen can do. We should
consider their development too. Some children develop faster, other need more time.
Working with young learners requires the knowledge of all the developmental
differences. Understanding these differences can help me as a teacher to develop
methods and a system of work that I will use in the process of teaching. Of course, it is
not possible to say that every child of six will have the same knowledge as others. But it
is possible to pick out some characteristics, which I as a teacher should know andshould be aware of.
As Langmeier and Křejčířová announce the development of a child goes on fluently
(28). The child makes progress in every area and this is very important for the future.
Comparing this to younger children, they are dependant on their wishes and fantasy in
the areas of perception, thinking and acting. Young learners fully focus on who they are
and how things work. These children want to understand the surrounding world andthings in it. They want to know the “real” world. Langmeier and Krejčířová state, “This
characteristic phenomenon of young learners can be seen in their speech, drawings, in
written works and games” (115). These children are more and more interested in books,
which would expand their horizons. Such children prefer realistically performed
illustrations. In this period of life children want to be fully active in their relationship to
the world. They are not passive any more, they are able to expresses their opinions,
either positive or negative. They want and like to explore. That is why these childrenlike various experiments, mainly in technical area. Such children want to explore things
through realistic activity.
Throughout this whole period of life the motor skills – both fine and gross are
improved. The moves are faster; the coordination of the whole body is much better.
This leads towards better drawing and writing. “Also, these children are more interested
in sports achievements, which demand dexterity, persistence and strength” (117). Of
course, all these can be influenced by many external factors, for example good support
Another factor that is systematically developing is sense perception. Langmeier and
Krejčířová explain, that “It is a complicated act in which are involved all components
of the personality – his or her attitudes, expectations, persistence, previous experience,
interests and other factors” (118). The biggest progress is made in their visualization.
Such children can concentrate for longer time; they are more persistent and more
accurate now. They do not absorb things as whole but are able to look into details.
Whole act of perception is more systematic.
The ability to recollect earlier percepts-imagination- reaches in this age group really
high. Also speech, which leads to human’s action, is developing. Vágnerová claims thatthis is the basic presumption of successful learning, helps remembering (48). As for the
vocabulary development, the number of acquired words is bigger, the length and
complexity of sentences grow, and compound sentences are more and more difficult. It
has been proved that when they start to attend school, they should know around 20 000
words. Langmeier and Krejčířová announce that for example in the 6 th grade, they
expand their vocabulary into 50 000 words (120). Though, the differences are still very
big. As said above, this is influenced by several external factors too. “The children alsouse several grammar rules. The fast development of speech encourages the development
of memory” (120). Both short-term memory and long-term memory is in this age of
children more stable. Learners are able to reproduce the learnt task better and still this
area will develop. Young learners start to use purposeful memory strategies. As for
learning the process itself gains a new quality through the speech, more often it is
planned which results from the school requirements. “Children can concentrate on more
things at the same time and because of that the complexity of learning is growing too.The learners learn how to learn at this time, they acquire new strategies of learning”
Children in this age category, meaning from the age of 6 up to the age of twelve,
already understand the relationships among several processes. As Langmeier and
Krrejčířová state, “If they are given a chance to work alone, all by themselves, this leads
towards better development of thinking. They also start to work on their logical
operations; they are able to come up with their own opinions” (122). They start with
concrete things and events, later they can deduce even formal premises. According to
Piaget, the new approach is hidden in several new circumstances. The children can
recognize and are able to express the dimensions of the relationship and carry both of
them at the same time. Children are capable of different transformations in their minds tthe same time. “They are able to understand the identity, reversibility and join various
intellectual processes together to one sequence” (123).
Piaget’s theory denies that logical operations are dependant on learning and can be
supported and improved through quality training. The progress of these children is very
often dependant on the motivation and other factors of their personality (“Theory of
cognitive development”). Also, several discussions and debates have been done to findout whether it is good or not to support the children’s motivation to overachieve the best
results. This relates to the intelligence and the intelligence quotient of a child. Several
longitudinal studies have been done and the results vary quite a lot.
As a teacher, I have to bear in my mind that some cognitive strategies tend to be
acquired later than others. Tasks and task instructions must be appropriate to the
2.1.3. Young learner – emotional development and socialization
Vágnerová claims that when entering the elementary school, the children learn to
model their own ways of behavior (44). Not only the parents influence them, but
teachers and schoolmates play an important role too. Cooperation with other children
brings different reactions comparing working with adults. Children feel closer to each
other; they have similar qualities, interests in common. Immediately, in groups they
learn to react socially much easier. “They learn how to help each other, they learn how
to cooperate and of course they also learn competitively. Some of them are more
dominant than others, some like to be lead in a group” (58). Teachers should be aware
of this.
Emotional development and the ability of self-regulation increase quite fast.
Children are able to put down or show their feelings according to their needs. They
already understand their feelings and at the same time they take into consideration their
expectations, needs and the attitudes of the surroundings.
Also, the development of emotional understanding advances in this age. Again asLangmeier and Krejčířová state, “Children learn that they can hide their emotions or
wishes from people around them but not from themselves. Later, they allow the
possibility of experiencing two or more emotions at the same time, even when they are
contradictory” (129).
The development of their values and social control was already begun in
kindergarten. They still work on stabilization of their priorities and it has to besupported from outside. At the same time they have to work on their public morals,
which can be very difficult at the beginning. Piaget mentions three basic stages of the
development of moral publics – heteronymous, autonomous and motives of action
(“Theory of cognitive development”). The importance of reward is still very evident in
this age. The moral development is a long-standing process and has to be supported by
the families, schools and the whole society. Langmeier and Krejčířová emphasize, “This
is closely connected with the question of social roles and their adoption – i.e. a formula
of behavior expected by a certain member within a certain situation. The children learn
“ Assessment is about several things at once …It is about reporting on students’ achievements
and about teaching them better through expressing to them more clearly the goals of our curricula. It
is about measuring student learning; it is about diagnosing misunderstandings in order to help
students to learn more effectively. It concerns the quality of the teaching as well as the quality of the
learning” (Ramsden 117).
