Assignment - ATC

SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT:
ASSESSMENT AND TESTING IN THE CLASSROOM
 
 
 

Name and surnames:     

Estefanía Aguirre Del Río
Angela María Arroyave Hernández
Deicy Andrea Diaz Hoyos                                                   
Víctor Alfonso Olaya Vargas
 
Login:           
ECFPMME1141175                                                            
COFPMTFL1131170
COFPMTFL2041443                                                            
COFPMTFL1599007

Group:        2015-10
           
Date:            May 28th, 2017
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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INDEX

INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
JUSTIFICATION......................................................................................................................4
Reading Objectives:...............................................................................................................5
Writing Objectives:................................................................................................................5
PROGRESS TEST FOR INTERMEDIATE LEARNERS.....................................................5
ACHIEVEMENT TESTS..........................................................................................................6
Section A: Reading 1..............................................................................................................6
Section B:  Reading 2.............................................................................................................7
Section C: Reading 3..............................................................................................................8
Section D: Writing 1............................................................................................................10
Section E: Writing 2.............................................................................................................11
Section F: Writing 3.............................................................................................................13
CONCLUSIONS......................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES:........................................................................................................................15
APPENDIX...............................................................................................................................16

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INTRODUCTION

Students can escape bad teaching,

but they can’t escape bad assessment.
David Boud (allthingslearning)

 
In the last decades, the meaning of Evaluation has been transformed. Evaluation is not
only measuring the learning through the students but the teachers too. Of course, if the
determination is to help the students learn, the content and character of assessments must be
enriched. The responsibility as teacher is to select an appropriate instrument or procedure for
assessing, that is not an easy work, the teacher needs to be aware about the job, the level and the
students to be accomplished. As Norris J. states out: “Language assessment, then, is much more
than simply giving a language test; it is the entire process of test use”. Indeed, the ultimate goal
of language assessment is to use tests to better inform us on the decisions we make and the
actions we take in language education”.

The test we expose is framed within the language classroom for encouraging students in
the learning process, through a progress test, since the students are coursing high school, 7
grade, and they are between 12 to 15 years old, the test will be carried out  in an A2 level
through a series of tasks meant to achieve all language objectives proposed.  

Assessment that doesn’t take into

account different personality types
and learning styles.

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JUSTIFICATION

It is well known, teachers must be focused on assessment not on test. However to decide
which type of test is more appropriated can become a hard task; in words of Norris: “Purposeful
language assessment involves the cyclical process of focusing on the jobs to be accomplished
by language assessment, specifying the intended uses of language tests in accomplishing these
jobs, selecting the appropriate language testing tools and designating how they are to be used.”
The test provided in this work is elaborated with the purpose of evaluating reading and writing
skills, which is the main goal of the test, since reading skills are necessary to read text, process
the information and gather meaning. In this way the test works objective items by reading
comprehension task with  multiple choice questions, true-false  and matching item, providing
versatility in measuring all levels of cognitive ability, and it is possible to use a wide sampling
of content. To assess writing skills,  students have opportunities to demonstrate controlled use
of variety of simple and complex sentences to achieve purpose and contribute to overall result.
The test works including subjective items, as short answer essay and a descriptive task, used
with the purpose of encouraging and rewarding the development of this skill, and to explore the
attitude of the students towards some events happening in today’s world.
Regarded as a third generation test, its intention is trying to reach a balance between reliability
and validity, developing communicative language instruction, replicating real life language use,
such as analyzing news about science topics and narrative texts about authentic success, in this
case, the dinosaurs extinction. It also focuses on performance through the development of
contextualized language tasks, for both receptive and productive skills. Being also an integrative
test, it does not assess any discrete items since the purpose is to assess language as a whole and
not its parts, to assess language use instead of usage.

