FInal Version - Diploma Thesis

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MASARYK UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Assessing Young Learners

Diploma thesis

Brno 2008

Author: Lenka Přibilová Supervisor: Mgr. Naděžda Vojtková



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Bibliografický záznam

Lenka Přibilová, Assessing Young Learners: Diplomová práce.

Brno: Masarykova univerzita, Fakulta pedagogická, Katedra

anglického jazyka a literatury, 2008, 69 stran a 3 přílohy. Vedoucí

diplomové práce: Mgr. Naděžda Vojtková



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Anotace

Diplomová práce Hodnocení mladších žáků pojednává o

potřebách učitele poznat své žáky a rozumět jejich potřebám

a problémům.

Dalším bodem této práce je otázka hodnocení samotného -

cíle, principy, typy, metody, formy a kritéria.

Posledním bodem, kterým se tato práce zaobírá, je využití

různých forem a typů hodnocení na základě výzkumného

šetření

Annotation

The thesis Assessing young learners deals with the need of

a teacher to know his or her learners and to understand

their needs and problems.

Other issue mentioned in the thesis is the question of

assessment itself.

The last issue the thesis deals with is the usage of forms

and types of assessment based on the research

investigation.

Klíčová slovaMladší žák, hodnocení, základní škola, úspěch, klasifikace,

slovní hodnocení, sebehodnocení, metoda, forma, typ,

učitel, žák, rodiče

Key words

Young learner, assessment, primary school, achievement,

marking system, verbal assessment, self-assessment, method,

form, type, teacher, learner, parents



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Prohlášení

Prohlašuji, že jsem diplomovou práci zpracovala samostatně

pod vedením Mgr. N. Vojtkové. Dále prohlašuji, že jsemuvedla všechny literární prameny, z nichž jsem čerpala.

Souhlasím s uložením práce v archivu Masarykovy univerzity

a se zpř ístupněním ke studijním účelům.

V Brně dne30.3.2008 Lenka Př ibilová



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Acknowledgements

I would like to express gratitude to my supervisor Mgr.

Naděžda Vojtková for her valuable advice and help.



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CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION 8

2. THEORETICAL PART 10

2. 1. DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 10

2. 1. 1. YOUNG LEARNER – DEVELOPMENT OF BASIC SKILLS 12

AND ABILITIES

2. 1. 2. YOUNG LEARNER – COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 14

2. 1. 3. YOUNG LEARNER – EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT 15

AND SOCIALIZATION

2. 2. ASSESSMENT 18

2. 2. 1. ASSESSMENT IN GENERAL 18

2. 2. 2. ASSESSMENT PURPOSES AND PRINCIPLES 21

2. 2. 3. ASSESSMENT TYPES 24

2. 2. 4. METHODS OF ASSESSMENT 26

2. 2. 5. FORMS OF ASSESSMENT 28

2. 2. 6. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA 34

3. PRACTICAL PART 36

3. 1. CHOSEN METHODS FOR THE INVESTIGATION 37

3. 2. THE AIMS OF THE QUESTIONNARIES 38

4. THE PROCESS OF THE RESEARCH INVESTIGATION 40

4. 1. THE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SCHOOL 40

4. 2. GATHERING INFORMATION 43

4. 3. RESULTS OF THE ANALYSIS OF GATHERED DATA 44

5. DISCUSSION 64

6. CONCLUSION 68



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7. RESUME 70

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY 71

9. APPENDICES APPENDIX I 75

APPENDIXII 77

APPENDIX III 80



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1. Introduction

Pupils´ assessment is a very common topic of several pedagogical magazines,

specialized publications and many pedagogical seminars. Nowadays, as we face the

current school reform, the focus is on changing the methods and approaches, changing

the climate of the school. This closely corresponds with the assertion of new types,

forms, methods and assessment forms during the school teaching. It emphasizes the

need to improve the education at all levels of school, starting in the kindergarten level.

