Authentic assessment generally accomplishes the following goals:

1. Emphasizes what students know, rather than what they do not know
2. Requires students to develop responses instead of selecting them from predetermined
options
3. Directly evaluates holistic projects
4. Uses samples of student work collected over an extended period of time
5. Stems from clear criteria made known to students and parents
6. Elicits higher-order thinking
7. Allows for the possibility of multiple human judgments
8. Relates more closely to classroom learning
9. Teaches students to evaluate their own work
10. Considers differences in learning styles, language proficiencies, cultural and
educational backgrounds, and grade levels

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Strategies for Whole Language Experience Monitoring and Assessment

These are the different opportunities created by the teacher to observe and monitor a student’s
development as a writer and reader

1. Conferencing
2. Response Logs
3. Writing Development Plan
4. Miscue Analysis
5. Student Self-evaluation

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Self-assessment

1. […] rather than give a comprehensive diagnostic test to find out what areas of language
students are weak on, it is much quicker to ask students directly what problems they feel
they have. (Harris, Mc Cann: 1992). Do you think this is so?
2. “The most important benefits of self-assessment are related to its impact on learning”.
What do you think are these benefits?
3. Look at p.63 and do the task “Thinking about your language learning”. Discuss.
4. “When students are given back corrected compositions, they often just look at the mark
and do not really learn from the feedback”. Discuss.
5. Why do some teachers have reservations about implementing self-assessment?
6. Why can self-assessment not work in a context where marks have an intrinsic value in
themselves and there is competition between students?
7. Look at pp. 66, 67, read “Techniques for self-assessment”.
8. Why may reflecting upon past learning experiences be beneficial for students and
teachers?
9. Why is the awareness of initial goals an important step in the development of self-
assessment?
10. “ if these marks [self-correction of listening or reading] carry weight in overall
assessment, this procedure is not totally reliable as students could be tempted to cheat.
However, if this is not the case, students have no need to mislead you about their own
results”. Do you agree? Why? Why not?
11. “It is particularly important for students to realise the need to check and assess their own
work when they have produced a draft [in writing]”. How can you encourage students to
check and assess their own work? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the
methods discussed?
12. “Speaking is another area where it is very difficult to assess one’s own performance.
However, a similar approach can be taken as for writing”. What techniques do you think
can be used to self-assess speaking?