Class Time Reflections (Peer Review/Week16-4/27/2009)

The week of peer review! We had a chance to review our works; we could not believe that we had more than 50 pages for the final portfolio. We had nice comments about the final projects and arranged the meetings for the poster presentation.

Class Time Reflections (Assessment-2/Week15-4/20/2009)

This week we started class by taking the test. It was an interesting experience. I am still wondering how the writing can be scored by computer it is very interesting because I wrote so much abstract issues for example, I wrote “the city of beauty and inspiration the best place to be an author” I have no idea how the computer scored those “emotional” phrases.

Assigned Reading Reflections (Assessment-2/Week15-4/20/2009)

This week the reading assignment is about classroom-based assessment. In chapter 24 Brown discusses the topic. Firstly, he explains the difference between the norm-referenced and criterion referenced testing. Secondly, some practical steps to test construction such as identifying clear objectives, drafting the test, revising the test etc.. Thirdly, some fundamentals of testing are described in the book such as validity, wasback, and authenticity etc.
Brown also discusses alternatives in assessment. Portfolios, journals, conferences, and observations are discussed in details. In my opinion if the test is not high-stake then alternatives in assessment might be useful. Because in this kind of assessment teacher has a chance to scaffold the students better and since students are not supposed to take the test in certain time and setting they are friendlier.
In terms of comparing tests to alternatives in assessment, for example for a medicine doctor it is essential that for decision makers to be sure that he is qualified to does that job. If he is not well qualified then the results might be severe for patients. On the other hand, in terms of life-long learning I think alternatives in assessment are useful. Since the aim here is to develop the society it had better to facilitate learners instead of putting them under the pressure by asking them to take stressful test within certain times. To decide what kind of assessments we should apply it is essential to consider the aim of learning activities so that it can be decided if it is appropriate or not.

Class Reflections (Assessment-1/Week14-4/13/2009)

Unfortunately, I was late to the class this week. So I missed Jodi’s presentation. When I came to GLL she was till presenting so I was able to listen to some part of presentation thanks to her stentorian voice. I wish I had such a powerful voice.
In the small group activity about assessment I speculated some of new reading assessment techniques which I just learned it was helpful to heard some comments about it. The time is passing super fast these days for me. There are tons of assignments to do but I will enjoy vocation during summer.

Assigned Reading Reflections (Assessment-1/Week14-4/13/2009)

This week, reading assignment was about second language assessment. I found the content very useful because there were a lot of essential information about assessment. Firstly, it was stated on students perceptions about testing which is fearful. Then the reasons why do we need to assess the students were explained. Types of assessment and test items were also described in details. After that, the fundamentals of testing were listed such as reliability, validity. I think the very heart of testing is validity because every valid test is reliable but not every reliable test is valid.

Class Time Reflections (Writing-2/Week13-4/6/2009)

This week, the class went so smoothly. It started with the presentation about Korean education system. It was so sad that education may cause so severe consequences. The comparison between the number of people who were killed in Vietnam War (5000) and the number of people who suicide because of that examination (8000) are worth to think about it. I am glad that we had an opportunity to show our presentation at the class it helped us a lot in terms of feedback. Today, we present is in the seminar and fortunately, we are done now. I really liked the activity made by Aaron and Kizuna it was a good summary of reading assignment. In our group we dealt with writing tasks it helped us to refresh and add valuable contribution to our knowledge about the topic. Sharing and listening other groups opinion was a great pleasure, too. Lastly, the whole class discussion was interesting in terms of handling the challenges of writing. These weeks are extremely, busy for me. But I feel that we exposes a great number of knowledge each week and hopefully it going to be very helpful in teaching in the future.

Assigned Reading Reflections (Writing-2/Week13-4/6/2009)

This week, reading assignment was about how to develop an effective writing curriculum. Among a great number of information was discussed such as feedback, error correction, types of writing tasks, the role of grammar in teaching writing etc.
In the light of reading assignments, I think students firstly needs to be introduced the fundamentals of writing ability. It is a fact that among four skills writing is the least used one. With speaking writing is considered to be a productive skill. To be able to teach efficiently ESOL teachers firstly need to state on the nature of writing. Bearing in mind that every individual is unique, students need to be introduced with writing by a variety of techniques and materials. There is a cycle in writing. This cycle basically consists of pre-writing, drafting, and revising activities. Students need to be familiar with this cycle before they start to writing activities. Writing is a process and at the end of the process there is a production. To help students to reach that product an ESOL teacher needs to consider a number of techniques in the process. One of them is engaging students to writing task. It might be helpful to let students choose their own topic and ask them to study collaboratively at this stage. In the drafting stage since students already have something written they need feedback and some advices at this stage. I think this stage should be expanded enough because students need time to discuss and organize their thoughts at this stage. Finally, at the revising stage students need comments on their product to improve their ability. It is critically important to provide as much as possible feedback to help student to correct himself and improve his ability at this stage.