Educational assessment policy and practice: a matter of ethics

Long-standing concerns within the field of educational assessment consider the impact of assessment policy and practice as matters of equity, inequality and social justice. Yet educational assessment policy and practice continues to have powerful social consequences for key users such as children and young people. This paper re-positions these consequences as a matter of ethics. It uses the work of Messick to frame how ethical matters extend beyond test instruments into the realm of uses and impact. A case study of the 11+ school transfer system in Northern Ireland is presented to illustrate ethical dilemmas emerging as a consequence of actions and decisions of using assessment systems for particular purposes. In looking forward to how we might attend to ethical matters in assessment policy and practice, a consideration of a children’s rights approach is outlined that may provide a moral and legal framework for action.     

另类英语写作教学:写作即翻译

大学专业英语写作课程中,学生英语写作能力提高的实质是汉译英能力的提高,其表现不仅是字字对应的直译,还关系到其思维模式的转变:由浅层的形式转换到深层次的格式塔心理的构建.为了使写作更符合地道英语的语言规范,需要“陌生化”处理,以避免中式英文的出现.     

彼得·潘写作：作为教育思想的少儿文学

少儿文学对少年儿童的成长产生着诸多的影响,在这个意义上说它涉及到教育,但问题不在于作者是如何看待少儿文学发挥怎样的教育作用的,而是以如此这般形式呈现的少儿文学文本,为我们理解教育提供了怎样的视角。在此,教育不是一个“应该这样必须那样”的问题,而是一个“还可以这样或那样”的问题。本文具体通过对梅子涵少儿文学在写作风格上的特色以及写作风格与写作内容间的背离现象的解读,对成长、成熟、社会化、教育等既有观念提出社会学的反思。     

Writing and pseudo‐writing from Internet‐based sources: implications for learning and assessment

In recent years, plagiarism has been on the increase across the Western world. This article identifies Internet access as a contributory cause of this trend and addresses the implications of readily available Internet sources for the teaching and assessment of writing in schools. The basis for the article is a previous study showing a wide incidence of plagiarism in the Internet‐based writing of students in three classes at upper secondary school level in Norway. I relate the students' choices to writing as a cognitive process and as a cultural practice. My basic assumption is that the students' writing is work. It is this work we have in mind when we relate writing to learning and when we assess students' skills on the basis of their written texts. Access to the Internet changes the premises for this work because writing can be replaced by ‘pseudo‐writing’. ‘Pseudo‐writing’ is a work reducing writing practice, which neither excludes nor coincides with what we traditionally associate with plagiarism in schools. The main point in this article is that when students have access to the Internet during essay writing, the result is unavoidably a product of both writing and pseudo‐writing. Internet access thus leads to greater uncertainty about the role writing plays in student learning and makes it more difficult to take written assignments into account in assessing students' school results and effort.     

When a “sloppy copy” is good enough: Results of a state writing assessment

Students in grades 5 and 8 completed a state writing assessment, and their first and final drafts on the extended writing portion of the test were copied and scored using the state writing rubric. The rubric consisted of three primary traits: Content and Organization, Style and Fluency, and Language Use. Scorers were blind to the study purpose and scored either a student's first or final draft. No significant difference was found between the first and final drafts written by students in special education at both grade levels. Likewise, no significant difference was found for the writing of general education students in grade 8. A significant difference was found, however, between first and final drafts written by fifth-grade students in general education. Cross tabulations conducted at grades 5 and 8 revealed that over 50% of the first drafts received the same score or a better score than what was earned on the final draft.     

参古定 望今制奇－评刘锡庆的写作理论

刘锡庆对现代写作学的理论贡献是多方面的,从基础理论到文体认,纵教学论到史论,都有建树,尤其在基础理论方面,他用力最勤,成就最大,他“望今制奇,参古定法”,把“以文为本”的传统文章学转换为“以写为中心”的现代写作学。     

Formative assessment and teaching practice: the point of view of Italian teachers

Over the years the debate on the aims, approaches, and impacts of formative assessment has never stopped to grow. Parallel to this growth is the awareness that it is crucial to understand what conceptions teachers have of assessment in order to guarantee more effective teacher education. This paper tries to connect these two fields of research: formative assessment and teacher education through an analysis of teachers’ conceptions: What do teachers think about assessment? What aims do they pursue through it? Do teachers really distinguish between formative and summative assessment? On the backdrop of the formative assessment literature, the article reports on an exploratory research study. Limitations and issues are analysed in order to shed light on teacher education implication and on future educational research paths in the educational assessment field.     

