Chapter 10. Formative, task-based oral assessments in an advanced Chinese-language class
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Paula Winke
Abstract
This chapter reports on task-based, formative assessments of oral proficiency that were designed to help students self-monitor their oral development in a fourth-year, university foreign-language Chinese classroom. Seventeen advanced learners of Chinese completed two group role-play tasks two times during their 15-week semester. Both tasks were designed to follow a pre-task, main-task, post-task cycle and culminated within the same 90-minute lesson in individual oral assessments. Computerized tools aided in the design and delivery of both tasks and assessments. Immediately after completing each formative assessment, the learners were asked to self-rate their performances, which were then rated by two Chinese language experts as well. Finally, for each task and assessment cycle, a 30-minute reflective lesson was conducted by the teacher subsequently in class, in which students discussed their self-ratings and compared them to the expert ratings. The statistical comparison of student and expert ratings on the two task cycles suggests that students were realistic judges in their self-assessment and largely agreed with the expert raters in their estimations of the quality (i.e. accuracy, fluency, complexity, and accent/tones) of their task-based assessment performances. The chapter closes with a discussion of pedagogical implications and a call for oral formative assessments that are brought into the language classroom on a regular basis as part of task work, so as to support learners’ self-regulation and to increase their chances of language improvement.
Abstract
This chapter reports on task-based, formative assessments of oral proficiency that were designed to help students self-monitor their oral development in a fourth-year, university foreign-language Chinese classroom. Seventeen advanced learners of Chinese completed two group role-play tasks two times during their 15-week semester. Both tasks were designed to follow a pre-task, main-task, post-task cycle and culminated within the same 90-minute lesson in individual oral assessments. Computerized tools aided in the design and delivery of both tasks and assessments. Immediately after completing each formative assessment, the learners were asked to self-rate their performances, which were then rated by two Chinese language experts as well. Finally, for each task and assessment cycle, a 30-minute reflective lesson was conducted by the teacher subsequently in class, in which students discussed their self-ratings and compared them to the expert ratings. The statistical comparison of student and expert ratings on the two task cycles suggests that students were realistic judges in their self-assessment and largely agreed with the expert raters in their estimations of the quality (i.e. accuracy, fluency, complexity, and accent/tones) of their task-based assessment performances. The chapter closes with a discussion of pedagogical implications and a call for oral formative assessments that are brought into the language classroom on a regular basis as part of task work, so as to support learners’ self-regulation and to increase their chances of language improvement.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Towards technology-mediated TBLT 1
- Chapter 2. The need for needs analysis in technology-mediated TBLT 23
- Chapter 3. Prior knowledge and second language task production in text chat 51
- Chapter 4. Textbooks, tasks, and technology 79
- Chapter 5. Promoting foreign language collaborative writing through the use of Web 2.0 tools and tasks 115
- Chapter 6. TBLT and synthetic immersive environments 149
- Chapter 7. Collaborative tasks for negotiation of intercultural meaning in virtual worlds and video-web communication 183
- Chapter 8. The third dimension 213
- Chapter 9. Lessons from the fandom 239
- Chapter 10. Formative, task-based oral assessments in an advanced Chinese-language class 263
- Chapter 11. Evaluation of an online, task-based Chinese course 295
- Chapter 12. Afterword 323
- index 335
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Towards technology-mediated TBLT 1
- Chapter 2. The need for needs analysis in technology-mediated TBLT 23
- Chapter 3. Prior knowledge and second language task production in text chat 51
- Chapter 4. Textbooks, tasks, and technology 79
- Chapter 5. Promoting foreign language collaborative writing through the use of Web 2.0 tools and tasks 115
- Chapter 6. TBLT and synthetic immersive environments 149
- Chapter 7. Collaborative tasks for negotiation of intercultural meaning in virtual worlds and video-web communication 183
- Chapter 8. The third dimension 213
- Chapter 9. Lessons from the fandom 239
- Chapter 10. Formative, task-based oral assessments in an advanced Chinese-language class 263
- Chapter 11. Evaluation of an online, task-based Chinese course 295
- Chapter 12. Afterword 323
- index 335
