Formative assessment of Children with English as an Additional Language (EAL): Challenges and Opportunities

Formative assessment (aka Assessment for Learning, AfL) has been regarded by researchers and educators as an effective way of promoting learning in the classroom. Its popularity has increased dramatically in the UK, especially after the publication of Inside the Black Box, by Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam in 1998.
However, research on formative assessment within a wider range of contexts is still in its infancy and there is the need to further investigate how classroom-based assessment can enhance the learning of pupils with EAL. The growing number of bilingual and multilingual children in mainstream schools means that both teachers and school leaders increasingly need to find ways to assess the learning needs of this group of children and promote learning. EAL pupils have a challenging an added task of learning the content being taught alongside its language of instruction.
This presentation will look at what assessment for learning is and the implications for teaching and learning. It will explore why it is not always so straightforward for EAL learners (and their teachers) to engage in classroom-based assessment and what UK-based research on classroom-based language assessment has found so far. Click here to see the full bibliography: http://bit.ly/10vD8qV

Two years ago, Michael Gove, education secretary of the newly elected Conservative Party, announced changes that would impact the lives of students and teachers in the British education system. The document, entitled The Importance of Teaching, intended to upgrade the status and authority of the teacher as a key part of improving the English educational system. Since then, changes have been rapid and schools have had to keep up with so many new initiatives. One of the biggest challenges of the current government is to reduce the gap between students from ethnic and social minorities and those from the middle and upper class.

The British have a preoccupation with class division, which is visibly reflected in the school system. As a Brazilian teacher working in a primary state school, I am part of a minority of overseas qualified teachers teaching in the country, in contrast with 98% of white British teachers. Ethnicity in this case is highly relevant in some regions, especially in big cities like London, Manchester and Birmingham, where both primary and secondary schools have a high number of ethnic minority students and speakers of English as a second language. This disparity often becomes a problem in the classroom, as teachers do not always have a deeper understanding of these children’s cultural heritage or the difficulties of those who are in the early stages of acquiring English.

Although there are high quality state schools and some with exceptional performance, many middle-class parents have been willing to pay between 10 and 30 thousand pounds per year (around 34 and 100 thousand Reais per year) for their children to attend private schools.Although the qualification of teachers in these institutions is not usually very different from those in state schools, where 75% have at least a postgraduate degree, private schools are seen as a tool of social mobility. The profile of the student who attends them makes the difference in school performance because they come from families where education is a priority. More recently, several private institutions have attempted to establish partnerships with state schools, especially those with low performance, in order to promote greater integration between the social classes. This has been a slow process and not always successful, but with the support of the current government, many institutions should still insist on such partnerships.

Reflecting on the Brazilian education system and the UK’s; the growing public debate about improving the quality of education in Brazil and my own experience in the classroom and in school leadership in both countries, I can identify at least two essential factors that make a good school – be it state or private. Firstly the school needs effective leadership that promotes not only good quality education but also continued education for teachers so that they can have an even greater and more effective impact on student learning. The second factor is the school’s commitment with the learning of all students, regardless of abilities or social and economic backgrounds. And this only happens from the moment the school promotes challenging activities, supports underperforming students and gives them greater ownership for their own learning.

Although England and Brazil have distinct social, economic and educational contexts, they share important aspects such as the search for a quality education. And although England has advanced in many important areas of education, I still believe that Brazil is the country with the highest growth potential in promoting good quality education for all students.

As expected, the headline generated some reactions – mostly positive I have to say – and was republished in other newspapers and blogs (Diário Gaúcho, Pioneiro, Diário Catarinense, Clipping de Educação, EducaFórum, Luciano Sathler’s Scoop It, Olhar da Mente, @nossaeducacao and A Educação Precisa de Respostas).

I was very pleased to be able to contribute to the discussion about raising standards of state education in Brazil as I believe that a country that has the 6th economy of the world, can not accept the 53rd place in the PISA results. (click here for more information)

Click here to read the original interview in Portuguese. Google translator does a pretty decent job and you should be able to get the gist of the article by clicking here.