We know that integrative tests own a prominent validity, however cannot be marked
objectively which reduces reliability, especially in the productive skills. To solve this problem
with writing, we created a rubric (appendix 4), in which according to the learner´s performance
a mark is given, taking into account the criteria or scale established in it. Reading can be marked
more objectively through multiple choice, true and false questions and matching items getting
only one correct answer. It increases reliability, however with this kind of objective marking
validity can be reduced. To avoid it, all the texts used for the reading tasks are authentic since
more than answering comprehension questions it looks for a response by part of the reader as
they would do in real life. Morrow, 1977, (p. 13) said that an “authentic text is a stretch of real
language, produced by a real speaker or writer for a real audience and designed to convey a real
message of some sort”. Using authentic texts for reading, we can solve part of the problem with

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validity, since it is hoped than more than getting a correct answer, learners can reflect and
analyze the content as they would do when reading for a subject in their native language.

Reading Objectives:
 To make use of contextual clues to infer meanings of unfamiliar words from context.
 To identify general and specific information.
 To differentiate main idea(s) from supporting details.
 To compare and contrast the information given in the text, in order to establish
connections between the students’ reality to the one shown in the reading.

Writing Objectives:
 To express a point of view through effective, coherent and fluent paragraphs, with the
correct usage of spelling and grammar rules.
 To use a diversity of precise sentence structures, using ideas from the text that support
the point of view and create a picture in the readers’ minds.
 To summarize and paraphrase information in a text. 

PROGRESS TEST FOR INTERMEDIATE LEARNERS

Topics: Scientific research, extinction, dinosaurs.

student´s name ___________________           course____________            score _______

Section A: Reading 1: Reading comprehension task with five multiple choice questions.

Section B:  Reading 2: Reading comprehension task with eleven true or false statements.

Section C: Reading 3: This is a matching task based on a reading text. Learners match six
headings with their right paragraph.

Section D: Writing 1: This is a writing descriptive task. Learners write a descriptive text for
the school newspaper.

Section F: Writing 2: This is a writing task based on the analysis of a newspaper article.
Learners write an argumentative paper considering some given questions.

Section F: Writing 3: This is a compare and contrast writing task. Learners compare and
contrast the actions taken by two persons on the same issue.  

ACHIEVEMENT TESTS

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Section A: Reading 1. Multiple choice questions (appendix 1)

Read the text about mass extinction and answer the questions.
Mass Extinctions
More than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct. As new species
evolve to fit ever changing ecological niches, older species fade away. But the rate of extinction
is far from constant. At least a handful of times in the last 500 million years, 50 to more than 90
percent of all species on Earth have disappeared in a geological blink of the eye.
Though these mass extinctions are deadly events, they open up the planet for new life-forms to
emerge. Dinosaurs appeared after one of the biggest mass extinction events on Earth, the
Permian-Triassic extinction about 250 million years ago. The most studied mass extinction,
between the Cretaceous and Paleogene periods about 65 million years ago, killed off the
dinosaurs and made room for mammals to rapidly diversify and evolve.
Scientists have narrowed down several of the most likely causes of mass extinction. Flood
basalt events (volcano eruptions), asteroid collisions, and sea level falls are the most likely
causes of mass extinctions, though several other known events may also contribute. These
include global warming, global cooling, methane eruptions and anoxic events–when the earth's
oceans lose their oxygen.
Today, many scientists think the evidence indicates a sixth mass extinction is underway. The
blame for this one, perhaps the fastest in Earth's history, falls firmly on the shoulders of
humans. By the year 2100, human activities such as pollution, land clearing, and overfishing
may drive more than half of the world's marine and land species to extinction.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/mass-extinction/

1.      What can be inferred from the first paragraph?

a.       Most of species disappear in a short period of time.
b.      Extinction takes a long time to happen.
c.       Most of the species disappear soon or later.
2.      Dinosaurs became extinct…
a.       About 250 million years ago.
b.      About 65 million years ago.
c.       They are not extinct yet.
3.      According to the text what happens after mass extinction.

