Decision Making While Running Language Lesson

The Selected Lesson:-

The lesson I’ll select to teach my students is Past Simple Tense. To teach it I have to make a number of decisions before, during and after the lesson. These decisions are discussed in details below.

Decisions Before Teaching:-

Decision	How to Get Information	Is Information Alright
How much to teach	The level of the students will tell me how much I should teach them, the previous test results, class room records will tell how much they have already learnt.	Normal
Abilities of the Students	The level of the students, the age will tell me what abilities students have. Their previous schooling and socio-cultural background will help me to decide about their abilities. This information I can get from previous school records and in informal conversations with students.	Normal
The Materials to Teach	What kind of books should I provide them, local or Oxford etc. and how they should be guided by materials. I’ll get such information by examining their class room behavior, their understanding of the materials already provided, their motivation towards learning, previous test results etc.	Good
What Learning Activities are Suitable	The level of the students, their previous knowledge, their schooling, their socio-cultural background, the interest and motivation in already going on activities, informal conversations with students and their previous class room participation will guide me whether I should teach them in a controlled situation or I should provide them room for communication, whether they have right to interact with each other or I would be the pivot point of the class.	Normal
What Learning Targets I Would Like My Students to Achieve	I’ll analyse on the basis of the previous test and examination results, previous progress reports and previous speed of learning. Then I’ll decide to set a target for my students in learning tenses. I’ll try to find how much they had learnt about grammar previously and how much they retain the knowledge now. This all will help me find the accurate learning target.	Normal
Organization and Arrangement of the Class	How the class room and students will be organized is a decision which I’d like to make before teaching the lesson. The level of the class, the previous results, the number of students, the interest level, the available equipments, the availability of space in class room, previous well worked class room arrangements will help me find a best class room arrangement for this lesson.	Good

Decisions During Teaching:-

Decision	How to Get Information	Is Information Alright
Are they getting what I want to teach them?	It is a crucial decision which should be made during lesson running. The interest, motivation, answers to questions, taking part in activities, responding promptly and active energetic faces will tell me about the well running of the lesson. My observation will help me decide to change the lesson sequence if the students are getting bored or not getting the point I want to teach them.	Good
Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Lesson	To teach better and to run the lesson better, I’ll have to focus on the errors the students making during the lesson. Whether they are not able to use past forms of verbs, whether they are not able to get correct Subject Verb Agreement patterns or whether they are having problem with vocabulary. All these things will tell me during the lesson what should I do to revise and improve the lesson and the situation.	Good
Feedback to the Students	The errors they have made in class room, the motivation they have shown in class room, the diagnosis of their class room participation and individual informal observation of weak students will able me to provide fruitful feedback to the students. So they may be able to correct the errors, to practice the weak areas.	Good
Have They Learnt All	The lesson exercises, the activities performed in class room, the informal observation of the students during lesson, command over structures and ability to communicate in desired format, writing of stories in past simple tense all are few ways which will tell me where they are standing now. They will help me decide whether I should move forward or stay there and revise the strategies of the lesson to overcome the deficiencies.	Good

Decisions After Teaching:-

Decision	How to Get Information	Is Information Alright
Overall Progress	The goal is to master all tenses of English language. The mastery of past simple will determine how much they have gained. The results of this lesson, the motivation, the participation and the way how lesson worked in real time will tell how much they have got for long run. Thus the next strategies might be revised.	Normal
Strengths and Weaknesses	The results of the tests, the frequent errors and the weak areas I found during informal classroom observation will help me decide where the students are weak. The continuous errors in verb conjugation, for example, will help me decide that student is weak in this area. Thus I’d be able to give feedback to their parents who may provide extra help to their children.	Normal
Grade of the Students	The lesson test results, the mastery of structures, the ability to write in past tense and spoken aspect of the lesson will help me decide the grade of the students.	Normal
Effectiveness of the Teaching	Notes I’ve taken during class, the students’ informal observation, the participation, the motivation and interest will help me decide the effectiveness of the teaching method.	Normal
Effectiveness of Materials	The used materials, the attitude towards the materials, the interest in activities provided by these materials, my personal observation, and the students’ feedback about the material are the ways which will enable me to use same kind of material in next classes of change it with another batter one.	Good

Qualities of Good Test: Reliability

Analysis using Blooms Taxonomy

The motive was to analyse a question paper according to Bloom's Taxonomy.
 