Recent years have been devoted to young learners learning foreign languages. Many

pupils nowadays are forced to start learning languages in the first grades; some schools

are involved in a project where already children from kindergarten take lessons of a

foreign language. New methods are being discussed a lot. But at the same time, we have

to consider new ways of assessing our learners. Teachers often complain that they are to

face this reality and they try to think how to make the lessons more effective and

interesting. But not many of them think about the assessment. There are many experts

who pause on this and they try to bring new methods into the reality.

Teachers have to come up with the new school curriculum ad they spend a lot of

time on it. Since we want to use all the new ways of teaching and everything around

which is being talked about, we do have to think about the way of assessing our learners

too. We cannot teach new ways and use old methods of assessing. The most common

way of assessing is the marking system, which is very stable. Recently, some teachers

have started to use the verbal assessment, though mainly in the lower primary school.

The theoretical part explains the basic phenomena and terms concerning the

assessment and young learners. Furthermore, it investigates ways of assessment,

suggestions how to assess. This thesis shows attitudes of Czech teachers and parents

towards assessing young learners; they run into troubles when assessing the pupils. The

aim of the theoretical part is to compare the opinions of learners, their parents and the

teachers in one primary school in Brno.

The practical part follows the theoretical part and is supported by results of my

research investigation done in this primary school. I will use the method of



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questionnaires and also the method of an interview. I will focus on the attitudes towards

the ways of assessing, also on the marking system, verbal assessment and self-

assessment. I enclose the results of the questionnaires compiled in tables and graphs

for better orientation. The importance of assessment and its either positive or negative

influence on the pupils is being confirmed daily. In this thesis I would like to stress the

importance of finding the best ways of assessing learners, if this is possible.

In conclusion, I briefly summarize my thesis. After that follows the list of sources -

books and Internet sources which I used for my thesis and enclosures.



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2. Theoretical part

2.1. Developmental psychology

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.



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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.



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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

not only by the teachers, but the parents too.



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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”

(121).



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2.1.2. Young learner – cognitive development

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

learners´ level and must be easily understood.



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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



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their roles as a pupil, schoolmate, they get to know the role of teacher too. Through this

they learn the elements of self-evaluation” (130).

Last but not least, I would like to mention that children do not stop playing at this

age. Games are still very important for them, they need to have good conditions for

them. Also the demonstrations of games are more abundant and differentiated. Newly in

this the anxiety of getting closer to the real world is seen and pushed. They want to be

successful in the social games. They also look for more complicated games.

To conclude this, these are some of the characteristics of this age group:

They are happy when they can play. They love to share their experiences, they love when people pay attention to

them and their talking.

They are able to talk about what they are doing.

They use imagination a lot.

They can think, argue, discuss and they are able to interact with both children

and adults. They are able to concentrate for certain time.

They understand situations and through situations – they use several senses. They are able to use language skills not even realizing them.

They do not realize what is fact and what is fiction sometimes.

They want to learn and are happy when they learn something, then they have to

share it with somebody and they are proud that they learnt something, they can

show off a little bit.

Often they “teach” each other.

They love to be praised for what they have done and learnt, this is very

important fact to keep their motivation.

Very often they pretend they understand everything and they know everything.

Young children are already very good at interpreting meaning without

necessarily understanding the individual words

Their imagination is ready

Already have great skill in using limited language creatively

Halliwell also mentions these:

They take great pleasure in creating fun in what they do



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They frequently learn indirectly rather than directly

Above all they take great delight in talking (3)

.



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2.2. Assessment

2.2.1. Assessment in general

“ 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



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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

assessed



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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.



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2. 2. 2. Assessment purposes and principles

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



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in learning, to the teachers to help with planning how to improve learner learning, also

to the school and systems about the teaching strategies, resources and so on. Whatever

its purpose is, assessment is seen as an integral part of the learning program rather than

a separate process.

“…the purpose of the assessment procedure is to assess whether students have achieved

the curriculum objectives so far and the information that is required is data on their

performance in relation to the objectives” (McKay 20).

