Assessing Listening Comprehension

Margit Kirss IATEFL Cardiff March 31-April 4

1

ASSESSING LISTENING COMPREHENSION

BY MARGIT KIRSS

Margit Kirss IATEFL Cardiff March 31-April 4 2

WHY LISTENING?

• Children start aqcuiring any

language through listening

• We ought to assess what we teach

• Raises children’s motivation and

confidence


ASSESSMENT

• SUMMATIVE

• FORMATIVE


Formative assessment

• Observation

• Testing

• Self- assessment

• Peer-assessment

• Portfolio

• Project


Assessment chart of pupils' progress Unit 14.

pu

pil

s'

na

me

s

By the end of Unit 14 pupils:

Linguistic skills

know the English word for certain numbers

pronounce numbers correctly

know how to read phone numbers

can find numbers by listening them

spell the numbers correctly

Class: _____________________Teacher:__________________

Date: __________________

meaning of symbols: vvv=well achieved vv= about average

v=needs more practice

OBSERVATION


TESTINGLEVEL Beginners

AGE GROUP 8 and above

TIME 15 minutes

DESCRIPTION The children listen and colour the clothing items according to a script.

LANGUAGE Clothes: coat, trousers, hat, scarf, boots

SKILLS Listening for specific information.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA The pupils should recognize clothing items and colours in a spoken text.

MATERIALS Worksheet ; coloured pencils.

PREPARATION Photocopied worksheets for every child.


IN CLASS 1. The teacher gives out a copy of worksheets.

2. She/ He explains to the children that they are going to hear a story about clothes. They have to colour the clothes according to what they hear.

3. The teacher tells the story below. It is winter. Anna and Simon are playing in the yard. They are having a snow-fight. Anna’s red coat is quite wet already, but her brown boots and blue trousers are warm, and she doesn’t want to go into the room. Simon and Anna start making a snowman. They want to dress a snowman with Simon’s green scarf and Anna’s pink hat. The snowman looks beautiful, but the children start feeling cold, and they are running to the house. Later Anna finds out that she has lost her yellow scarf and forgotten her pink hat outside.

4. The teacher tells the story again and asks the children to check or complete their work.


FEEDBACK 1. The teacher puts an enlarged copy of the worksheet up on the board

with the clothing coloured according to the story.

2. He/ She goes round checking that the children have

coloured the clothes correctly.ASSESSMENT OF OUTCOME

One point for each correctly coloured clothing item. If the children do not know the colour

they can put a tick on the clothing item and score half a point for getting the clothing. Also they should get half points if they identify the correct clothing item but colour in the wrong colour.


TESTING 2

LEVEL Beginners


TIME 5 minutes

DESCRIPTION The children listen and circle the correct items according to the script

LANGUAGE Lamp, lamb, vase, glass, ship, sheep, cat, hat, bear, bird, colours

SKILLS Phoneme discrimination

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA The pupils should make the difference between certain vowels or consonants

MATERIALS Worksheet 2

PREPARATION Photocopied worksheets for every child.


IN CLASS 1. The teacher gives out a copy of worksheets. 2. She/ He explains to the children that they

are going to hear the descriptions of five items. On the worksheet each learner has two choices in

each item. They have to circle the correct one.

3. The teacher reads the descriptions. a black cata brown birda blue shipa red vasea grey lamp

4. The teacher reads the descriptions again and asks to check the answers.

FEEDBACK The teacher discusses the correct answers with the class. ASSESSMENT OF OUTCOME One point for each correctly circled item.


Circle the correct picture1.

3.

5.

2.

4.


SELF-ASSESSMENTLEVEL Beginners


TIME 5 minutes

DESCRIPTION Children read the statements about listening in an English lesson and decide whether the activities are easy or difficult for them.

LANGUAGE-SKILLS Analyzing own abilities

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA Pupils should be able to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses.

MATERIALS Worksheet

PREPARATION Photocopied worksheets for every child


IN CLASS 1. Teacher gives out a copy of worksheets.

2. She/ He explains to the children that they are going to read the statements

about listening comprehension and they need to circle for approval and for disapproval. The fifth statement requires circling the true word.

3. The statements are given in learners’ mother tongue

FEEDBACK The teacher can see which learners have difficulties in which areas and the

learners become aware of their own strengths and weaknesses.

ASSESSMENT OF OUTCOME The task involves self-assessment.


