The article by Elana Shohamy on Assessment was very interesting to read as a preservice teacher. The article discusses how language testers are not completely prepared to assess language learners in discourse knowledge, which affects students' performance in listening, reading, speaking and writing. Assessment is more than multiple choice questions, which can not really display students' understanding of the language. I have taken many tests in the past, and felt that my performance on these assessments did not demonstrate my understanding of the content. As a student, I have felt frustrated that my understanding of the topic knowledge, was not shown through the assessment. As a teacher, I will do my best to ensure that the assessments I give are not only valid and reliable, but give my students the opportunity to demonstrate their discourse knowledge and language skills in a meaningful way.
Canale and Swain (1980) identified three main components that play a role in communication which include linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence and later a fourth component to refer to the user's ability to process and produce language beyond a sentence. These are very significant elements in language learning and connect discource to language learning. There are a number of specific discourse features including the ones discussed in the article, discourse topic/content, domains and types/styles factor into testing and affects student performance. Discourse is a key feature of communicative competence. We as teachers nned to think of a variety of authentic way to assess these discourse skills.There are so many ways that we have discussed in other courses, of how we can formally or informally assess our students. through low-stakes in-class tests, portfolios, interviews, journals etc. These methods can be helpful if appropriately adapting it for your classroom, lesson, students and overall teaching context. I personally like the use of portfolios and journals which allow students to see their development overtime and encourage them to reflect on their language development. This lowers the affective filter, help students gain confidence in their language skills and practice language skills. I believe this is a better alternative than a simple score from one high-stakes standardized test, which turns a student into a score without considering student's background.
Brown's chapters also disucss assessment with language learners and discussed terms related to assessment that we have seen in Eng 346. These concepts are incredibley important to consider when evaluating and creating an assessment for students, such as practicality, reliability and validity, a test's authenticity and wash back, the affect the testing has on teaching. When I read about washback I always think of NCLB. Washback considers the effects testing has on teaching and the classroom. As we know, NCLB is very controversial not only because of the affects it has on schools and communities but the teaching in many classrooms. Instead of teaching student in a way best or them, instead students "teach to the test". The emphasis is more focused on high performances on tests, rather than student development. Students who are bilingual, from a low-socioeconomic status, or even students who have special needs may be marginalized. Schools that don't have the same resources many others do, are also pressured to meet a standard without being given the resources. There is more of a focus on scores rather than the students and schools taking the standardized tests. As a consequence the needs of particular schools and the needs of students are unaccounted for. One example, I have heard before is that, a teacher may teach writing using multiple choice in the classroom rather than giving students the opportunity to explore dative writ in styles and activities because that is seen on the test. Fortunately, standardized tests are only one type of assessments used in schools, and the use of more reliable, valid, culturally relevant, practical authentic, and student-centered assessments are out there. It is our jobs as teachers to find these types of assessments and use them in our classrooms appropriately.
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