Next, there are also several principles of assessment. It is appropriate to think about

them and to be consistent with them.

Reliability - is very important, it is always necessary to ask how much are the

assessed tasks reliable? Explicitness in terms of learning outcomes and

assessment criteria is vitally important in attempting to achieve reliability. They

should be explicit to the students when the task is set.

Validity - just as important as reliability. Does the assessed task really assess

what one might want it to? A valid assessment does not require any skills or any

extra knowledge that are irrelevant to what is actually being assessed. Consistency - sometimes consistency means no more than enforcing rules and

expectations - the same for everyone. Teachers have to know what drives their

purposes in doing what they want to accomplish.

Clarity of purpose – assessment works best when it is based on clear statements

of purpose or a goal. For example the assessment criteria need to be

understandable and explicit so that all the learners know and comprehend what

is expected of them. In practice, the pupils know how the quality of theirachievements will be judged.

Understanding – assessment should be based on understanding of how pupils

learn. Learning is a complex process and it is necessary to deal with this.

Responsibility – it helps learners take responsibility for their own learning.

Assessment includes several strategies for self-assessment emphasizing the next

steps needed for further studying.

Sensibility – assessment has to be sensible to the learners´ needs, should take

learners´ momentary needs that might influence the assessment into account



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It is very easy to get immersed into the job of teaching that sometimes teachers

forget what the real purpose of teaching and assessment is. Then they might find that

slowly but surely they are not achieving the purpose and that they do not follow not

only some but also all of the principles of assessment. Educational assessment is

conducted for a variety of reasons and the nature of assessment sometimes reflects the

purpose for which it is being carried out. Dvořáková mentions, “Ideal purpose is that

every child would reach his or her personal maxims and so that every pupil would have

an opportunity to try out his or her abilities and develop them in all sorts of activities”

(256).



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2.2.3. Assessment types

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



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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).



26

2.2.4. Methods of assessment

“ 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

contributions and to reward it fairly.



27

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.





29

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.



30

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



31

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



32

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



33

individualization and differentiates teaching according to the learners´ abilities, needs

and interests. Portfolio is a source of information about the learner’s learning process,

also about his or her improvements for the teacher and also serves to the effective

assessment. A learner’s portfolio also serves to the parents in the first place as a source

of information about the improvements in their child’s learning and an opportunity to

share the child’s experience and success” (Educational framework program).

Many authors (Slavík, Dvořáková) realize the need of combination of more than one-

way of assessment. I totally agree with them and I tend to this opinion. All assessment

types have advantages and disadvantages and some parts are positive and some

negative. Therefore some parts can be compensated. In my opinion all teachers shouldlearn to work with several types of assessment, not just one.



34

2.2.6. Assessment criteria

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



35

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).



36

3. Practical part

In my final thesis I have decided to focus on the assessment of young learners.

The research investigation was done at the primary school in Brno where I have

been working as a teacher for seven years. I teach pupils from kindergarten to ninth

grade. I focused on the teachers, learners and parents´ opinions about the

assessment.

In the research investigation were involved 7 teachers, 180 pupils and 65 parents

from the primary school, grades 2-5. I chose to do this research in our school

because I believe this could help our further cooperation and also to the mutual

communication among the teachers, pupils and parents and maybe this could be an

important contribution to the question of assessment in this school.

In the investigation I focused on concrete questions relating to the verbal

assessment, the marking system and the self-assessment. What is the experience of

the teachers and learners with these types of assessment, which one they prefer and

also how parents look on this dilemma?

All the questionnaires were handed out in the Czech language.

The aims of the research investigation result from the above mentioned

questions:

What is the most used type of assessment for the learners?

Which form of assessment is most preferred by the teachers, pupils and parents?

What is the attitude of pupils, parents and teachers towards the combination

of verbal assessment and the marking system?



37

3.1. Chosen methods for the investigation

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

analyzed them.



38

3.2. The aims of the questionnaires

The aim of the questionnaire for the pupils was to find out:

Why they were learning English?