SELF-ASSESSMENT• I CAN UNDERSTAND WHEN MY TEACHER ASKS

ME TO OPEN MY STUDY BOOK. /

• I CAN UNDERSTAND WHEN MY TEACHER OR CLASSMATES GREET ME OR SAY GOOD BYE. /

• WHILE WATCHING TV I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT ENGLISH IS SPOKEN THERE . /

• I CAN MANAGE WITH LISTENING TASKS IN MY ENGLISH LESSON. /

• ENGLISH IS EASY / DIFFICULT.


PEER-ASSESSMENTLEVEL Beginners


TIME 20 minutes

DESCRIPTION The children match photos to pictures following oral instructions.

LANGUAGE Action verbs: eating, drinking, writing, sleeping, running, reading, sitting.

SKILLS Listening for specific information; recognizing action verbs in the present continuous.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA The pupils should recognize common action verbs in spoken statements.

MATERIALS Worksheet; scissors; glue; a set of pictures for each of the children.


PREPARATION 1. Photocopy worksheets for every child. 2. Make a black and white photocopy of a

class photo for each child. 3. Prepare a set of ten statements, for example,Lily is sleeping, using the

children's names and the actions in the pictures on the worksheet.IN CLASS 1. Give out a copy of worksheets and a set of photos for each child.

2. Decide with the class which ten pupils' photos are used for the activity.

3. Tell the children to cut out the faces from the photos and stick them on the

right figure according to what they hear. They will hear the sentences twice. The first time they just place the faces on the figures. They can stick them down after the second reading.

4.Read the statements with short pauses between them.

5. Read the statements again. 6. Tell the children to stick the right face

on each figure.


FEEDBACK Ask the children to exchange worksheets and check each other’s answers. They mark them using the marking scheme as follows: 9 = excellent 7-8 = very good 5-6 = good 0-4 = try harderASSESSMENT OF OUTCOME This activity involves peer-assessment.


PORTFOLIOLEVEL Beginners


TIME 15 minutes

DESCRIPTION The children listen to a song and draw what they hear.

LANGUAGE Colour, flavour, favourite

SKILLS Listening for gist.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIAThe pupils should understand the main idea of the song.

MATERIALS CD with a song, coloured pencils


PREPARATION No special preparation is needed.IN CLASS 1. The teacher explains to the children that they are going to hear a song. They have to draw a picture of what they hear. ˇ

2. The teacher lets children listen to the song.

4. The teacher plays the song again and asks them finish up the picture. FEEDBACK 1. The teacher encourages to sing along.

2. The class discusses the main idea together. 3. Some words like colours, numbers,

flavours and names can be substituted and learners can sing it in different variations.ASSESSMENT OF OUTCOME The task can be a part of learner’s portfolio, and it can involve self-assessment. It can also be scored by giving 1 point for each detail of the verse (yellow, two, chocolate, Billy)


PROJECTLEVEL Beginners


TIME 15 minutes

DESCRIPTION The children watch a film 101 Dalmatians, and write

down all the familiar words they hear.

LANGUAGE Short, lovely, I can, How are you?, first, all day, best, world, hair, hat.

SKILLS Listening for details.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA The pupils should recognize certain words and

patterns in a spoken text.

MATERIALS A video with the film 101 Dalmatians.


PREPARATION The teacher compiles a list of 10 recently learned words or expressions that need to be understood in a spoken text: short, lovely, I can, How are you?, first, all day, best, world, hair, hat.IN CLASS 1. The teacher gives a piece of paper for

every student. 2. She/ He explains to the children that

they are going to watch an episode of the film. They have to note down familiar words and phrases while they watch the episode

3. The teacher plays the film once. FEEDBACK The teacher plays the episode again and the class discussion follows. Children can discuss which words were recognizable and what makes the speech difficult to understand.ASSESSMENT OF OUTCOME The teacher has compiled a list of words

which need to recognizable in a spoken text. Later, when the lexical range has expanded, the same episode can be watched again.


SOURCES USED

• Cameron Lynne. Teaching Languages to Young

Learners. Cambridge: CUP 2001.

• Graham, Carolyn. Creating Chants and Songs.

Cambridge: CUP 2006.

• Hadfield, Jill, and Charles Hadfield. Simple

Listening Activities. 6th ed. Oxford; OUP 2003.

• McKay, Penny. Assessing Young Language

Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge UP 2006.

• Kurm, Ülle. I Love English 1. Tartu: Studium 2003


THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

[email protected]

Documents

Assessing Listening Comprehension