Unit 4.

2 – Motivation in the classroom

Lesson 4 - Assessment Strategies that can increase motivation

An indispensable part of the teaching-learning process is assessment/evaluation. A lesson plan is

not complete without assessment/evaluation. Assessment is at the serice of learning; thus, the phrase
assessment for learning to ensure that learning takes place. This is possible only when the assessment
process motivates the students to learn. Unfortunately, in many instances, assessment process does not
motivate, instead threatens. How can we make assessment a motivationg and a facilitating experience is
the concern of this lesson.

Learning outcomes:

 Cite ways to make learning outcomes more motivating to the students.

 Demonstrate appreciation of assessment as a process to evaluate and facilitate learning.

Stimulating Learning

During your midterm examination, you were allowed two attempts. What was your score in the
first attempt? How did it compare to your score in the second attempt? Did you like the idea of checking
your own answers and immediate feedback? Why? Did your errors in the first attempt help improve
your score in the second attempt?

Inculcating Concepts

Assessment does not take place only at the end of a lesson. It can also take place before and
during instruction. Assessment for learning emphasizes the role of assessment in facilitating and
enhancing learning. It is not just at the end of the teaching-learning process (Assessment of Learning).

Assessment is always something that students frown upon. Nobody wants tests. Why this
negative reaction? Perhaps tests are always associated with grades and consequently with passing or
failing, that is why tests have become threatening. How can we make assessment motivating and non-
threatening? Here are some strategies:

 Make clear your learner’s objectives every time. It is good if students are clarified on the
objectives they are working on and the criteria that will be used in evaluating their
learning.
 Make your students own the lesson objective. Allow them to set their own personal
learning targets based on the learning objective. Initially, they may set their learning
targets lower than the learning targets for the class but with the expectation that they
will gradually bring them up according to their own pace until their personal targets
coincide with the class targets.
 Engage your students with elf-assessment. They have established their own personal
target against clearly set lesson objectives, so they are in the best position to determine
if they have met their own target/s and the class target/s. When learner are given the
opportunity to evaluate their own performance, they bring to mind the personal task
and strategy variables applicable to them. They reflect on their personal
characteristics that affect their learning (person variable), the task they need to work
on (task variable) and the strategies that can help them (strategy variable). In this
 way assessment empowers the students to take a more active role in their own
learning process (recall your lesson on Metacognition).
 Practice criterion-reference assessment rather than norm-reference assessment. Make
your students compare their performance against established criterion (e.g. learning
objectives/targets) and not against other student’s performance. The former is
criterion-referencing and the latter is norm-referencing type of assessment.
 Inspire your students to have mastery-focus rather than performance –focus. Set their
hearts on lesson mastery rather than on scores, grades, performance. If they fail to get
an item or items in a test, tell them not to worry and assure them that they will be
taught again until mastery.
 Have a “growth mindset”. Believe that your students can improve. Assure your students
that they are not made less of themselves by a wrong answer or a mistake. What is
important is that they learn from their mistakes and continuously grow and improve.
 Your assessment practice must be sensitive and constructive because assessment has
an emotional impact. Bear in mind that comments, marks, grades, as well a the manner
you communicate them to students can affect their self-confidence. Assessment should
be constructive as much as possible. Judging students harshly to the point that they feel
belittled or insulted will kill their spirit and may lead them to have a negative view both
of themselves and the subject.
 Don’t make the test too difficult to discourage students nor too easy to make them
complacent.
 Communicate result/feedback. A teacher facilitates learning by providing students with
important feedback on their learning areas.

End of lesson Activity: Compose mentally or in writing your realizations about assessment for/of
learning. (not required for submission but for the sake of personal improvement)