Formative Assessment Strategies for English Language Learners

Formative assessment offers much potential to make both teaching and learning more nuanced and effective for students, particularly students who are attempting to master a new language. Integrating formative assessments into instruction for English Language Learners offers specific opportunities, empowering teachers to better attend to the students’ needs in learning and content, and more effectively helping these students develop the skills they need to master grammatical concepts and communicate with confidence. As their core, the most effective types of formative assessments are the ones that inherently promote student learning, making certain they put students at the center of the educational process (Alvarez et al., 2014). Formative assessments require that the teacher both consider the students needs, achievements, general and specific comprehension while bearing in mind the areas of English they still need to master in order to reach a higher level of English mastery. This essay will examine two specific formative assessment activities for English Language Learners (ELL). Ideally these methods will help in the overall process of guiding and improving the learning process by fostering self-regulated learning strategies among students, while unifying all the instruction they have been subjected to (Clark, 2012).

Put the students into groups of two and ask them to come up with five questions that demonstrate the concepts of the grammar lesson presented. For example, if the day’s lesson covered the grammatical concept of “used to” each student has to come up with questions such as “Where did you used to live? / What are some habits you used to have? / What are some pets you used to own? / What are some hobbies you used to do? / What are some pets you used to have? /What are some things you used to eat?” The questions need to directly reflect the lesson presented and hopefully show some level of understanding on how to use the grammatical concept correctly. Similarly, if the grammatical concept presented in class was something along the lines of the present perfect tense for the usage of the past up until now, then students need to write down questions which reflect their understanding of this usage. For example, students might write out things such as, “What have you eaten so far today? / Where have you traveled so far today? What have you seen today? Who have you spoken to today? How many times have you gone to the bathroom today?” The ultimate goal with this first step is to determine to what extent the students have understood the grammatical concepts presented and how well they can both write and speak the concepts involved and in the form of questions.
Once each member of the pair has their questions written out, they need to take turns interviewing one another, and writing down one-others’ answers. This part of the exercise can get students used to saying the grammatical concepts out loud, and may even allow them to illuminate certain questions or issues with the grammar. During this phase of the exercise, it is important that the teacher listen closely to each pair as they engage with one another. Some teachers might want to unobtrusively walk around the room when this is happening, in order to hear and get a sense of how well or poorly most students understand the concept. Once all the pairs have asked each other their questions and written down the answers, each member of the pair will present to the class about their partner. So for example, one member of the pair might stand up and say, “This is Sasha. She used to live in Russia, but now she lives here in America. She used to have a cat but now she has two fish. She used to eat dumplings for dinner but now she eats chicken and rice. She used to walk to school, but now she takes the bus.” During this presentation stage the teacher needs to offer praise and gentle correction, while jotting down notes regarding the issues students are experiencing in regards to their overall comprehension. Ideally, all the students or most of the students should show some evidence of internalizing and manifesting the core concepts presented, something highlighted by the assessment bridge: “…the area of classroom practice linking assessment, teaching and learning” (Colby-Kelly & Turner, 2007). Hopefully, the formative assessment will demonstrate a gelling or molding of concepts within the minds of students. And even if this assessment doesn’t show total comprehension immediately, the pair-work setting can give the opportunity for student to student correction, something which can be beneficial, as long as student practice kindness and clarity.

Once all the students have presented, the teacher needs to re-clarify any issues the students have had, shedding light once more through a repeated structure on the board of the correct and incorrect ways to use the grammatical concept. This will ensure that students don’t continue to use the concept incorrectly and hopefully solidify the concept in their minds before the class proceeds further (Leung, 2009).

This assessment would also follow the presentation of a grammatical concept. Students would be put into groups of three and asked to create their own presentation to illustrate the concept (and their understanding of it). Students would be given five minutes maximum to create a simple presentation using magazine pictures to demonstrate their comprehension and to present to their small group. For example, if the concept focused on in class revolved around the usage of the verb “to will” for predictions, students might make presentations about fortune-tellers, predictions about sports games, celebrity marriages etc. For example, a student could select a magazine photo of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West and make a presentation regarding predictions for their future: “They will have another baby in three years. /They will be married for the rest of their lives. /They will buy a beach house in Malibu. /They will spend Christmas in Aspen.” Then the students should elicit other predictions based on their subject from the remaining members of their group. For example, other students should be able to chime in using the grammatical form correctly, saying things like “They’ll get a divorce in two years. /She will win the lottery. / He’ll have an affair. /Their children will grow up to be celebrities.” During this exercise, the teacher should listen closely, walking unobtrusively around the room, listening for mistakes or misunderstandings with the grammar in question. If time allows, volunteer students can decide to show their presentations at the front of the room.

At the end of the formative assessment, the teacher should have a list of mistakes that students made or issues that demonstrated a lack of total comprehension. Then the teacher should re-clarify aspects of the grammatical concept that the students didn’t grasp, using the board and more examples of the proper use of the concept. Again, this is one of the major benefits of formative assessment: they enable teachers to monitor student progress in order to improve instruction before it is too late for that instruction to have an impact on overall learning. Formative assessments can provide valuable information to help teachers understand students instructional needs as they are conducted during the instructional term” (Andrade & Cizek, 2010). Determining where students have fuzzy or vague understanding allows the teacher to zero in on those issues and clarify and shed light upon them.

These formative assessments will allow student interaction, student-to-student correction, student articulation of understanding, and generally shed light on the real level of classroom comprehension of actual concepts taught. Each exercise can be adjusted to be under ten minutes in length, embedded into the general lesson plan and are both free of grades, giving students the freedom to know that they can try and make mistakes without consequence.