Present transformations of schooling give many opportunities for creating different
types of schools; we can see the tendency to renew and improve pedagogical
approaches in the schools. Teachers are supposed, encouraged and expected daily to
start teaching in “a new way”. But all of this is in contrast with the conception of school
assessment.
Many teachers and parents come to realize the meaning and importance of complex
assessment for a human being. It does not refer only to the fact how successful a learner
is at school, to the level of his or her knowledge or outcome but it also focuses on the
learner’s attitudes towards work, his or her communicative abilities and the ability to
cooperate with other schoolmates and teachers.
Assessment leads to development. It has to have some aim, to which it points. When
teachers use some kind of assessment, they have to know where they are going, what
they want to develop, what they want to teach their pupils. Also, they should provide
feedback to the learners, which is very important.
According to Palomba and Banta, assessment is the systematic collection, review,
and use of information about educational programs undertaken for the purpose of
improving student learning and development (18).
Assessment is quite important to the learning process and could be considered as one
of the crucial aspects of teaching. It also could be considered as one of the most
significant factors that influences student learning. Many teachers, parents and thegeneral public realize the significance of assessment. Everybody expects that when
entering the primary school, one will be assessed immediately. There are different
opinions and attitudes towards assessment. In general, it can be said that nobody is
against assessment. But at the same time, this should not be the driving force, neither
for the students nor for the teachers. Neither students nor parents should feel stressed
because of being assessed. Assessment should be helpful to the learners rather than to
be a threatening part of the educational process. Many research works and studies have
shown that when it comes to the assessment part, students start to be stressed and
scared. As said above, assessment is important but it is not number one in the learning
process.
The problem of assessment is the objectivity. Every child is very sensitive to thefeeling of injustice. Many researches try to investigate which qualities of teachers the
learners appreciate the most. The second rank is fairness and objectivity. That is why all
the teachers need to know what they are going to assess and they must set the criteria
for assessment. This leads to the feeling that all the pupils are being assessed in the
same way; there are no double standards.
Solfronk states that, if the teacher has natural authority, the pupils respect theirteacher and they take his or her opinions and advice into consideration, this can only
support the power of assessment (73). Teachers have to be real experts who know about
their responsibilities. They have to asses their learners so that they would not do wrong
to the child but it should help him or her to move forward.
“School assessment is an activity which can either help the child or do wrong a lot in
the final result. Many intellectual and emotional abilities come into the play and also
successful development and results of the teacher and the pupil” (76). Schoolassessment implicates the quality of education but at the same time it creates one of the
most important components of communication among teachers, pupils and their parents.
Solfronk recommends keeping these five principles so that the assessment would be
effective:
1. to stand out for the fact that the assessment should have a motivational character
2. to stand out for the fact in the assessment should appear some positive elements
3. to cut off tenseness and stress which arise as a result of the situation being
4. to stand out for the learner’s participation in the assessing process and slowly
put up to his or her self-assessment
5. the assessment of the learner’s “unsuccessfulness“ should be presented as a
sign that the teacher is interested in the child (80)
If teachers want to provide high-quality education, the above-mentioned principles
could help and could serve as hints. The education cannot be done without assessment.
Fair assessment is one of the things pupils expect from their teachers. Assessment
should be demonstrably fair to all students. Fairness to the students means that they
should have equal opportunities to demonstrate their achievements of outcomes. A fair
assessment is one in which all students are given equal opportunities to show what theyknow. And teachers should be aware of this. Students, young learners mainly, will
remember if he or she was not once assessed fairly and they will keep talking about this
for over and over. It will stay in their memories for quite a long time.
Nobody should doubt how difficult teaching as a job is. Teachers´ actions are
being watched closely not only by the learners and their parents but also by their
colleagues, authorities and public. Assessment significantly influences the quality of the
educational process. Dvořáková mentions, “Assessment fully replies for the overall
character of school teaching, it reflects the types of aims and mainly social relationships
in the teaching process” (243).
An essential starting point is to be aware of the reasons why we are assessing the
learners. Educators actually assess students for quite a range of different reasons – forexample the motivation, creating learning opportunities, to give feedback (to both pupils
and staff), to grade. “When young learners are assessed, it is important that children
experience overall success and a sense of progression” (McKay 19). If the assessment
provides enough feedback and credits to the learners, if it allows for the learner’s
progress and possibilities, it enlarges the learner’s self-confidence, independence and
responsibility, and then it all makes sense.
Thinking about purposes of assessment should raise several questions too. Here
mentioning just some of them, teachers should think about the children’s strengths,
needs, whether the needs are going to be met in the task, what is required for
completing the task and others. Assessment is often intended to separate learners into
categories - such as the highest, average and lowest performers on some task. This can
become important, for example when forming groups for further studies.
The primary purpose of assessment should never be forgotten. And it is to enhance
and improve pupil learning. Firstly, the primary purpose of assessment is for the pupils
to receive multiple attempts to practice. Later on, to demonstrate understanding of
certain content, and to develop skills by receiving specific and timely feedback by the
teacher in order to improve achievement. DiGesu claims that the primary purpose of
assessment is for the teacher to analyze their pupils´ progress for the purpose of
modifying the learning so that the pupils´ needs would be met in a better way.