S No.	Question	Comments	Type
1	Analyze the following situation and answer the following questions. Situation 1) Interpret the function of language used. 2) Elaborate that function. 3) Elaborate that function according to this situation.	The question involves a complex of various levels of Bloom Taxonomy. Part 1 demands the analysis of the situation. Part 2 demands the comprehension and knowledge level. And part 3 requires the application of knowledge about functions of language to this particular situation.	Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis
2	Explain the following in few words:- Method, Approach, CLT, DM Role of learner in GTM etc.	The question is an objective type question which is demanding very little, i.e. only the knowledge of the terms asked. There may be some comprehension involved as well as in Role of Learner in GTM.	Knowledge Comprehension
3	Select and explain the best method you think suitable in Pakistani Govt. Schools.	The question is demanding a knowledge level of evaluation. The student has to select a method and to judge it w.r.t. the given criteria i.e. to be able to use in local context. Apart from the above view if the student does not see the current available methods suitable he’ll obviously try to devise a new method. Thus we can see here evaluation and synthesis.	Evaluation Synthesis
4	Write a comprehensive note on CLT.	The question is demanding understanding of a comprehension level.	Comprehension
5	The aims of linguistic analysis are _______________.	The question only demands a knowledge level as student has to imitate the original.	Knowledge
6	Speech Act theory was introduced by _____________.	The question demands the knowledge level.	Knowledge
7	Prove true or false logically that linguistics is prescriptive not descriptive.	The student has to compare two concepts logically thus the question involves analysis as well as evaluation of the concepts.	Analysis Evaluation
8	“Young scholars are solving the paper”. Analyze the sentence according to phrase structure grammar.	The question involves an understanding level of Application as well as Analysis. The student will apply the principles of PS Grammar to analyze the sentence.	Application Analysis
9	“Peterson’s, the publisher of a guide to four-year colleges, said yesterday that from now on it will disclose to readers that schools pay for extra information about themselves in the book.” Divide the sentence into clauses and describe each clause’s function.	The question is also of an analysis and application level question. The student has to recall all the principles about clauses and then apply them to the sentence to identify the clauses and then describe their function.	Application Analysis
10	Construct a story from the following outline. Outline	The outlines are just parts of a whole structure. The student will have to focus on these parts and using his imagination he will be able to write a story. So this question involves the construction of a new structure and is of a synthesis level question.	Synthesis
11	Use these idioms and words in your own sentences meaningfully. Idioms, Words etc.	The question involves the student’s understanding of the meaning, as well as the application of the grammatical knowledge to form sentences and at the same time we can see the formation of new structure from sub-parts i.e. the words or idiomatic phrases. So here we have levels of Knowledge, Comprehension, Application and Synthesis involved.	Knowledge Comprehension Application Synthesis
12	There is no relation between materials and learning. Prove this statement true or false logically.	Here the student has to evaluate the relation between the given concepts to prove the statement true or false. Thus here we have evaluation, analysis and comprehension levels involved.	Comprehension Analysis Evaluation

Most of the questions are collected from various papers of linguistics’ courses taught in the same university. It is clear that first three levels are easy to find. Almost all objective questions i.e. fill in the blanks, true/false and MCQs can come under these three basic levels of understanding. Last three levels involve essay type questions.  Questions involve more than one understanding level, as it can be seen above, so the number of questions is decreased to 12 instead of an exact number of (6X3) 18.

Validity in Assessment

Definition

            While designing a test, it is essential for it to be valid. Validity can be defined in different ways.

“It is the extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure”.

“Validity is the subjective judgment made on the basis of experience and empirical indicators”.

Validity is “the agreement between test score or measure and the quality it is believed to measure”. (Kaplan and Saccuzzo 2001)

            In simple words we can say that validity refers to the meaningfulness of the test. This meaningfulness can work at two levels. At the level of the design, the design of the test should be according to the requirements. At the level of context, the test should be used for the specific purpose for which it is designed. We cannot use a mathematics test to test the writing skills of the learner, it is against the context, the test is used other than its context and will not be valid.

            There are various kinds and aspects of validity. Here they are tried to discuss according to their relevancy and importance.

1. Face Validity

            In fact it is not a kind of scientific aspect of validity. Face Validity refers to the face of the test among general public, test-takers and other lay people/non-related persons etc. Face validity means the test should have certain characteristics. These characteristics are those which the people expect about the test. They include proper printing, a governing body, an appropriate manner of test taking, subjective/essay type of questions etc. Thus a mathematics test will not be considered valid according to face if it has not numerical questions. Numerical Question is the expectation of the lay people from a mathematics test.

            A test that does not have such evidences may be rejected by the test takers and the governing body may bear criticism. Face Validity is nothing in the opinion of the expert but a test should look like a test a common man thinks. So face validity becomes an issue for the test designer and paper setter.

2. Predictive Validity

            Predictive Validity refers to the future performance and success of the learner. This aspect of validity ensures that the test is providing valid information about the future performance of the learner. So it includes all those situations or skills for testing which the learner encounter or perform in his future. The example of the tests must have predictive validity are entry tests and selection tests.

            Language aptitude tests should have predictive validity because they test present skills for future performance. Proficiency tests also use predictive validity. In diagnostic and achievement tests although there are other types of validity involved but they should also have predictive validity. As they are also liked with the future performance of the learner.