Was the English language interesting for them?

Were the marks important for them? If yes or no, why?

What kind of test was suitable for them?

Could they already say anything in English?

Could they describe their problems with English and could they talk about them

with the teacher?

Did they assess themselves in the lessons?

The aim of the questionnaire for the teachers was to find out:

Why did they decide to become an English teacher?

What did they assess with your learners? (participation, independence etc.)

Why and how often did they assess their learners?

Which forms of assessment did they know?

What did they test? (just one category - vocabulary, grammar, more complextests etc.)

How did they test their learners most often?

Did they care about their learners´ grades? Did they try to help individually?

What was their attitude towards the marking system?

Did they know the parents´ and the learners´ attitudes towards the marking

system?

What was their attitude towards the verbal assessment?

Did they think it would be suitable to combine the marking system and the

verbal assessment?

Did the learners have a chance to assess themselves?

The aim of the questionnaire for the parents was to find out:

Have they noticed with their child any learning problems in any subject?

If some learning disability was detected, have they chosen the possibility of the

verbal assessment on the report?

Which form of assessment would they choose for their child?



39

Did they think it would be beneficial for them to use the verbal assessment in the

notebooks or index too?

What was the influence of a bad or good mark on your child’s psyche?

Which form of assessment did their child’s teacher use most often?

Should the learners´ have a chance to assess themselves?

Were they satisfied with their child’s assessment?



40

4. The process of the research investigation

4.1. The characterization of the school

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



41

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



42

forms of assessment it is obvious that the marking system dominates, but the verbal

assessment is not eliminated.



43

4.2. Gathering information

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

back.



44

4.3. Results of the analysis of gathered data

Results of the questionnaire for the learners

In total there were ninety-five questionnaires filled in. In the research there were

involved learners form the second, third, fourth and fifth grades. The first grades were

gone for a longer time that is why they were not part of this research. The questionnaire

consisted of 8 questions. In the table below I mention the most frequent answers for

each question.

1. Why are you learning English?

I asked this question on purpose, to create the atmosphere. I did not want to start

asking questions about assessment right away. I got back several various answers; the

most common one was that the learners have to learn it. It is one of their compulsory

subject and they are required to learn it. Another frequent answer was that they find

English language interesting and they can make the best of it when going abroad. They

are somehow able to communicate there and that is why they do not see it as a waste oftime.



45

2. Is the English language interesting for you? What do you like the best?

Tab. 1

Number of learners

Yes 80

No 15

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7080

Number of learners

Yes

No

Fig. 1

From the answers it is evident that more than 84% of the pupils find English

language interesting. This result was expected; my findings showed earlier that pupils in

the lower primary school find English more interesting than learners from upper

primary school.

As for the second part of the question, most of the learners indicated translations,

songs and games as their favorite parts.

3. Are the marks important for you? Why yes, why no?

Tab. 2

Number of learners

Yes 87

No 8



46

In the table we can see that 92% of the respondents do consider marks important and

8% of the respondents do not. As for the second part of the question, some of the

learners already at this age realize that knowledge is more important than the marks.

Here I offer some of the answers:

- it is important because they want to please their parents

- it is important because they are given money for every good mark.

-some of them also believe that through good marks they can get better jobs in the

future.

- for some of them marks are not important at all because they do not care; they have no

problems with marks.

4. What kind of tests suits you the best?

Tab. 3

Number of learners

Gap filling 10

Translations 60

Tests with pictures 15

Multiple choice tests 10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Number of learners

Gap filling

Translations

Tests with pictures

Multiple choice tests

Fig. 2



47

From the results in the table it is evident that 63% of the respondents prefer

translations. The other categories are nearly equally represented. A short discussion

followed and I found out that all the learners are extremely happy when they are able to

translate what the teacher wants. They feel very self-confident and they feel they are

successful.