Assessment has a number of purposes (“Purpose of assessment”). These include
providing information for example to the learners and their parents about their progress
The type of assessment chosen should be related to learning outcomes and governed
by decisions about its purpose, validity and relevance. There are several kinds of
assessment and I would like to mention some of them here:
Formal assessment - typically means using a test that involves standardized
administration and that has norms and a formal interpretive procedure.
Standardized administration means that the test contains administration
instructions that assure that everyone who administers the test does it in exactly
the same way. A typical example could be theses. Informal assessment - assessment refers to a situation where there can be some
variation in the way the test is administered and there can be some subjectivity
in how test performance is interpreted. McKay states, that it “…usually refers to
classroom assessment carried out during the course of teaching and learning
process” (20).
Classroom assessment - is a simple method, teachers can use to collect
feedback, early and often, on how well their students are learning what they are being taught. The purpose of classroom assessment is to provide teachers and
learners with information and insights needed to improve teaching effectiveness
and learning quality.
Self-assessment - provides for quick students feedback. It helps the learners
check if they have mastered a topic. It helps the learners check if they have
mastered a topic, it informs the learners, not the teachers. It is usually voluntary
and may allow multiple attempts and it informs the learner, but not the teacher. Self-assessment is the process of gathering information about you in order to
make an informed career decision.
Formative assessment – “is ongoing, usually informal, assessment during
teaching and learning” (McKay 21). Palomba and Banta consider an assessment
formative “When the feedback from learning activities is actually used to adapt
the teaching to meet the learner's need” (128). In this role, assessment is
intimately linked with students’ learning processes, helping to guide them in
their studies, motivating them, providing feedback on areas of learning requiring
further work, and generally promoting the desired learning outcome. The
purposes of this kind of assessment are to provide feedback to students, to
diagnose students’ strengths and weaknesses and to help students to develop
self-awareness. The example of this kind of assessment could be an essay, which
is annotated with the teacher’s comments.
Summative, also called final, assessment – is the formal testing of what has
been learnt in order to produce marks or grades which may be used for reports of
various types. It usually takes place at the end of a school semester and provides
feedback for the teachers how well their learners have performed throughout the
whole time period. In its summative role, the purpose of assessment is to judge
the quality and characteristics of the student. Purposes of summative assessment
are to pass or fail a student, to grade pupils, to allow progress to further study, to
predict success in future study and so on. Example of this kind of assessment is
a school report.
Qualitative and quantitative assessment – according to Slavík this is about the
consideration of the quality of the learner’s development or the quantity of his or
her achievement (69).
Normative assessment – compares the learners´ achievements between each
other. A typical example of this can be the entrance exams to secondary schoolswhere only the best learners of all can succeed.
It is probably true that every single assessment method will place some students at a
disadvantage to some extent. As mentioned above, there are several assessment types
and teachers should choose carefully the type according to the outcomes. At some time
there might be individuals who require more than one type of assessment, or who
receive some assessment and later agree with the teacher on different type. Each typehas its own values - for example it can develop learners´ skills, it can encourage
students right at the needed time or it can encourage the independence of the learners -
and limitations – for example it can be time consuming for the teachers, it can be highly
subjective or there is almost no consistency. Teachers have to consider carefully what is
the purpose of the assessment and which type of assessment they choose.
“Many assessment procedures for young learners are embedded in classroom teaching
and the purposes therefore reflect the purposes of teaching and learning” (McKay 145).
“ A method as a way to the aim is a dominant instrument to reach the goals in every
mature activity; that is why it is dependant on choosing suitable methods and their
perfect operating” (Maňák 33).
The primary goal is to choose a method, which most effectively assesses the
objectives of the task. In addition, choice of assessment methods should be aligned with
the overall aims of the school curriculum. When considering assessment methods, it is
particularly useful to think first about what qualities or abilities teachers want to create
in the learners. The objective of the assessment method is to ensure that students candemonstrate the required ability to deal with complex issues. The issues of why, how
and what teachers assess in the classrooms become a major challenge nowadays. There
are several ways in which teachers assess the learners´ work. The types of assessment
methods learners undergo should be designed to reflect the work they do and the
learners should have a chance to be able to discuss any concerns they have with the
teacher.
These can be divided into several categories, for example according to which
resources we gathered the information about the learners´ achievements from.
Kalbáčová divides the methods into two basic groups (57):
Written – the basic resource is the learners´ written works
Oral – based on verbal communication between the teacher and the learner
Other division can also be found, for example by Malach. I would like to mention
here some of the examples:
Essay - the object of the essay should be to test the ability to discuss, evaluate,
analyze, summarize and criticize.
Group work or projects – helps to develop the students’ team working skills.
The major assessment problem here is how to identify the individuals’ roles and
Individual work or project – the criteria for this have to be clearly said before
because the final products will significantly vary from student to student
Practical test – used when the content of the education is psychomotor skills.
Also practical skills and abilities are assessed here, and the use of theoretical
piece of knowledge in practice, creativity, independence and activity.
Didactic test - mainly focuses on finding the outcomes from the education. It
views the level of knowledge and skills. The test should contain such items,
which demand the learner’s involvement of both simple and complicated
intellectual operations (for example creativity, description, derivation and so
on).
Self-assessment – involves students making judgments about their own work,can be extremely valuable in helping students to critique their own work. The
important aspect is that it involves the student in trying to apply the assessment
criteria for themselves and setting their own personal aims.