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a.       New organisms emerge and evolve.

b.      The Earth becomes isolated for a long period of time.
c.       All kind of life disappears definitively.
4.      Some of the main causes for mass extinction detected for scientists  are:
a.       Global warming, earthquakes, tornados, tsunamis.
b.      Volcano eruption, asteroid collision, sea level fall.
c.       All of the above are correct.
5.      Today, human activities contribute to:
a.       The protection of all marine and land species.
b.      The fastest evolution of Earth's history.
c.       A sixth mass extinction
 
Section B:  Reading 2. True or false questions. (appendix 2)
Read this extract about history of Dinosaurs.
A Brief History of Dinosaurs
By Katharine Gammon, Live Science Contributor | March 23, 2017 10:05pm ET

Most people think of dinosaurs as big, ferocious and extinct reptiles. That's largely true, but
there are some misconceptions. Dinosaurs came in all shapes and sizes. Dinosaurs were the
largest land animals of all time, but a great number of dinosaurs were smaller than a turkey.

Dinosaurs first appeared between 247 and 240 million years ago. They ruled the Earth for
about 175 million years until an extinction event 65.5 million years ago wiped out all of them,
expect for the avian dinosaurs. Scientists don't agree entirely on what happened, but the
extinction likely was a double or triple whammy involving an asteroid impact, choking
chemicals from erupting volcanoes, climate change and possibly other factors.

Only the big, classic dinosaurs are extinct. Birds are living dinosaurs, most experts believe.
Think of that next time a pigeon strafes you. Fossils show that some of the more advanced
dinosaurs had feathers or feather-like body covering, but many of them didn't fly and probably
didn't even glide. Archaeopteryx, which was for a long time considered to be the first bird
(although this status is not certain), could likely launch itself from the ground, but probably
couldn't fly far, according to unpublished research presented at the 2016 Society of Vertebrate
Paleontology meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. Instead, feathers, likely helped these bird-like
dinosaurs stay warm as juveniles or send signals to other individuals.

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Taken from: http://www.livescience.com/3945-history-dinosaurs.html

Are the following statements true or false?  Choose 'not in text' if the information is not there.
Questions Tru Fals Not in text
e e
1.       All dinosaurs were bigger than an adult person.  
2.       Dinosaurs have been the largest animals that have existed on Earth.
3.       Dinosaurs were wiped out 175 million years ago.
4.       Meat-eater dinosaurs disappeared first than plant-eaters.

5.      Scientists agree that asteroid impact was the main cause for
dinosaurs’ extinction.
6.       Not all dinosaurs are extinct.
7.       Birds are living dinosaurs.
8.       T. rex could have a feather-like body.

9.       Archaeopteryx was a bird that was good at flying.

10.   Feathers helped dinosaurs to communicate with other individuals.

11.   Mammals evolve after dinosaur’s extinction.  

Section C: Reading 3. Matching headings with the correct paragraph (appendix 3)

 
Read the text on the left about Important Dinosaurs facts, then match each heading on the right
to the correct paragraph. Write the letter of the correct heading in the box after the paragraph
number.

Important Dinosaur Facts

By Bob Strauss

1
The first dinosaurs evolved during the middle to late Triassic period, about 230 million years
ago, in the part of the supercontinent of Pangea that now corresponds to South America. Before
then, the dominant land reptiles were archosaurs ("ruling lizards"), therapsids ("mammal-like
reptiles") and pelycosaurs (typified by Dimetrodon). It was only at the beginning of the Jurassic
period, 200 million years ago, that dinosaurs truly began their rise to dominance.
2