5. What kind of assessment does your teacher use the most often?

Tab. 4

Number of learners

Marks 95

Verbal assessment 50

Pictures 20

Points -

Other -

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Number of learners

Marks

Verbal assessment

Pictures

Points

Other

Fig. 3

From these results, it follows that all learners attending lower primary school are

assessed through marks the most often, less often through verbal assessment and also

pictures. It is evident that some of the teachers do not use just one type of assessment

but all of them give priority to the marks.



48

6. Can you describe your problems with the English language? Can you talk to your

teacher about them?

Sixty-five learners were able to describe their problems with the English language –

most of them mentioned problems with spelling, word order and pronunciation. The rest

of the respondents expressed they do not have any problems with English at all. If some

problems occur, then learners can talk to their teachers and teachers try to find a way to

help them.

7. Do you use self-assessment in the lessons?

Tab. 5

Number of learners

Yes 40

No 55

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Number of learners

Yes

No

Fig. 4

From this table and graph we can see that 58% of the learners do not use self-

assessment at all. After a short discussion with the learners I found out that some of

them have never heard about self-assessment. Though some confessed they might have

done it not knowing it is self-assessment.



49

8. If you could choose a type of assessment on your report, what kind would it be?

Tab.6

Number of learners

Marks 70

Verbal assessment 5

Marks and verbal assessment 20

Other -

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Number of learners

Marks

Verbal assessment

Marks and verbal assessment

Other

Fig. 5

Again from this table and graph it is evident that 74% of the learners give priority to

the marks though 21% of them do not eliminate the combination of marks and verbal

assessment.

Results of the questionnaire for the teachers

Altogether seven questionnaires were filled in. Five of the teachers are qualified for

teaching learners at the lower primary school; the others are qualified for teaching at the

upper primary school. None of these teachers are qualified for teaching English at all.

All the teachers are practicing teachers at our school and their practice is within therange of 2 up to 30 years.



50

The questionnaire consisted of twelve questions. In the table below I mention the

most frequent answers for each question.

1. Why did you decide to become an English teacher?

Again, I asked this question to create the atmosphere for the questionnaire. Most of

the teachers stated the fact that the English language is a part of their teaching hours .

Some of them named various facts, for example they like the English language and are

happy to teach it or they know that teaching English is their life commission.

2. What do you assess with your learners?

Tab. 7

Often Sometimes Never

Participation 7 - -

Effort 4 1 2

Independence - 1 -

Interest in education 2 3 2

Knowledge 4 3 -

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Often Sometimes Never

Participation

Effort

Independence

Interest in education

Knowledge

Fig. 6



51

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.

6. What is the most often used form of testing?

Tab. 8

Number of teachers

Oral testing 2

Written testing 2

Both forms 3



52

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

Number of teachers

Oral testing

Written testing

Both forms

Fig. 7

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





54

According to the whole evaluation of this question, the verbal assessment is first of

all focused on the range of knowledge, the individuality features of learners, social

skills and learners´ effort.

It is evident that according to the teachers the verbal assessment focuses on most of

the things mentioned in the table.

10. Which form of assessment would you choose for your own child and why?

Again, all teachers agreed on the marking system because it is highly objective and

intelligible. One teacher expressed the idea of combining the marking system with the

verbal assessment.

11. Do you think it would be appropriate to combine the above-mentioned forms in the

lower primary school?

Tab. 11

Number of teachers

Yes 4

No 1

Not sure 2

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Number of teachers

YesNo

Not sure

Fig. 9





56

13. If your learners have a chance to assess themselves, how often do you let this?

Tab. 13

Number of teachers

Daily -

Once a week 3

Once a month 2

As needed 2

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

Number of teachers

Daily

Once a week

Once a month

As needed

Fig. 10

Again, it is evident that 42% of the respondents let the learners assess themselves at

least once a week, and then 29% once a month and 29% as needed.

Results of the questionnaire for the parents

Ninety- five questionnaires were handed out and my expectations of a big number of

them coming back were not high. Nevertheless, I got back sixty-five questionnaires.

Most of the parents expressed big thanks; they were surprised I wanted to know their

opinions.I will present the results in the tables and graphs again.