After handing out all their books and giving the children some time to reflect on their learning, I asked them to comment on:

- what they enjoyed learning the most across a range of subjects.
- what they found challenging across a range of subjects.
- how much progress they have made with their reading, writing and maths targets.
- what they did well / or not this term and why.
- what learning skills they used the most / the least. (I use Guy Claxton’s building learning power approach)

Children responses were very mature and most of them were able to give me very specific feedback, e.g. I need help with rounding decimals; I used a wider range of vocabulary, etc. This will not only help them to reflect on their learning, but will also help me when planning future lessons.

Research has enough evidence to suggest that “involving students in dialogue about their own learning helps young people become better learners and teachers improve their pedagogy.” [Lodge, C (2008)]. What I found interesting in pupils’ responses was that the less and middle able children’s comments were more reflective and insightful than those from the more able. A possible explanation would have to do with the children’s attitude towards their effort and progress (fixed versus growth mindset). In other words, the more able children are necessarily the ones who make the most progress.

To find out more:
- www.consultingpupils.co.uk
- Consultation in the Classroom: Developing Dialogue about Teaching and Learning
- Consulting Pupils: A Toolkit for Teachers
- Students as Researchers: Making a Difference
- Making learning better: listening to pupil voice
- Stepping Back from ‘The Ladder’: Refl ections on a Model of Participatory Work with Children

So how can teachers show they have high expectations of their students? After thinking about my own teaching practice and experience, I came up with the following ideas:

1. Make sure children know you have high expectations of them - Tell them repeatedly that you expect their best in every lesson, which is not an idealized best, e.g. the perfect student. Ensure children value effort and celebrate success within their own abilities.

2. The importance of language – beware of what and how you talk to children. Comments such as: you always get it wrong / you never learn anything I teach you / your work is always messy / you’re definitely no good with numbers, etc. It might be such a obvious remark but you’d be surprised how many times I’ve heard such comments (and worse!) in the classroom. Teach children to have a growth mindset and how to improve their learning power. Always have a word of encouragement and praise: You were nearly right, let’s find out what went wrong / I’m so pleased with how you improved your character description / I was very impressed with how you managed to wait for your turn in the class discussion, etc.

3. Remember that a disadvantaged background doesn’t necessarily determine underachievement – poverty, special needs and violence can make learning more difficult but it doesn’t mean that poor, SEN and / or vulnerable children are not able to learn. More harmful than their troubled background is a teacher who says and demonstrates by their actions that they are incapable of learning.

4. Show your high expectations by planning challenging and engaging lessons, building on children’s previous knowledge. Scaffold their learning whenever necessary and give them specific feedback on how to improve their learning.

The video below is a good practical example of how high expectations can be put into practice in the classroom.

1. How can Brazil be ranked 88th in the World Education Rank whilst being the 6th economy in the world?
2. Why hasn’t 34.5% of the secondary school students achieved age-related expectations?
3. Why is it important for parents to participate in their children’s education?
4. Why does only 2% of the students want to become a teacher?
5. Why does 89% of the secondary students who finish compulsory education are not proficient in mathematics?
6. Why does the majority of the pupils at the end of primary school have not reached the age-related expectations (85% for Maths and 74% for reading and writing)?

A very straightforward and simplistic answer to all these questions is the poor quality of teaching, poor leadership in schools and a culture of low expectations. Unless you are fortunate enough to attend a private school, whose quality by the way vary enormously from one school to another, you decrease your chances of having some decent education. The vast majority of overloaded, underpaid and stressed teachers don’t know how to move children on with their learning or are too demotivated to care. Headteachers and school principals rarely have any leadership skills or appropriate training to develop them, not to mention the low salaries. To add to all of this, and probably the most damaging of all, is a long-lasting culture of low expectations – of children, parents, teachers and school as a whole.

Despite all the depressing reality, there are some good news. The government has taken some small, slow but important steps to change the situation. Since introducing a benefit (bolsa-escola) to parents whose children attend school regularly, the number of street children and drop-outs has decreased dramatically. I was able to witness this reality in my last visit as I couldn’t find any children asking for money at the traffic lights. Another valid initiative was the introduction of measurable tools to assess the quality and progress of state education across the country. The Development Index of Basic Education (IDEB) was created in 2007 and is based on the results of national tests and success rate of students as they move on to the next year group. It has given the government and the society a tangible and measurable way of assessing the schools’ performance. As a result, parents and students have become increasingly aware of their school’s score and are beginning to demand improvement in the quality of education. It has also made headteachers and school principals more publicly accountable.