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You'd think it would be most logical to divide dinosaurs into herbivores (plant eaters) and
carnivores (meat eaters), but paleontologists see things differently, distinguishing between
saurischian ("lizard-hipped") and ornithischian ("bird-hipped") dinosaurs. Saurischian dinosaurs
include carnivorous theropods and herbivorous sauropods and prosauropods, while
ornithischians account for the remainder of plant eaters, including hadrosaurs, ornithopods and
ceratopsians, among other dinosaur types. Oddly enough, birds evolved from "lizard-hipped,"
rather than "bird-hipped," dinosaurs!
3
Modern reptiles like turtles and crocodiles are cold-blooded, or "ectothermic," meaning they
need to rely on the environment to maintain their internal body temperatures--while modern
mammals and birds are warm-blooded, or "endothermic," possessing active, heat-producing
metabolisms that maintain a constant internal body temperature, no matter the external
conditions. There's a solid case to be made that at least some meat-eating dinosaurs--and even a
few ornithopods--must have been endothermic, since it's hard to imagine an active lifestyle
being fueled by a cold-blooded metabolism. (On the other hand, it's unlikely that giant dinosaurs
like Argentinosaurus were warm-blooded, since they would have cooked themselves from the
inside out.)
4
Fierce carnivores like Tyrannosaurus Rex and Giganotosaurus get all the press, but it's a fact of
nature that the meat-eating "apex predators" of any given ecosystem are tiny in number
compared to the plant-eating animals on which they feed. By analogy with modern ecosystems
in Africa and Asia, herbivorous hadrosaurs, ornithopods and (to a lesser extent) sauropods
probably roamed the world's continents in vast herds, hunted by sparser packs of large, small
and medium-sized theropods.
5
It's true, some plant-eating dinosaurs (like Stegosaurus) had brains so tiny compared to the rest
of their bodies that they must have been only a little bit smarter than giant ferns. But meat-
eating dinosaurs large and small, ranging from Troodon to T. Rex, possessed more respectable
amounts of grey matter compared to their body size, since they required better-than-average
sight, smell, agility and coordination to reliably hunt down prey.

6
Many people mistakenly believe that mammals "succeeded" the dinosaurs 65 million years ago,
appearing everywhere, all at once, to occupy the ecological niches rendered vacant by the K/T
Extinction Event. The fact is, though, that early mammals lived alongside sauropods,

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hadrosaurs, and tyrannosaurs (usually high up in trees, out of harm's way) for most of the
Mesozoic Era, and in fact they evolved at around the same time.
Taken from: https://www.thoughtco.com/important-dinosaur-facts-1091959
Paragraph headings
a.       The Vast Majority of Dinosaurs Were Plant Eaters 1

b.      The Dinosaur Kingdom Comprised Two Main Branches     2

3
c.    Dinosaurs Lived at the Same Time as Mammals
4
d.      Dinosaurs Weren't the First Reptiles to Rule the Earth
5
e.      Some Dinosaurs Were Warm-Blooded
f.    Not All Dinosaurs Were Equally Dumb 6

 
Section D: Writing 1. Making descriptions (appendix 4)
See the pictures and the facts below about a new dinosaur discovered in Patagonia (Argentina)
called Argentinosaurus. It is the largest dinosaur that paleontologists have been discovered so
far.
 
Write a news report for your school newspaper making a description about it. Take into
account the facts below about this amazing discovering and be careful with connections and
coherence.

   

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Dinosaur Facts

biggest dinosaur ever 90 tons

giant herbivorous 40 m (130 ft.) long and 20 m (65 ft.) tall

Patagonia paleontologist Roger Benson

Sauropod’s family Cretaceous

Section E: Writing 2. Analysing argumentative texts (appendix 4)

Read the following newspaper article then answer the question below.

March for Science: Protesters gather worldwide to support 'evidence.

Crowds massed in the US capital and around the world to support science and evidence-based
research -- a protest partly fueled by opposition to President Donald Trump's threats of budget
cuts to agencies funding scientists' work.
At the main March for Science, demonstrators gathered at Washington's National Mall to hear
speakers laud science as the force moving humanity forward, and rail against policymakers they
say are ignoring fact and research in areas including climate change.
"Today we have a great many lawmakers -- not just here but around the world -- deliberately
ignoring and actively suppressing science," one of the event's speakers, TV host and scientist
Bill Nye, told a rain-soaked crowd from a stage."Their inclination is misguided and in no one's
best interest. Our lives are in every way improved by having clean water, reliable electricity and
access to electronic global information." Besides the Washington march, organizers said more
than 600 "satellite" marches were taking place globally in a protest timed to coincide with Earth
Day.
The march, whose beginnings reflect the viral birth of the Women's March on Washington, was
billed by its organizers as political but nonpartisan. But many messages were leveled at Trump
and his party, which holds majorities in Congress. Scientists have raised alarms over Trump's
budget blueprint, which would cut $12.6 billion from the Department of Health and Human
Services, including $5.8 billion from the National Institutes of Health alone.
One speaker said the administration "tries but fails to silence scientists." Several contrasted
rationality and scientific thought to "alternative facts," a phrase that's attracted popular derision
since a White House aide uttered it.