57

1. The age category of children, whose parents filled in the questionnaires, is between 7-

12.

2. Have you noticed any problems with your child in the educational process in any

subject? If yes, have you visited the pedagogical and psychological counseling office?

Tab. 14

Number of parents

Yes 18

No 47

0

10

20

30

40

50

Number of parents

Yes

No

Fig. 11

Twenty-eight percent of the parents have noticed some problems in the educational

process, and except for two, they all visited the counseling office. The two parents

mentioned that these problems occurred just once and after a discussion with the

teachers these problems were eased off. Seventy-two percent of the respondents did not

notice any problems.



58

3. If any of the learning disabilities were diagnosed, did you ask for the verbal

assessment for your child´s school report?

Tab. 15

Number of parents

Yes 2

No 63

From the results we can see that only two parents asked for this possibility. The rest

of the respondents did not ask for this possibility.

4. If you had a chance to choose the form of assessment on the school report, which one

would you choose? Can you specify why?

Tab. 16

Number of parents

Marking system 20

Verbal assessment 10

Combination of both abovementioned

33

Other form 2

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Number of parents

Marking system

Verbal assessment


Other form

Fig. 12



59

It is evident from the table and the graph that the 30% of the respondents would

choose the marking system, 15% would choose the verbal assessment and the

combination would choose 51% of the respondents. Four percents are left for other

forms of assessment.

5. The teacher can also verbally assess the child in the exercise book or index. Would

you welcome this or not? If yes, can you specify why?

Tab. 17

Number of parents

Yes 52

No 13

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Number of parents

Yes

No

Fig. 13

Again, it is evident that 80% of the parents would definitely welcome this

possibility. Twenty percent of them would not welcome this. As for the second part of

the question, almost nobody answered.



60

6. How does a bad mark influence your child´s psyche?

Tab. 18

Number of parents

Positively 6

Negatively 42

No influence 17

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

4045

Number of parents

Positively

Negatively

No influence

Fig. 14

The table and the graphs show that only 9% of the learners are influenced by a bad

mark positively. It does not work as a driving force for them. Sixty-five percent are

influenced negatively and 26% see no influence.



61

7. How does a good mark influence your child´s psyche?

Tab. 19

Number of parents

Positively 61

Negatively -

No influence 4

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Number of parents

Positively

Negatively

No influence

Fig. 15

Ninety-four percent of the respondents expressed that their children are influenced

positively when receiving a good mark. Nobody is influenced negatively and six percent

see no influence.



62

8. If you could choose a form of assessment for your child, which form would you

choose?

Tab. 20

Number of parents

Marking system 13

Verbal assessment 2


49

Other form 1

0

5

1015

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Number of parents

Marking system

Verbal assessment

Combination of both above

mentioned

Other form

Fig. 16

The results show us that 20% of the respondents are in favor of the marking system

only, 3% are in favor of the verbal assessment only, 75% are in favor of combination of both forms and 2% are in favor of other forms.

9. Do you think the learners should have a chance to assess themselves? Why?

Tab. 21

Number of parents

Yes29

No 36



63

From the results it is evident that 45% of the parents agree with the possibility of

self-assessment and 55% of the parents do not agree with this possibility. Some of the

parents 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 and take a right stand. Maybe, the parents do

not know exactly what self-assessment means and therefore majority of them is against

it. Responsible teachers should consider this and talk to the parents about this issue.

10. Are you satisfied with your child´s assessment? Do you think it is appropriate

towards his/her knowledge?

Tab. 22

Number of parents

Yes 59

No 6

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Number of parents

Yes

No

Fig. 17

Ninety-one percent of the respondents answered positively and nine percent

negatively. Here are some of the negative answers were specified:

- “I am not satisfied in these days”- “ I am not satisfied just partly”



64

5. Discussion

Discussion about the questionnaire for the pupils

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.



65

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



66

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



67

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

also the learners and their parents.



68

6. Conclusion

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.