Portfolio - a set of pieces of creative work collected to be shown to potential
people. It is some kind of a folder where the learner’s written works, artworks
and other kinds of work of a certain time period are placed. As parts of
portfolio, it can have teacher or parent’s comments on the learner’s works. Itshould mainly serve as an assessment of the learner’s creative achievements and
it should encourage looking on the self-progress in the work (Slavík 83). Its
aim, besides what has been said is also the self-assessment.
In my opinion, by appropriate combination of all above-mentioned methods we can
achieve the objectivity in the learner’s assessment.
very good, 3 – good; 4 – satisfactory; 5 – not satisfactory). In this kind of assessment all
learners are compared with each other.
Tests and testing became quite popular. This is done on the basis of measurements of
the learners´ achievements. The results of the tests are usually formulated in points or
percentages.
As for examples of some of the forms could be mentioned individualized learning or
even learning without testing.
Recently, verbal assessment has become quite discussed theme of the schoolassessment. Originally it was kind of an experiment, which needed a special exception.
According to the instructions of the Ministry of Education number 17 22893 – 22 the
verbal assessment is taken as the assessment alternative next to the marking system. The
new school act number 561/2004 about education states that the assessment of learners´
achievements on the school report is expressed by the marking system, verbally or by
the use of combination of both ways. The way of assessment has to be agreed on by the
headmaster of the school and the school board. Learners´ achievements are notexpressed in marks or points here. It includes the assessment of levels of knowledge and
the learners´ abilities, also his or her attitudes toward learning, the way of learning,
social behavior and individual specialties (for example health condition, feelings).
All these areas can be described verbally. Kalbáčová deals with the fact, that even
circumstances influencing the learner’s learning activities, such as a teacher’s swap,
non-regular learning hours, can be taken into consideration (63).
Of course this kind of assessment has to face and is facing several problems too. Themain problem is to persuade the parents that this type of assessment is on the same level
as the marks. The mark is considered as some kind of symbol of school both for parents
and the pupils. For some of them the school without marks is not school any more.
“This leads to the degradation of the verbal assessment so it is considered by the parents
as low quality because at the same time it is used for learners with specific learning
needs who are not able to be assessed by a mark (dyslexia etc.)” (Dvořáková 255). And
it is not only the parents; sometimes even the teachers do not consider this type of
assessment as a valuable one. Some of the teachers still do not understand what verbal
assessment means and why it can be beneficial for some of their learners.
Another problem is that some parents consider their child the best and they just need an
assurance. When using verbal assessment it is objectively impossible to say who is
better and who is worse. In general, those parents who expect some problems at school
and also those who have some negative experience with the marking system usually
agree with this type. As a logical consequence, the verbal assessment is again
considered as less important as compared to the marking system.
From my own teaching practice I can see mainly advantages of verbal assessment.
One of the advantages is the fact that teachers try hard to describe what the pupil can or
cannot do or express in the certain subject. Teachers here focus on the learner’s
competences. Sometimes this “note” can help the parents to understand better and thenthey are able to help their children with a certain problem. There is an evidence of a
dialogue among the parents, learners and teachers.
Verbal assessment is not used a lot by the teachers yet. They are discouraged from
using this type because of its elaborateness and definitely it is time consuming. Solfronk
(97) elaborates a theory that verbal assessment is used the best there where the teacher
really knows his or her pupils and where the number of learners is not big.
According to my opinion verbal assessment is used best in the lower primary school
with younger learners. It is very natural for the teachers to help building self-confidence
in the learner, the teacher has a great chance to get to know the learners, and he or she
spends quite long time with them. I am not saying here that it cannot work with
teenagers or older learners.
Marking system is probably the most common one and the most used one. The
beginnings are already seen in the sixteenth century where the learners already got their
reports. In the eighteenth century he marking scale had four marks only. Later on it had
and still has five marks.
It is a way of assessment in which the learners´ achievements are expressed by marks
(1-5). It is well used mainly for its simplicity and because it has a good system. It is
intelligible for the parents and the general public. In accordance with the characteristic
of each mark it is evident that it tries to cover utmost features of the learner’s school
activity. A mark is an instrument of comparison. Somebody could dispute its
objectivity. In reality same marks for different learners can have different meanings. So
is it possible to compare marks at all. Someone could point out that a mark is a “tool”
and a simple means of communication about the achieved quality of the learners´
achievement.
In conclusion I would like to mention two more obstacles related to the marking
system.
Getting a mark can become for the pupil more important than the knowledge itself.
A bad mark could be understood as a failure or unsuccess. Learners are more interested
in getting a good mark rather than learning the subject. In this way, the marking system
moves learning outside of its own purpose. Next danger inheres in the dependence on
the subjective appreciation of the teacher. Teachers are only human beings too and two people might have two opinions on one thing. They might assess the same task
differently. These risks might lead towards looking for another ways of assessment.
Self-assessment involves pupils taking responsibility for monitoring and making
judgments about their own work. The learners comment on their own essays, reports,
projects, performances and so on, can make assessment decisions. Self-assessment
can be extremely valuable in helping the pupils to critique their own work, and form
judgments about its strength and weaknesses. For obvious reasons, self-assessment is
more usually used as a part of formative assessment process, rather than a summative
one, where it requires certification by others (“Self-assessment”).
Self-assessment is a complex, natural and systematic process. It is a long-term
process that needs to be acquired. It is dependant on the learner’s cognitive development
because the process of assessment belongs to a highest level of the man’s thinking.
Therefore it can be quite difficult for younger learners.This kind of assessment faces several disadvantages. The researches have shown that
the most difficult problem is that the learners are either too self-critical or there is an
absence of the self-criticism. We can see these results in the Educational framework
program too. Pupils have to learn this process and they certainly need somebody who
can lead them in this process and show them how to go on or to correct them. Learners
sometimes have to think about their assessment over and over and simply change it.