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With the White House in view, protesters held signs with messages such as "In peer review we
trust" and "It's the environment, stupid."
Demonstrators marched from the National Mall to Union Square. Joni Wright, a
neurophysiology graduate student at the University of Florida, cited the Trump administration
as a reason why she was in the crowd. "Science is really important, and the current
administration is making decisions that are counter to climate change, genetically modified food
and vaccinations," Wright, 38, told CNN. Thousands of people also marched in Boston, Los
Angeles, San Francisco and New York. In Chicago, throngs marched from Grant Park to the
Field Museum for a science exposition, CNN affiliate WBBM-TV reported. "Science has
always strived to remain nonpolitical, nonpartisan -- and we're still striving for that," Liz
Homsey, a co-organizer, told the station. "Every single scientist at this event feels that it is
much more pro science than anti anything."
Write an essay based on the news shown above (take a position and justify it), considering
the following questions:
 
 Do you agree with the scientists’ position against Trump’s actions in reducing their
budget for scientific investigations? Why or why not?  
 What do you think about Trump’s position in his environmental policies?
 Infer what would the impact of Trump’s actions be in other countries.
 If you were president of the United States, what would your position be in these
important issues?

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Section F: Writing 3. Compare and contrast (appendix 4)

Compare and contrast Trump’s actions with the environmental policies and the reduction of
the budget for scientific research in his government, with the actions done in these matters by
the president of your country.
 

Your president’s actions

Trump’s Actions Both
 

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CONCLUSIONS
 
By specifying the intended uses for language tests, language teachers should be able to make
well-motivated and purposeful choices of language testing instruments and procedures.
Nevertheless, even though teachers carefully select and use language testing tools, they can
never predict exactly what the results of the assessment process will be. To keep an objective
and meaningful language assessment practice, teachers hence need to evaluate if the language
testing tools are working out to accomplish the jobs of language assessment in their classrooms
and programs. (see appendix 5 & 6). To conclude, meaningful language assessment involves the
continuous process of focusing on the aims to be accomplished by language assessment, being
specific in the intended uses of language tests in fulfilling these objectives, choosing the
appropriate language testing tools and determining the way they are going to be used, and
evaluating the extent to which the purposes of language assessment are being accomplished
with the help of language tests. Additionally, to select and use the most appropriate language
testing alternatives for their language education contexts and realities, language teachers need to
take into account and remember the main objectives of language assessment.
 
 

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REFERENCES:

Allthingslearning. Posts Tagged “assessment”. (online image)Retrieved from:

https://allthingslearning.wordpress.com/tag/assessment-2/

Christina M. Cestone, Ruth E. Levine, Derek R. Lane (winter 2008) Peer Assessment and
Evaluation in Team-Based Learning. NEW DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING AND
LEARNING. DOI: 10.1002/tl.334

Lennon, A. and Ball, P. (n.d.). Materials and Resources in EFL. Design and adaptation of
Materials. Spain: Fundación Universitaria Iberoamericana FUNIBER.

Laura Smith-Spark, Jason Hanna. (2017). March for Science: Protesters gather worldwide to
support 'evidence'. 2017, de CNN Sitio web:
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/22/health/global-march-for-science/

Morrow, K. (1977). Authentic texts in ESP. In S. Holden (Ed.), English for specific porposes.
London: Modern English Publications.