69

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

be ashamed of one´s assessment.



70

7. Resume

The diploma work is focused on assessing young learners. Understanding the

personality of a young learner plays an important role in effective teaching. One of the

subjects of this thesis is to show the characteristics of a young learner.

Another subject of this thesis is the assessment itself – purposes, principles, types,

methods, forms and criteria.

In the Practical part the results of several questionnaires are presented. Through this

research investigation in one primary school it was found out what are the attitudes of

the learners, parents and teachers towards assessment.

Resumé

Diplomová práce je zaměřena na hodnocení mladších žáků. Jedním z předmětů této

práce je ukázat charakteristiku mladšího žáka.

Dalším předmětem této práce je hodnocení - cíle, principy, typy, metody, formy a

kritéria.

V praktické části jsou presentovány výsledky několika dotazníků. Skrze toto

výzkumné šetření byly zjištěny postoje žáků, rodičů a učitelů k hodnocení v jedné

základní škole.





72

21.Schimunek, Franz P. Slovní hodnocení žáků. Praha: Portál, 1994.

22.Slavík, Jan. Hodnocení v současné škole. Praha: Portál, 1999.

23.Solfronk, Jan. Zkoušení a hodnocení žáků. Praha: PdF UK, 1996.

24.Tuček, Antonín. Problémy školního hodnocení. Praha: Portál, 1966.

26.Ur, Penny. A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and theory. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 2005.

27. Vališová, Alena. Pedagogika pro učitele. Praha:Grada, 2006.

28.Vágnerová, Marie. Psychologie školního dítěte. Praha: UK, 1995.

Internet sources

“A Brief Biography of Jean Piaget.” Archives Jean Piaget. 24 November 2007

<http://www.piaget.org/aboutPiaget.html>

“Assessment Principles.” Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. 19 January

2008

<http://vels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/assessprinciples.html>

“Cognitive development.” Encyclopedia of Psychology. 20 December 2007

< http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0004/ai_2699000417>

“Criterion.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 1 March 2008

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criteria>

DiGesu. “The purpose of assessment.” 18 February 2008

<http://www.gecdsb.on.ca/d&g/onlinepd/Assessment%20&%20Evaluation/Purpose.ht

ml>

“Epigenetic principle.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 18 December 2007

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigenetic_principle>

“Erikson´s psychosocial development theory.” Businessballs.com 27 December 2007

< http://www.businessballs.com/erik_erikson_psychosocial_theory.htm>



73

Gomez. “Assessment Portfolios: Including English Language Learners in Large-Scale

Assessment.” ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics Washington DC. 15

February 2008

<http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/large.htm>

Gottlieb. “Authentic assessment for English Language Learners: Practical approaches

for teachers.” Bilingual research Journal, Summer 1996. 21February 2008

<http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3722/is_199607/ai_n8736017>

“Language Assessment.” SIL International. 21 February 2008<http://www.sil.org/sociolx/assessment.html>

“Principles of Assessment for Learning.” New South Wales Government. Assessment

Resource Centre. 25 February 2008

<http://arc.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/go/k-6/principles-of-assessment-for-learning/>

Rakoušová. “Sebehodnocení žáků.” Výzkumný ústav pedagogický v Praze. 1 March2008

<http://www.rvp.cz/clanek/512/1965>

“Self-assessment.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 1 March 2008

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-assessment>

Smith. “Young Learners.” British Council. 30 January 2008<http://www.britishcouncil.org/portugal-ie2006w-jo-smith.pdf>/

Starý. “Problematika hodnocení ve škole.” Výzkumný ústav pedagogický v Praze. 1

March 2008

<http://www.rvp.cz/clanek/513/993>

“Školský zákon.“ Ministerstvo školství, mládeže a tělovýchovy. 10 March 2008

<http://www.msmt.cz/Files/HTM/PKT0602senatspodpresidenta.htm>



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2007

< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_cognitive_development>





76

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

__________

7. Hodnotíte se někdy v hodinách sami? Jak?

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________



77

APPENDIX II

Vážení kolegové a kolegyně,

jmenuji se Lenka Přibilová a jsem studentkou pedagogické fakulty MU, obor učitelství

Aj pro ZŠ a JŠ. V současné době se věnuji diplomové práci na téma „Hodnocení

mladších žáků“. Tímto bych Vás chtěla požádat o vyplnění přiloženého dotazníku.

