A New Model For The Assessment Of Students In Senior English Teaching

The assessment of students is a key part in teaching and learning, and it is an assessment for students. In the assessment of students, there are some kinds of assessments, which include teacher assessment, self-assessment, peer assessment. Of all the assessments, student's self-assessment is the most important one. It can not only timely evaluate the teachers' instruction and the students' learning, but also directly orientate classroom teaching. One of the principal objectives of the reform of the English language curriculum is: to establish a diverse and open assessment system for the English language curriculum so as to make assessment an integral part of language teaching and learning. The reform of assessment system is an important part of the reform of the English language curriculum. What's more, a scientific assessment system is conducive to achieving the teaching goals and also plays a significant role in improving the teaching effect.However, influenced by the traditional education and views on talent, the present assessment system in China mainly relies on summative assessment, and the testing result is regarded as the only criterion to evaluate the learners in English language learning. Thus it prevents the students from bringing their initiative and creativity into play and brings a negative influence to classroom instruction, leading to the result that all the instruction activities work for what will be tested. The English class only pays attention to transferring knowledge rather than building up the students' practical competence. Therefore, how to get out of this strange circle is an important research for us English teachers to carry out.Up to now, researches on assessment of students in Western countries have tended to focus on the formative assessment. Furthermore, these researches have been conducted in FLT environment. In China, although there is a reform of assessment system for the English language curriculum and there have been many studies of assessment in certain aspects, few empirical studies on specific model for assessment of students have beencarried out. This author has done a study of the traditional assessment system in China. In this study the author chose four middle schools as samples, which includes Yali Boarding Middle School of Changsha, the Experimental School of Zhang Jiajie, the Experimental School of Shenzhen, and No. 3 Middle School of Guiyang, Chenzhou. The first three schools are key middle schools located in cities, two of which are from Hunan Province and one of which is from Shenzhen, Guangdong Province;while the last one is a key middle school in the countryside in Hunan. The reason why the author chose these schools is to make an explicit research about student assessment. In each school, 40 senior students and 10 senior English teachers were chosen for the survey. A total of 160 students and 40 teachers responded to the questionnaires and 156 students' data and 40 teachers' data were considered valid. According to the result of the questionnaires, there exist four problems: 1) the content of the traditional assessment is only restricted to language knowledge and language skills;2) teachers are the main participants in the student assessment. Students take it for granted that their teachers are the authority in their assessment and they only receive their assessment made by their teachers passively;3) the method of the assessment mainly relies on the written examinations, and it is examination-oriented, and examination is the only approach;4) the structures of the traditional assessment are unbalanced. The assessment pays more attention to the summative assessment, and it only values the result of the students' learning and neglects the process of their learning.In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the author decides to adopt new assessment methods and carry out a study of constructing a new model for the assessment of students. This is why the second study is conducted. It is carried out among one of the Senior One classes the author teaches. The study includes: 1) the principles of constructing a new model for the assessment of students in senior English teaching;2) the main participants in the new model;3) the main contents and the criteria of the new model;4) the methods of the new model;5) the application of the new model.The new model contains: 1) the integration of formative assessment and summative assessment when assessing the language learners;2) the use of portfolio assessment in one class, which is one of the main formative assessment methods;3) assessment elements including non-test grades, test-grades, comments(self-assessment, peer assessment and teacher assessment).Through the research carried out in a Senior One class, the expected result of the research has been proved: the new model for the assessment of students can reflect the students' true ability in a complete way, and it is conducive to enhancing the students' self-reflection and self-improvement, conducive to building up the students' self-confidence and their sense of achievement.Thus, this author has made the following conclusions according to the study of the new model:Firstly, formative assessment and summative assessment should be integrated in the assessment system, however, the assessment system should focus on formative assessment;though it combines qualitative assessment and quantitative assessment, it focuses on qualitative assessment;it combines peer assessment and self-assessment, but it focuses on self-assessment;the assessment system should integrate non-test assessment, test assessment and comments;Secondly, teachers should make efforts to cultivate the students' ability to self-reflect and to cooperate;Thirdly, the assessment system should be student-centered. In this way, students can not only assess themselves effectively, but also participate in assessing their peers;Finally, we cannot neglect teacher's direction in the assessment. It is indispensable in directing the students' assessment, because students are inexperienced during the course.Limitations of the research and suggestions for future research are also discussed in the study. For example, because the students live in the school, parent assessment has not been used in the model, which is actually animportant part of the student assessment. In addition, there is a possibility for the students to do e-portfolios for themselves in the future.