Norris, John M,(2000)Purposeful Language Assessment: Selecting the Right Alternative Test .
Volume 38, No. 1

Parisi, M. Off the mark. Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath.Dinosaurs in a
classroom. (online image). Retrieved from:
https://es.pinterest.com/pin/64457838392132051/  

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APPENDIX

Appendix 1. Reading 1 Test score:

 
Number of correct Letter Numerical Percentage Grade
answers Grade Grade definition
5 A 5.0 81- 100% Advanced
4 B 4.0 61-80% Proficient
3 C 3.0 41- 60% Basic
2 D 2.0 21- 40% Developing
1 E 1.0 1- 20% Developing
0 F 0 0% Incomplete
 

Appendix 2. Reading 2 test score

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Number of correct Letter Numerical Percentage Grade

answers Grade Grade definition
11 A 5,0 100% Outstanding
9 - 10 A- 4,5 90% Advanced
8 B 4,0 80% Proficient
7 B- 3,5 70% Proficient
6 C 3,0 60% Basic
5 C- 2,5 50% Basic
4 D 2,0 40% Developing
3 D- 1,5 30% Developing
2 E 1,0 20% Incomplete
1 E- 0,5 10% Incomplete
0 F 0 0% Incomplete
 

Appendix 3. Reading 3. Test scores

Number of correct Letter NumericalGrade Percentage Grade

answers Grade definition
6 A 5,0 100% Outstanding

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5 B 4,3 83,33% Advanced

4 B- 3,8 66,66% Proficient
3 C 3,0 50% Basic
2 D 2,4 33,33% Developing
1 E 1,8 16,66% Incomplete
0 F 0 0% Incomplete

Appendix 4. RUBRICS

Writing Rubric
Score Focus/Support Organization Word Conventions/Sentence
choice/voice fluency
5 The writing is The writing has Ideas are linked The writing has no errors in
focused and an introduction with words and spelling, grammar,

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 Assignment - ATC

supported by and conclusion. phrases. Words capitalization, or

facts and details. Ideas are clearly are specific. The punctuation. There are
organized. voice connects variety of sentences.
with the reader in
a unique way.
4 The writing is The writing has Some ideas are The writing has some errors
mostly focused an introduction linked with in spelling, grammar,
and supported by and a conclusion. words and capitalization, or
some facts and Most ideas are phrases. Some punctuation. There is some
details. organized. words are variety in sentences.
specific. The
voice connects
with the reader.
3 Some of the The writing has Some ideas are The writing has some errors
writing is an introduction linked with in spelling, grammar,
focused and or a conclusion, words or phrases. capitalization, or
supported by but might be Few words are punctuation. There is little
some facts or missing one. specific. The variety in sentences.
details. Some ideas are voice may
organized. connect with the
reader.
2 The writing is The writing is Ideas may not be The writing has many errors
not focused or missing an linked with in spelling, grammar,
supported by introduction and words or phrases. capitalization, or
facts or details. a conclusion. Few words are punctuation. There is no
Few or no ideas specific. The variety in sentences.
are organized. voice does not Sentences are incomplete.
connect with the  
reader.  
  
Reading test score

Total Letter Grade Numerical Grade Percentage Grade definition

20 A 5,0 100% Outstanding

19 A- 4,5 87,5% Advanced

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18 B 4,0 75% Proficient

Basic
16-17 B- 3,5 62,5%

14-15 C 3,0 50% Basic

Developing
12-13 D 2,5 37,5%

10-11 E 2,0 25% Developing

Incomplete
8-9 F 1,5 12,5%

Appendix 5. PEER ASSESSMENT MATRIX

Name: ___________________________ Date: _____________________

Topic:

Please write your name and your classmates, grade yourself and your mates with an evaluation
and finally summarize the results.

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 Assignment - ATC

Excellent = 5      Very good= 4      Average= 3   Weak=2   Poor=1

Aspect Myself Classmate Classmate Classmate
1 2 3

Use logical organization  

Expressed the ideas easily and respectfully

Facilitated keep the group on task

Show correct grammar, punctuation,

spelling and

Contributing beneficial ideas

Totals

Appendix 6. SELF ASSESSMENT MATRIX

Name: _______________________ Date: _____________________

Topic:

Grade yourself with an evaluation and finally summarize the results.

Excellent = 5    Very good= 4   Average= 3       Weak=2       Poor=1

Aspect 5 4 3 2 1

I remember new words in the activity (4-5)

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I can understand the instructions from the teacher.

I ask many questions for understanding.

I Write by myself about the topic we have seen

I enjoy reading and speaking about the activities, lectures and free
conversations.

Totals

NEW VOCABULARY       I have new English words for my dictionary!

 
 
  

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