The Educational framework program states, that from the didactic point of view theaim of self-assessment is that it becomes a competence. The learners have to acquire
that. This would support the self-reliance and the learner would not be dependant on the
teacher and also it would lead towards the development of authentic personality.
Learner’s self-assessment also works as feedback for teachers and parents.
Again from my own experience I could say that:
The learner is motivated for his or her next steps in learning
He or she realizes the responsibility for his or her own work
He or she learns to work with mistakes, often taken as a challenge, not
something frightful
He or she realizes his or her strong and weak points and he or she builds his or
her self-confidence
He or she is satisfied and pleased which might lead to elimination of behavior problems
He or she has to set his or her own aims
He or she has to take over the responsibility for his or her learning
Learners use several materials where they record themselves what they can already
do. The teacher teaches them how to work with these materials, which can be called
self-assessment sheets. They teach them how to fill in these sheets. These sheets canlater become parts of the learner’s portfolio.
The use of portfolio is spreading really quickly nowadays. It can still be considered
as something new and quite fashionable. Portfolio can be described as a file of collected
learners´ materials, commented on by the learners themselves as well as by the teachers.
It is an organized presentation of an individual’s education, work samples and skills. It
demonstrates to others what the learners have done. According to the Educationalframework program a learner’s portfolio is a systematic and commented file of chosen
materials, originating during the pupils´ learning. “Portfolio ministers to the effective
learning, to the awareness of the process of learning, to monitoring one’s effort and the
progress in learning…”(Educational framework program).
When working with portfolio, each child can be successful in some parts. Especially
it allows for the development of several competencies, mainly towards self-reflection
and self-assessment. It also enables teachers to look at their learners´ processes of
learning as a long-term process, which can be influenced by many external and internal
factors and also to consider the learners as personalities. “Portfolio work provides for
Teachers often ask a question how to assess the learners´ works or achievements.
Some of the learners finish just the basic task; others can successfully work on
additional tasks. “Everybody who worked hard according to his or her abilities and
finished the given task has a right to get one“ (Dvořáková 251). In reality it is not that
easy. Learners naturally compare themselves and are extremely sensitive to the
teacher’s fair-minded way of assessment. Therefore it is expected from the teacher that
he or she formulates the criteria clearly and accurately. The assessment is actually based
on certain set criteria. The rules (criteria) should be understandable for the learners and
should be accepted by them. Sometimes it can be very helpful if the learners have achance to participate on creating these criteria too. The criteria should concern as many
areas as possible.
But what are the criteria? Are they prepared for the learners well and objectively? Do
teachers really care? Can teachers really stick to them thoroughly? These are just a
couple examples of questions the general public asks.
Assessment criteria describe how well a pupil has to be able to achieve the learningoutcome in order to be awarded a particular grade. A criterion is a standard or test by
which individual things or people may be compared and judged (“Criterion”). They can
take various forms, dependent of course on the nature of the learning outcome and on
the subject and the level of the task. Assessment criteria are the basis on which the
judgment of the adequacy of the work is made.
There are several reasons why teachers should take assessment criteria inconsideration:
They help teachers know that the assessment will be fair and reliable – teachers
will always apply the same standards to each learner’s work
Possible discussion – sometimes it is hard for the learners to get along with the
teachers. Creating the criteria for assessment together can help both sides. More
than that, if teachers work on them together with the learners, then the learners
know the clear standard and they know what to aim for. Of course, later there
can arise a new discussion, both sides might find the criteria not so appropriate
and new ones can originate.
Clarity – learners need to clearly understand what the teacher requires and
expects from them.
Ethical reason – once the criteria are set, one should not change them just so. It
is good to have them written so either the learners or the teachers can come back
to them any time. As said above, they can change over time.
Dvořáková comments that it is better to apply more criteria and then it is possible
to give more marks – vocabulary, grammar mistakes, and creativity… (255).Assessment and assessing activities should become a natural component of each
lesson and should not be considered as a waste of time. At the close of each lesson
there should be a couple of minutes left for self-reflection, for discussion what the
learners have learnt in the lesson, also feelings, needs and expectations could be
discussed. Teachers can mention what is ahead of them, what they will together
focus on next lesson.
There are numbers of criteria set in the practical education; usually they are
closely related to the educational aims. The general criteria are set and agreed on by
the headmaster and the teachers of the school. It is quite important to set up these
criteria before the beginning of the new school year and not to make or change them
during the school year. As mentioned above, learners have to be acquainted with
them and have to understand them clearly. A natural part of the educational
assessment is setting criteria and requirements. Again, as already mentioned, thecriteria have to be the same for every learner and teachers have to stick to them
strictly.
“Teachers interpret criteria and report on learner performance through the filter
of their knowledge of individual pupils…” (McKay 96).
For my research investigation I decided to choose the method of a questionnaire. All
the questionnaires were handed out in the Czech language. These were prepared for
teachers, pupils and parents. I also decided for the method of interview or debate to
clarify some of the inexplicit results. These interviews were done only with the teachers
and the learners. For the analysis I decided to describe the questionnaires – the focus is
on the gathered data, the detailed description can be found in the “Discussion” part.
Because some of the answers were not as clear, as I needed, then for questions number 4
and 7 of the learners´ questionnaires discussions followed. I discussed some questions
with the teachers too – the results are mentioned in questions number 3, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12.
The method of a questionnaire
A questionnaire means a way or a process to some goal. As Vališová states, “From
the didactic point of view, the term method can be considered as a specific way of
organization of teacher’s and learner’s activities, evolving the educational profile of a
learner and acting agreeable with the educational and pedagogical aims” (189). It is a
way, where the readers read written questions and the investigator gets back writtenanswers. In my questionnaire I choose open as well as closed questions.