Dotazník je anonymní a jeho výsledky budou použity pouze pro potřeby výzkumu mé

diplomové práce.

1. Proč jste se rozhodl/a stát učitelkou anglického jazyka?

2. Co hodnotíte u svých žáků?

a. Aktivita

b. Snaha

c. Samostatnost

d. Zájem o výuku

e. Vědomosti

3. Proč a jak často testujete své žáky?

4. Jaké formy hodnocení znáte?



78

4. Co testujete u svých žáků?

a. testuji vždy 1 kategorii (slovní zásobu, gramatické jevy atd.)

b. mám rád/a komplexní testy zahrnující všechny oblasti

c. testuji žákovy schopnosti poradit si s daným problémem

4. Jakým způsobem žáky nejčastěji testujete?

a. ústní zkoušení

b. písemný test

c. obě varianty

5. Zajímáte se o známky svých žáků?Snažíte se žákům individuálně pomoci? Jaký je

váš postoj ke známkování žáků?

6. Znáte postoj rodičů vašich žáků a žáků samotných ke známkování?

7. Jaký je váš postoj ke slovnímu hodnocení?

a. Jsem jeho zastáncem

b. Nejsem jeho zastáncem

c. Nemám vyhraněný názor

8. Slovní hodnocení se dle Vás zaměřuje na: Prosím, označte dle vaší důležitosti

(1=hodně souhlasím-5=nesouhlasím)

a. Rozsah zvládnutí vědomostí

b. Postoje žáka k učivu

c. Osobností rysy žáka

d. Sociální dovednosti

e. Snaha žáka

f. Celkové posouzení žákovi osobnosti



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9. Kterou formu hodnocení byste volili pro své dítě? Proč?

a. Slovní hodnocení

b. Klasifikace

10. Myslíte si, že by bylo vhodné na 1.stupni kombinovat výše zmíněné formy?

a. Ano

b. Ne

c. Nejsem si jistá

11. Mají žáci možnost se v hodinách sami hodnotit? Pokud ano, jak?

a. Ano

b. Ne

12. Pokud mají žáci tuto možnost, jak často sebehodnocení provádíte?

a. Denně

b. 1krát týdně

c. 1krát měsíčně

Mnohokrát Vám děkuji za ochotu a Váš čas.



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APPENDIX III

Vážení rodiče,

jmenuji se Lenka Přibilová a působím na ZŠ a MŠ J.Broskvy 3 jako učitelka anglického

jazyka, t.č. na mateřské dovolené. Současně studuji pedagogickou fakultu MU, obor

učitelství Aj pro ZŠ a JŠ. Nyní pracuji na dokončení diplomové práci na téma

„Hodnocení mladších žáků“. Tímto bych Vás chtěla požádat o vyplnění přiloženého

dotazníku. Dotazník je anonymní a jeho výsledky budou použity pouze pro potřeby

výzkumu mé diplomové práce. Prosím o vrácení dotazníku nejpozději do 14.3.2008.

1. Kterou třídu navštěvuje Vaše dítě?

2. Zaznamenali jste nějaké potíže ve výuce některých předmětů? Pokud ano, využili jste

služeb pedagogicko-psychologické poradny?

3. Pokud byla zjištěna některá z poruch učení, využili jste možnosti slovního hodnoceníVašeho dítěte na vysvědčení?

4. V případě možnosti zvolit si formu hodnocení na vysvědčení, kterou byste zvolili?

Proč?a. Klasifikaci

b. Slovní hodnoceníc. Kombinaci obou foremd. Jinou formu



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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?

a. Ano b. Ne



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