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Assessment in Composition & TESOL Course Syllabus
Literacy is a multifaceted, situated, multivocalic set of cultural practices. Therefore, effective assessments of literacy are bottom up, locally designed, collaborative efforts. Furthermore, such assessment practices derive from the goals set forth by the participants in the course or curriculum, typically known as stakeholders. Finally, all assessment is a form of continuing research as the developers and other stakeholders study the validity of the practices that have been put in place.
Unfortunately, assessment as gate keeping has been one of the most common uses. To understand appropriate uses of assessment, assessment development specialists need to know both theory and the historical pressures that have forced what began as an attempt to provide students who needed extra help to be successful in school into an public and private industry aimed at regulating teaching and learning. The history of assessment has also been written in practices that are as old as literacy itself.
The course will begin with a review the initial goals articulated in the syllabus. Our first day in class will involve revision of those goals and a review of the course syllabus for revision to meet those goals. From there, we review the design of the course assessments for the goals. To ensure that we are setting goals that are important to us and meeting the goals that we set for ourselves, I will ask that we all engage in reflective talk and writing on a regular basis during the five weeks of the term. My initial goals are intended to provide sufficient background to plan an assessment development process that will address the various uses of assessment in writing and language programs: placement, exit, and program assessment, among others. The readings are designed to provide you with a background in writing assessment. . We will have the Summer Placement Testing Program in English at IUP as a laboratory to study holistic scoring and portfolio assessment.
The projects could involve planning an assessment program for a specific site and developing a theoretical rationale for the approach, or theoretical and historical statements about testing and assessment in a particular culture. Students interested in developing and implementing a program in their own institutions will be encouraged to do so.
Theories of assessment have emerged primarily from a single source, psychometrics, also known as educational and psychological measurement. Therefore, the core assessment issues are the same for Composition and TESOL. However, assessments for native and non-native speakers differ in important ways. Further, the voices contributing to the development of assessment practices in the two fields are different. Therefore, I expect that not students will be reading all the same authors.
I would like, as much as possible, for each participant in the class to have the opportunity to examine those aspects of assessment most relevant to his or her needs and interests. However, I would also like for all of us to have some common experiences with the core texts in assessment.
Either as a group or as individuals, we can examine the following general areas of assessment, among others that you may choose to elect:
Assessment paradigms for native and nonnative speakers Assessment theory Validity Reliability Authentic assessment Classroom assessment Direct versus indirect assessment of written & spoken language Ethics and assessment Evaluation Grading, testing, and assessment High stakes assessment History of assessment in education and English studies Large scale assessment Performance assessment The politics of testing and evaluation in educational settings Standardized testing Teacher assessment Technological assessment and assessing technology Writing program assessment
Assessment theory, ethics, and history are the three categories that will form the common basis for class discussion. From there, the class may divide into special interest groups to examine other areas in terms of Composition and TESOL. I plan to keep myself to the hardest thing I have learned in nearly 20 years of teaching summer courses at IUP: less is more. I would prefer that we read less to understand what we read more deeply than to skim over a large number of texts, hoping to return at some later time. Collaboration is the second lesson that I have learned at IUP. We can cover much more ground as a class if, as we work in those directions that we each select for ourselves or small groups, we report to the whole group about the results of our work. Therefore, I will encourage you to consider structuring the class around individual and collaborative small group reading and discussion, followed by reporting the results of your reading and study to the larger class.
We can choose from the books listed under course texts, among other readings. I have ordered those books listed on the required list.
Participation 40% Course project 30% Reflective letter 30%
Course Projects on the Web Authentic Assessment for Listening
Course Texts American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National Council on Measurement in Education. (1999).. Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association Bachman, L. (2004). Statistical analyses for language assessment. NY: Cambridge University Press. Bachman, L. F. & Cohen, A. D. (1999). Interfaces between second language acquisition and language testing research. NY: Cambridge University Press. Broad, Bob. (2003) What we really value: Beyond rubrics in teaching and assessing writing. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press. Chen, L., Watanabe, Y., & Curtis, A. (2004). Washback in language testing: Research contexts and methods. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Eliot, N. (2005). On a scale: A social history of writing assessment in America. NY: Peter Lang. Ericsson, Patricia F. & Haswell, R. Eds. (2006). Machine Scoring of Student Writing: Truth and Consequences. Logan, UT: Utah State. Fulcher, G., & Davidson, F. (2007). Language testing and assessment: An advanced resource book. NY: Routledge. Hillocks, Jr., George, (2002). The testing trap: How state assessments control writing. NY: Teachers College. Huot, Brian A. (2003). (Re)Articulating writing assessment. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press.
Suggested Texts
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Course Schedule Course goal & evaluation planning
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