Having taught in Brazil for four years and in England for seven, I know that the realities of both countries are extremely different, despite the challenge of raising standards being a common theme. But I was thrilled with the debates going on and the effort of so many sectors of society to make quick and durable changes in Brazil’s education.

- Meeting the educational needs of the gifted and talented (G&T) is about building on good general provision, not about providing something entirely different. For a school to be good for the G&T it must first be a good school for the majority.

- School-wide opportunities have always been to some extent dependent on the particular skills and interest of teachers in the school. A good school for the G&T ensures a range of opportunities in different domains, e.g. whole-school drama or musical productions, clubs and societies, competitions, access to experts, residential visits, specialist workshops, visits and events, links with schools in other countries.

- An effective school for the G&T may choose to include enrichment for selected children as part of its provision. It will however have addressed the issues related to the rationale for this choice of approach, have clear learning outcomes for the sessions, and have taken into account issues around continuity and progression prior to embarking on the project.

- An effective school for the G&T appreciates that it is not the sole educator and therefore publicizes local and national opportunities for the development of abilities and talent and alerts parents of children with particular abilities to the opportunities available.

- Group setting is not in itself a form of provision for the G&T. Even within a top set, levels of achievement can vary considerably and differentiation will be needed. Differentiation can be done by breadth or depth.

- The social and emotional needs of the G&T children should be addressed in the same way as they are for other children. Their needs are not necessarily greater but they do exist and intellectual progress should not be at the expense of social and emotional development. Children need to be confident and secure if they are to strive and take risks.

- The identification of G&T children needs to be done carefully, otherwise children wrongly identified can go under a lot of stress to achieve unrealistic expectations set by their teachers and truly G&T children can miss the opportunity to be challenged or to have their talents developed. Schools should use a combination of (1) tests (SATs; cognitive ability or non-verbal reasoning tests; reading, spelling, maths tests and school progress), (2) diagnostic assessment based on the work children produce(portfolios); performance in class, especially in question/answer sessions; on checklists of characteristics (general or subject specific); and finally (3) opinions, e.g. teacher nomination, parental nomination, self-nomination and peer nomination. Freeman (1998) defines the very able as: “Those who demonstrate exceptionally high-level performance, whether across a range of endeavours or in a limited field, or those whose potential for excellence has not yet been recognized by either tests or experts.” Effective identification will be a combination of the assessment of precocious achievement or behaviour plus an emphasis on creating the conditions which allow giftedness to develop and reveal itself.

- Teachers in primary school should see themselves as talent spotters, constantly on the lookout for signs of ability or talent. In order to identify and reveal abilities and talents, schools should (1) provide a range of and high quality provision. If schools and teachers have low expectations of their children and set tasks accordingly then it is difficult for those with the ability to achieve highly.Equally, if challenging opportunities are always offered to a restricted group then those outside the group are unable to demonstrate high levels of achievement. Schools should also (2) osberve emerging abilities through their written work, practical work or class discussion and debate; and (3) record the outcomes, revisiting the school’s G&T register at least once a year. It is always useful to listen to what other teachers and TAs have noticed about a child’s ability. They might spot a talent that you still haven’t.

- A preoccupation with content coverage and skills acquisition has led some teachers to focus on delivery rather learning: what is being taught, rather than how it is being taught and what is being learnt. At worst this has actually reduced access to the kinds of learning opportunities most appropriate for gifted children.

- The curriculum can be enriched by (1) changing the content (e.g. enrichment, extension by complexity and abstractness, higher order thinking, enquiry/problem solving, scaffolded learning, social interactional approaches); (2) changing the method (e.g. task modification, questioning, increased pace, increased independence, increased direction and intellectual risk taking); and (3) changing the learning context (e.g. programmes for G&T, withdrawal groups, selective classes, mixed-ability classrooms, classes with older children, non-school contexts).

- A challenging activity would be one that would cause the students to perform at a level that extends beyond their comfort zone. It requires children to strive for success rather than achieve it effortlessly. Where expectations are too high and skills too low frustration is the result; where expectation is too low and skills too high, boredom. Too much low level activity does not lead to flow and too much acceleration of learning can lead to pressure. Those who show high levels of competence in low level tasks are not necessarily the most able.