            Predictive Validity is calculated by statistical co-relations. The validity coefficient is calculated usually by comparing success in the test with the success in job. Thus the validity of the test is checked and improved for future tests. A 0.6 value of the coefficient is considered high which indicates that all tests do not have predictive validity.

3. Concurrent Validity

            There is  no major difference between the two validity types i.e. Predictive Validity and Concurrent Validity except time. Predictive Validity is related to futures while concurrent validity is related to present. When the future becomes present the predictive validity becomes the concurrent validity. We compare two tests instead of a test with future or job performance.  This comparison is of two test taken usually simultaneously, one written and other oral or spoken usually. It is used to limit the criterion related errors. Most suitable situation is the comparison of a new test with already established test/criterion to find its validity and meaningfulness.

            So a test having concurrent validity will show its validity in a given field. Concurrent validity is  a statistical measure which requires a quantifiable criterion. Although all the criterion are not quantifiable but statistical approach assumes that they are quantifiable. Co-efficient of validity is used to compare the two tests.

4. Content Validity

            It is the appealing aspect for the expert. It seeks the extent upto which the test represents the content from which it is constructed. 

            It is required in achievement tests. They represent a content/syllabus and they should be constituted from the given syllabus and content. Similarly diagnostic tests should also have content validity because they seek certain deficiencies of the learner from a given set of skills or syllabus. The chief examiner, advisor etc. can check that the test is representing the content which it is going to test.

            Teaching materials should have their own validation i.e. predictive and construct validity. Otherwise the content validity of the test will not be fruitful. So the teaching of speaking skills should involve such materials and the examples from native speakers which teach the student appropriate speaking/spoken skills.

            In proficiency tests the content validity can also be employed. Learners will have to perform in certain situations so the test can be a representative of those skills testing. Those areas can be specified before the exam just like the syllabus of the achievement tests. This is a guesswork as compared to other tests where we have syllabuses.

5. Construct Validity

             A construct is a theory, usually a psychological one, which explains certain mental process say learning. It will thus say how the learner learns the language and what are the factors involved and what is the nature of language etc.

            On the base of such theory the test is constructed to evaluate certain factors/indicators of the learner language to measure his ability. Thus the test will have the construct validity if it represents the aspects of that particular theory on which it is based.

            Here a point should be kept in mind that a construct may be wrong. So a test having construct validity will become meaningless due to the false theory on the basis of which it is constituted. Here the problem will be with that construct not with the test. Materials and syllabuses should also be evaluated on the basis of construct validity to know if they represent and teach the language according to the theory of language and language learning. 

Different questions relating each validity evidence are presented in this table.

Content 1.     Do the evaluation criteria address any extraneous content? 2.     Do the evaluation criteria of the test address all aspects of the intended content? 3.     Is there any content addressed in the task that should be evaluated through the test, but is not?

Construct 1.     Are all of the important facets of the intended construct evaluated through the scoring criteria? 2.     Is any of the evaluation criteria irrelevant to the construct of interest?

Criterion (Predictive + Concurrent) 1.     How do the scoring criteria reflect competencies that would suggest success on future or related performances? 2.     What are the important components of the future or related performance that may be evaluated through the use of the assessment instrument? 3.     How do the scoring criteria measure the important components of the future or related performance? 4.     Are there any facets of the future or related performance that are not reflected in the scoring criteria?

Validity is a pre-test concern. We should develop tests in such manner that they have the validity and meaningfulness. In this regard a three step approach can be helpful. 

1. First, clearly state the purpose and objectives of the assessment.

2. Next, develop scoring criteria that address each objective.

3. If one of the objectives is not represented in the score categories, then the rubric is unlikely to provide the evidence necessary to examine the given objective. If some of the scoring criteria are not related to the objectives, then, once again, the appropriateness of the assessment and the test is in question.

Sources of Invalidity

            Validity can suffer due to various factors some of which are discussed.

1.      Lack of reliability indicates that the test is not valid. Although the contrary may also be true, that is, a test is reliable and consistent in its results but it may be meaningless in certain context and irrelevant. Reliability should be seen to prevent invalidity.

2.        Content and Construct under-representation is a situation in which important aspects of the content and construct are not included in the test. Thus the results are unlikely to reveal the true abilities of the student's abilities within that construct or content which were indicated and having been measured by the test.

3.      Content and Construct over-representation is a situation in which the aspects of the content and construct are represented in the test in excess, that is, irrelevant part are also included in the test.  This can further be divided in two situations:

1.      One where the over-representation leads the test to easiness and the learner or test-taker can get some clues from the test to solve some problems, thus guessing increases invalidity.

2.      Other situation can lead the test to difficulty and it becomes difficult for the student to score appropriately. It is not the fault of the student but the construction of the test affects him and he cannot perform well.