The method of an interview
An interview is a method, which is based on direct questioning. It rests in immediate
contact between the investigator and the informant. “The method of an interview
represents verbal communication in the form of questions and answers of two or more
people…” (Maňák, Švec 69). For the success of this kind of method it is important thatthe investigator is able to adjust to the age of the informants and to acquire the
confidence of the informants. I chose the individual interviews and the group interviews
or discussions. The individual interviews were done more on a personal level and I was
able to clarify some points. The group interviews or discussions arose after the
questionnaires were filled in and it was more on informal level but at the same time
very interesting. I decided for focus group interview, which means to clarify some
things from the questionnaires. During these interviews I myself took notes and later I
The kindergarten and primary school in Brno-Chrlice consists of kindergarten and
then first through ninth grade and also it has 3 departments of the school club. There are
three hundred and sixty pupils who attend this school and twenty-two teachers, ten of
them teach the younger learners. The staff of this school consists of both fully qualified
and not fully qualified teachers, both women and men. A head leads the school and with
her support we make a good team.
The school offers many optional classes for its pupils. The spectrum is really wide -
it incorporates for example areas like biology, geography, languages, sciences and
sports. These are prepared according to the age of the pupils and also according to their
interests. Many foreign pupils attend this school, just for examples there were pupils
form Iran, USA, the Ukraine, Vietnam, Slovakia and so on. These pupils are put into
one class and attend regular classes with the Czech pupils. They have some extra Czech
lessons and the best way for them to acquire the Czech language is to be integratedaround the Czech schoolmates. They have a great chance to improve their knowledge of
Czech language; most of them do not speak Czech at all when they enter this school.
The head supports all the teachers to develop professionally; we are encouraged to
attend professional seminars and trainings with the view of having better and more
efficient lessons. All the teachers try to work individually with the pupils and mainly in
the first through fifth grade they cooperate with pedagogical and psychologicalcounseling office. The school also has a special pedagogical counselor who offers help
to other teachers, pupils and parents. This help is done in the area of behavior and
education; she also helps pupils from the ninth grade to choose a career. This is highly
appreciated by everybody.
The staff of the school has been working on the school curriculum. It is called
“Success for everyone”. From this name results the philosophy of our school. Successfor everyone is a school curriculum, which respects pupils as personalities with different
skills and abilities. Our aim is to create appropriate conditions for each child so that he
or she could experience all pieces of knowledge. Also we want to develop independent
and self-confident child through a way of natural education. We would like all children
feel happy and contentedly here. On of the priorities we want to focus is the cooperation
with the parents. The aim is to help and support families with special needs, single-
parent families and families with social handicaps. Also, we would like all the learners
to experience all areas of education. Therefore they are offered a wide range of optional
classes as mentioned above.
As for the assessment, it is written in the school curriculum that we use the marking
system, verbal assessment and the combination of both. Portfolio is going to be used forthe final assessment of the learner. All teachers are working on their portfolio
nowadays; some of them have already been using it and it seems the learners really
enjoy this type of work. One of the very important factors is the learners´s self-
assessment. The aim of the assessment is to provide feedback for the learner. The
assessment should be motivating for the learner and show him or her the mistakes and
help him or her how to go on. The teachers concentrate on individual approach to the
learners.
I would like to mention some of the school policy here too. All instruction is
conducted in Czech, though in my lessons I try to use the English language as much as
possible. I think this can only help the learners practice their English. Learners are not
allowed to eat during the lessons soft drinks are acceptable. Also, learners are not
allowed to use their cell phones during the lessons. They must be safely switched off
otherwise the learner is going to be talked to. We want to teach the learners that plagiarism is not accepted at all. We teach them to acknowledge all the sources they
used for their projects. Copying form the Internet or other sources is unacceptable.
All the teachers in all grades cooperate well, they are willing to exchange experience,
share ideas for teaching and are a great help and support for the younger teachers who
are just about to start their teaching carrier. Teachers and the headmistress observe the
lessons and try to help each other when we come across some difficulty. I find this very
helpful. We prepare several activities for the learners, such as Halloween party, scrabble
competition, field trips, all sorts of projects and also a trip to Great Britain. As for the
Firstly, I introduced the aims of my diploma thesis to my colleagues and kindly
asked to cooperate with me. All of them who participate in teaching learners of this
school gladly filled in the questionnaires.
After the realization of the research with the teachers I asked for the permission to
realize it with the learners in the second up to fifth grades. I handed out the
questionnaires (again, these were in the Czech language) and this time I explained to the
learners why this is done and I emphasized it is anonymous. Even nowadays, it
surprised me that when it comes to the assessment, learners are still scared to say orwrite anything. They still fear that they will become the target people for the teachers. I
was present in almost all classrooms when the learners were filling in the
questionnaires. All my colleagues were so willing and kind that they gave up on one of
their lessons so that I could realize the research with the learners. I tried to go through
each question with the learners and explained what I was asking from them. To create
the atmosphere I talked with the learners about the school first, I asked them what they
like, what they dislike about the school and so on and then we decided to fill in thequestionnaires.
Finally, I got the needed information from ninety-five learners.
To gather the information from the parents was a little bit more difficult. I asked the
parents for their kind help at the teacher-parent meeting. Because not many parents
attended this meeting, I explained in the introduction of the questionnaire why I am
doing this research and send the questionnaires home with the learners. My expectationabout filling in the questionnaires was not high; I did not expect many parents to fill
them in. There were one hundred questionnaires handed out and I received sixty-five
From these results it is evident that the teachers assess the participation the most
often. By participation I mean how active the learners are in the lessons. Then effort and
knowledge (facts and information) are highly assessed too.