- Gifted and talented children use strategies that include a three-way interaction between speed, accuracy and metacognitive learning (reflection on the thinking process). Giftedness or expertise is the result of efficient learning and a good deal of hard work and practice.

- There are three general phases in the childhood’s development: (1) the playful phase (playful immersion in a field of interest); (2) the precision phase (the mastery of technical skills and a reaching for perfection); and (3) the personal style phase (ability to express one’s talent to create something new and uniquely different).

- Giftdness is multi-dimensional, e.g. Gardner‘s eight possible domains of intelligence: linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, natural, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Difference in ability in maths and language, according to research, were found to be the norm rather than the exception. The vast majority of G&T have a considerably difference between their abilities in language and maths.

I have gained invaluable understanding from reading this chapter and it helped me to deepen my understanding of commonly used phrases and jargon used in education, e.g. broad and challenging curriculum.

More on the topic:
- Prof. Deborah Eyre’s interview on providing for gifted and talented youth.
- Zoe Elder’s blog and book.
- National Association for Able Children in Education
- Gifted and Talented research and practice in Brazil (links in Portuguese): 1, 2, 3 and 4.

1.Know what you want to achieve: Why should your school have a day or week dedicated to modern foreign languages? What do you want to get out of it? Whole-school foreign language events are ideal to raise the profile of MFL across the school; involve children and staff in valuing and promoting foreign languages; celebrate children’s achievement as well as children, parents and staff’s cultural and linguistic diversity.

2. Start small: if you have never organized a whole-school event before, don’t try to do it all at once. Start with, for example, a key stage fun afternoon in the language taught at your school, e.g. games, films, art work, etc. Although you, probably the MFL subject leader, are organizing it, remember that you don’t need to do everything. The key words here are are – collaborate and delegate!

3. Plan in advance: Make sure your MFL event is in the school diary from the beginning of the school year, taking into account other important events that might be going on in the school at the same time, e.g. SATs; other subject events, residential trips, etc. Know your budget and book any outside visitors in advance. Giving teachers and support staff plenty of time, clear guidance and support, filled with enthusiasm and passion for your subject can only be a win-win situation. Don’t forget to plan a staff meeting one week earlier to go through the activities, reinforce any language needed and establish positive expectations with staff.

4. Collect the evidence: While children and staff are having fun with the events planned, it can be very easy to completely forget about recording it. Create a folder in your school’s network or teachers’ drive where they can save photos, videos and work done during the week. Use ICT for a purpose, e.g. use voice digital recorders or microphones to record children singing, speaking, talking in the target language. Take photos. Interview parents, teachers, children, outside visitors. Get the school’s newspaper club involved. Use wordle to create a word cloud with what everyone said about the activities. Do an online survey with the children before and after the events to check the impact of your school’s foreign language week. Use the results to your advantage when writing your subject leader’s report to governors and your headteacher.

5. Share the outcomes of your MFL event: Make a whole-school display. Create a video clip with the best moments and share it on the internet, the school’s website or somewhere more secure like LGFL Video Central Website. Write about it in the school’s newsletter. Publish photos and children’s work on the school’s website or twitter account. Invite the MFL link governor for some of the activities or share the outcomes with them. Make a booklet with photos and examples of children’s work and leave it in the school’s reception area for visitors.

6. Make it fun and cross curricular!! Organize a traditional dance session (we’ll have salsa lessons for all the children, from reception to year 6). Use ICT: make podcasts, film animations, skype a school overseas, design ICT games to reinforce the vocabulary (2DIY is a good option). Explore cultural aspects of countries where your school’s foreign language is spoken. Invite a native speaker (maybe a parent) for an interview. Organize a gastronomic activity with typical dishes. Learn a traditional song or how to play a typical instrument in the music lesson. Get the children to create some artwork based on artists who are native speakers of the language taught at your school. For example, at St Luke’s, each year group focuses on a different Spanish-speaking artist: Miró, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, Frida Kahlo, Fernando Botero, Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí. See below some examples of the powerpoint I created to support the teachers.

If you found any of these tips useful or if you have any other great ideas to make a whole-school MFL event even better, do not hesitate to leave a comment!