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Assessment in primary English education: A discussion around
specificities
might
Assessment in English education
Assessment is a term associated with a range of
classroom-based activities used to assist learners
in their learning (assessment for learning) and to
judge their progress (assessment of learning).
improve
and
get
better:
e.g.
self-
assessment, peer-assessment or even portfolio
assessment. Assessment for learning, helping the
learners see where they are in their journey of
exploration
and
discovery
and
developing
autonomous learners, is becoming increasingly
Green (2018) suggests that:
important in any educational context.
If language learning can be seen as a
journey of exploration and discovery,
assessment helps teachers and learners to
navigate and find their way. Sometimes they
need to just find their bearings as they travel
and decide where to go next. Sometimes
they need to prove to other people that they
have arrived at an important landmark. (p. 1)
The specificities of Primary English Education
Direção
Geral
de
Educação
(nd)
describes
assessment as being integral to and regulatory of
Jang (2014) asserts that the primary purpose of the
educational
practice
itself.
But
more
assessment is pedagogical, ‘it helps teachers plan importantly, they emphasise that assessment
instruction and guide students’ learning’ (p. 5); as implies principles and procedures suited to the
such, it aids the teacher in diagnosing learner specificities of each level of education and
strengths or weaknesses, as well as providing teaching / learning context.
evidence of progression, something all learners
require to fuel their motivation. For the teacher, Specificity 1: Differences in cognitive and
assessment provides information that enables social development
them to confirm whether certain learning objectives Learners who complete grade 4 are considered
have been reached, resulting in opportunities to basic users of English and should reach A1 within
monitor their own performance and plan future the CEFR. Thus, according to the extended
work. Finally, the results of the various assessment version
practices are used to inform stakeholders. descriptors (2018), Table 1 shows the reference
Assessment practices can (and should) involve the levels, moving from pre-A1 in grade 3 to A2 by
teacher assessing learning, collecting evidence of grade 6. What is new here is the pre-A1 descriptor,
what learners are able to do with and through the which is an attempt by the Council of Europe to
language e.g. classroom-based activities and incorporate the potential individual differences in
projects, using observations both systematic and cognitive and social development within a variety
spontaneous, document analysis and tests. of age groups (e.g. 7 to 10 years / 11 to 15 years).
It
of
the
Council
of
Council
Europe
of
Europe’s
describes
CEFR
should also involve the learners themselves The
Pre-A1
engaging in reflecting on learning and recognizing representing ‘a “milestone” half way towards Level
what they can or cannot do and thinking how they A1, a band of proficiency at which the learner has