3. Why and how often do you test your learners?
All of the respondents stated that they test their learners to find out the level of their
knowledge. Also, all of them stated they test their learners regularly after each topic.
One of the teachers stated, he tests his learners every lesson, but the form of the test
changes. I discussed with some of the teachers the forms of tests and I found out that all
of us use almost the same forms of tests.
4. What forms of assessment do you know?
Here, all the teachers agreed on these forms: marking, verbal assessment and their
combination. One teacher mentioned pictures and one mentioned portfolio. Their
answers arise from their close cooperation and sharing their experience.
5. What areas do you assess, concerning the curriculum?
All the teachers agreed they always test just area, for example vocabulary, grammar phenomenon and so on. Though two teachers expressed they like more complex tests.
One teacher stated she likes to test the abilities how to deal with a certain problem. I am
aware of the fact that I did not include testing the language skills. I know my colleagues
well and my assumption is that not many of them test these skills.
From this table and graph we can see 29% prefer oral testing, 29% prefer written
tests and 42% prefer combination of the two already mentioned forms.
After a short discussion with the teachers I found out that oral testing is too demanding
and time consuming for them. Written testing is not time consuming much and it is
highly objective. All of them do realize that it is not good and appropriate to use just
one type of testing so at the end they all tended to the opinion of combining the forms of
testing.
7. Do you know the attitude of your pupils´ parents towards the assessment?
Tab. 9
Number of teachers
Yes 1
No 6
Again, from this table we can see that most of the teachers do not know the parents´
attitude towards the assessment. Again, after a short discussion all the teachers agreed
that it is very difficult to find this out. Some of the teachers tried to ask the parents
about their opinions about assessment and they tried to discuss this issue at the teacher-
parent meetings. They expressed the opinion that most of the parents always onlycomplain about assessment and they are not willing or able to come up with an idea that
To do this research investigation with the learners was a very interesting process.
This was their first time they were a part of something like this. They were very proud
and happy that somebody is interested in their opinions about such a topic. Some of
them mentioned that finally they are not considered too small for being included in such
a research.
My thoughts were confirmed when majority of the learners expressed their interest in
English language. A very surprising moment for me was to find out, that they love
translations. This was an extra ordinary result! I shared the results with other teachers
and they all expressed their astonishment too. Nevertheless, we all agreed we want to
teach communicative English and it is not our goal to teach learners through
translations. Games, songs and other fun activities are highly welcomed in the lessons.
This only supports the theory of Susan Halliwell who mentions that children at this age
like to play and are able to use the language skills not even realizing them.
The research has proved that marks are certainly important for the learners. Given
reasons why they are important are very appealing and their beliefs and opinions will
change as they are grow up.
In general, they all seem to be quite satisfied with the types of assessment their
teachers use. They pointed out they appreciate the teachers use more than just one typeof assessment. They also like to try to assess themselves and in future they would like to
have more chances to do this. The only fear was that their assessment would not be
considered valid. Since the most common type of assessment is the marking system,
also the learners expressed they are in favor of it.
From the questionnaires that were filled in I can say that the teacher is an authority
for the learners and what he or she considers the best for his or her learners, they acceptit. This also coincides with Solfronk´s theory about the natural authority of the teacher.
I have to admit that I expected these results and they did not surprise me much.
Discussion about the questionnaire for the teachers
As I was going to ask my colleagues for their help with this research, I had to stress
this is anonymous and the results will be used only for my diploma work. For we have
been working on our school curriculum, they thought this could be another component
we would have to focus on.
When I introduced this topic, quite interesting discussion developed. All of theteachers provided several statements and arguments and some of them consolidated
their opinions on some disputable issues. It was rather sad that the their minds focus
only on the marking system and the verbal assessment and they do not consider other
forms of assessment. An intriguing discussion came out when talking about the forms of
testing. The opinions were not strong but by the end all of them agreed on the need of
combining the oral testing as well as the written testing. All of them considered their
colleagues’ opinions and some of them changed their minds.
What surprised me most was the fact that the teachers would choose the marking
system for their children as a form of assessment and right in the next question they
expressed that it would be appropriate to combine the marking system and the verbal
assessment in the lower primary school. During another discussion the teachers were
not able to explain why they decided that way. It is incomprehensible to me. It is quite
probable there more space for this discussion would be needed. It is a little bitcontradictory for me and for my colleagues too. Maybe they do not know exactly what
each system is about and therefore it would need more space for discussion, teachers
need to define it and try it out.
The question of self-assessment has been a hot issue in our school for quite a long
time. The results are very interesting because the learners expressed different opinions
in their questionnaire than the teachers. Most of the learners said they do not have a
chance to assess themselves and all the teachers said they all allow self-assessment.
Again, I discussed the question with the teachers and we came to such a conclusion that
the learners do not realize most of the time they assess themselves. According to this, all
the teachers agreed they would focus on the component of self-assessment and every
time they would draw attention to the self-assessment. Some of the teachers, mainly the
younger ones have started to work with the portfolio and they consider this as the best
way of self-assessment.
I would say that the discussions after the questionnaires were filled in were very
encouraging and also very enriching and beneficial for the next work. We all concluded
this discussion with a positive feeling and we agreed on the fact of employing self-
assessment more often into the lessons.
Discussion about the questionnaire for the parents
As mentioned above, my expectations about filling in the questionnaires by the
parents were not high at all. I wondered whether to really do it or to give it up. Parents
in that area do not pay much attention and they are very lax to such things.
