Resources
Resource 1: Assessing students in large classes
Table R1.1 shows some example activities that you can use to assess English in the course of your regular classroom teaching. However, it can be difficult to carry this out with large classes, so the table offers some possible problems and solutions.
| Activity for assessment | Possible problems | Possible solutions |
|---|---|---|
| When students are working in pairs, such as dictating sentences to each other or carrying out a speaking activity such as a role play or an interview, the teacher listens, observes and makes notes (e.g. about pronunciation). | It is impossible to listen to all of the pairs. Students make a lot of mistakes. | Listen to a few pairs each time there is a pair work activity, but listen to different students each time, and if you can, make notes. Use the notes to get an understanding of who is having problems and who is not. |
| Before reading a text or starting a new chapter, the teacher asks the class questions about the topic (e.g. a wedding you have been to). The teacher observes who contributes and notes the language they use. | The same students always answer the questions. It’s difficult to remember who has said what and everything that is said. | Don’t let the same students dominate classroom discussion. If you can, keep notes about who regularly contributes and make a point of asking students who haven’t contributed to recent lessons. |
| When students are responding to a lesson, e.g. answering comprehension questions. The teacher moves around the classroom and notes who is struggling to answer the questions. | There are too many students and not enough time to check all of them. | Tell the students to exchange their notebooks and then read out the answers, and get students to grade each other’s work. From time to time, take in different students’ notebooks and note down the grades. |
| After teaching some new vocabulary or grammar, the teacher gives a quick, short test about what has been taught. | It’s difficult to grade the tests of all the students in the class. | Tell students to exchange their tests, then read out the answers and get students to grade each other’s tests. Take in the tests and note down the grades. |
| If students are compiling a vocabulary logbook, the teacher takes the books in to check and possibly grade them. | It’s difficult to check the logbooks of all the students. | From time to time, take in different students’ logbooks and look through them. Aim to look at every student’s book over the school year. |
| Teacher grades project work completed by students either individually or in groups (e.g. designing an advert, writing a class newspaper or writing an episode of a TV show). | It’s impossible to grade the project work of all the students. | See above. Students can do project work in groups to reduce their workload. Alternatively, tell students to display project work on the wall, and grade the work when you have time to look at it. |
| When students are doing a listening activity (e.g. listening to instructions and drawing, answering questions, writing a summary of a text), the teacher walks around the room and observes who is struggling. The teacher takes in completed work to grade. | It’s difficult to check the work of all the students. | If you can, walk around the room and observe a few different students each time you do an activity. When you can, make a few notes about the students to understand the progress of each one. Take in work from different students from time to time and note grades and comments. |
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