What was quite striking for me was the number of learners who have some learning problems according to their parents. Nowadays, the number of learners dealing with
some specific learning disabilities grows quickly. According to my opinion, 18 out of
65 is not that many. I would be really interested in how many of them were officially
diagnosed in the pedagogical and psychological counseling office. Many parents stated
that they had no idea about the possibility of choosing verbal assessment on the report
and therefore they did not ask for it. I had a chance to talk to just one mother and she
said if she knew about this, she would definitely ask for it. Her daughter is verydiscouraged every time she gets her report and it gets her down very much. Throughout
the whole questionnaire I could feel that the parents would be more than glad if
something could be changed. The line of combining the marking system and the verbal
assessment was very evident. Another surprising point was that the parents would
welcome the continuous assessment in the verbal way in the exercise books or indexes.
Some of the specified answers mentioned that this would be a very nice way of
motivation for the child; the child would know his weak or strong points. Another
common answer was that the marking system is very impersonal and this could make it
more personal. The parents also mentioned the feedback they could get from the teacher
on how well or badly his child performs and then they could focus on certain parts.
Also, some of the teachers said they would welcome it a lot but at the same time they
realize that it is more demanding on the teacher.
Majority of the parents do not recommend the self-assessment. Some of them wrote
a small note saying that learners are not ready for it, they are too small for such a thing
and probably all of them would assess themselves better than the teacher. They would
not be able to comprehend it. In my opinion, this attitude is wrong because I think the
sooner the learners learn this, the better. It is definitely needed and should be highly
valued. Of course, the learners have to learn that they cannot overestimate themselves
and they should assess themselves truly.
As I reflect on this research, I find it very interesting. It has showed us that there is a
possible communication between the school staff and the parents. It is very obvious that
the learners and parents would welcome a change in the form of combination of the
marking system and the verbal assessment. As mentioned above, neither the teachers are
against it. I think, the head of our school and the teachers with her should take this into
consideration and we should start thinking about this. For if we do not and give it up,then this research investigation was just worthless and a waste of time. I am going to
talk to the head of the school soon and I wonder what her reaction will be like. I talked
to her before I started to work on this research investigation and she planned to use
these results for the school evaluation. Also, she mentioned the possibility of modifying
our school assessment according to these results.
I am very satisfied with the results of this research investigation and I am very glad Iwas able to do this and I have to thank the head of the school, all my colleagues and
The research investigation in this particular school has shown us that neither the
marking system nor the verbal assessment can be eliminated from the educational
process. Both forms as well as other forms have their advantages and disadvantages.
The aim of this diploma work was to think about the forms and types of assessment,
to consider their advantages and disadvantages and their comparison. Another aim was
to find out what the learners, teachers and parents think and to find out their attitudes
toward the assessment and also self-assessment.
It was proved that the marking system is the most often used form of assessment, it
is normative and it is motivating mainly when the learners are successful. It is true that
this system has been used for ages, its tradition reaches to former times. Learners,
teachers and parents are used to this system. The verbal assessment is not used much.
The teachers are not strictly against it but they consider it very time consuming and
demanding on them. All the teachers agreed on the fact they use verbal assessment in
the lessons but they do not administer it to the parents. They would be in favor of thecombination of these two types of assessment. This would be also highly welcomed by
the parents, they would get more information about their children and then they could
easily focus on the problematic parts.
It would not be appropriate to prefer the verbal assessment for it may seem that for
example bad formulation could make it worse. I myself tend to the combination of both
forms of the marking system. I realize that the verbal assessment requires the professionalism of the teacher and also to create the verbal assessment requires time and
I have to think about it really carefully. But on the other side, I think it forces the
teacher to think about the positive side of the learner too. Here, the learner has to be
considered as a unique person and sometimes this is really hard for the teachers.
The question of self-assessment still needs to be discussed. According to my opinion,
this should also be explained to the parents; it needs to be talked about with them.
Parents should be supportive and should help their children learn how to deal with self-
assessment.
This research investigation allowed me to think more deeply about the issue of
school assessment. Hopefully, it contributed to other cooperation with my colleagues,
parents and also our learners.
Assessment is a part of our everyday life. It does reach into many areas in our lives;
it belongs to the world of adults too. Children are very sensitive, each of them is a
unique person and all of them need to be praised, encouraged, they need to feel
appreciation. Without all these and others, they are not going to learn how to assessothers objectively. They need to learn to realize and confess their mistakes; they should
have a positive attitude towards them and learn how to cope with them and how to use
them for their next development. I hope I can help them just a little bit with this. This
can be done through the marking system or the verbal assessment or I can just be close
to them. I hope I can help them to use their knowledge when reaching to the world of
adults, in their practical lives and I also want to feel that I assess them right and never
5. Učitel může použít slovní hodnocení také v sešitě nebo žákovské knížce. Myslíte, že by toto bylo pro Vás přínosné nebo nepřínosné? Můžete specifikovat v čem?
a. Přínosné
b. Nepřínosné6. Jaký vliv má získání špatné známky na psychiku Vašeho dítěte?
a. Pozitivní b. Negativníc. Žádný
7. Jaký vliv má získání výborné známky na psychiku Vašeho dítěte?
a. Pozitivní b. Negativní
c. Žádný
8. Pokud byste si mohli zvolit formu hodnocení pro Vaše dítě, kterou byste zvolili?
a. Pouze klasifikaci b. Pouze slovní hodnoceníc. Kombinace dvou předešlýchd. Jiné formy
9. Měli by žáci možnost hodnotit se sami? Proč?
a. Ano b. Ne
10. Jste spokojeni s hodnocením Vašeho dítěte? Myslíte, že odpovídá znalostem Vašehodítěte?