The doctoral viva voce as a cultural practice: the gendered production of academic subjects

This article reports on a recent small‐scale phenomenological study into the student experience of the doctoral viva voce. It was prompted by strong concerns about viva voce processes on the part of a Director of Graduate Studies in an English university. The study involved semi‐structured interviews with 20 respondents from eight English universities in a range of disciplinary areas. An initial analysis of the interviews illuminated the powerful affective dimensions of the viva voce and the gendered nature of its processes. Resisting the binary separation of reason and emotion, the paper draws upon discursive theories of affect, gender and subjectivity to consider the affective economies that are illuminated in this data and suggests that this involves the reproduction of gendered hierarchies.     

现代写作学理论的建构者－裴显生对写作学的贡献

在20世纪80年代始建立写作学的学术潮流中，裴显生有着突出的贡献。他所主持编写的几部写作学论著，分别为基础写作理论，实用写作理论和公文官作理论创立了全新的框架体系。     

Writing Effectively as Counseling Center Directors and Administrators: Lessons Learned From a 2-Minute Speech

Administrative writing is a crucial skill needed for the counseling center professional to be able to transmit knowledge and values for the rest of the campus community. This article highlights both conceptual and technical aspects of effective writing.     

Writing creatively in a museum: tracing lines through persons,art objects and texts

Creative writing is often thought of as an individual and solitary pursuit. This is partly owing to Romantic (and still popular) notions of creativity as residing in highly gifted individuals, but also to the widely held belief that writing is a lonely rather than a social activity. The research presented in this paper provides a unique insight into the creative process by tracing the way one poem is produced by a member of a creative writing class based on a major urban art gallery. Based on a 5‐year ethnographic study of this class, it employs interview material, field notes, photographs and creative writing as data. Using theories from both the “anthropology of writing” (Barton and Papen, 2010 ; Latour and Woolgar, 1986 ) and the “anthropology of creativity” (Ingold, 2007 ; Hallam and Ingold, 2007 ), I argue that creative writing is a relational and temporal process involving complex and multiple claims for agency. I also go on to show that when the text moves from a private to a public context, these multiple agencies are encompassed and erased under the umbrella of individual authorship.     

"原"之为体源流演变考略

"原"作为古代一种文体萌芽于秦汉时期,如<吕氏春秋>之"原乱"等,成熟于唐代,代表作为韩愈之"五原",以后各个时期也不乏佳作,如黄宗羲<明夷待访录>之"三原".自五四新文学提倡白话文运动,"原"之为体便停止发展而被现代学术论文形式取代.     

Signifying authenticity in academic practice: a framework for better understanding and harnessing portfolio assessment

Portfolios are an assessment tool that help frame expectations of personal professional learning about teaching in higher education, a key dimension of academic practice. In this paper, we review our experiences in both supporting academic colleagues to develop a teaching portfolio, and in their assessment. We argue that the authenticity of the account offered is key: participants should aspire to render an authentic account of themselves, their context, actions and their professional stance. Likewise, assessors need to verify that an account is authentic. We posit five signifiers of authenticity: biographical/professional context; practice development and experience of practice; integration of core concepts and key ideas from the literature, especially evaluation and conceptions of teaching; purpose and values in continuing professional learning (CPL); coherence of writing, vocabulary used, writing style, etc. These are intended to help course leaders and conveners of CPL activities to articulate what it is that is being sought from participants, and hence clarify expectations for both participants doing the learning and for disciplinary colleagues assisting with the assessment.     

准确性和尖锐性同在 形象性和深刻性俱佳--屈超耘的杂文创作历程及其《寂寞庄杂记》

在全国有一定影响的商洛杂文作家屈超耘在杂文创作理论上有所建树,其杂文创作题材和创作风格有所拓展,其主要艺术特色是语和意深,细微精警;说古论今,史质文衣;形象说理,姿态横生.     

The promise and reality of formative assessment practice in a continuous assessment scheme: the case of Trinidad and Tobago

Continuous Assessment (CA) systems are externally directed, curriculum-based assessment schemes used for both summative and formative purposes within classrooms. CA has been implemented as national policy in several postcolonial developing countries and is believed to hold great promise for improving education outcomes. This theory-driven evaluation (TDE) used a mixed methods research design to interrogate the nature of CA practice. The focus was on stakeholders’ understanding and practice of formative assessment in the CA Programme (CAP) of Trinidad and Tobago. The integrated findings suggest that the programme planners’ formative intent was often not fulfilled. Instead, teachers routinely recorded assessment marks without using the data. There is evidence that formative assessment practice was not congruent with teachers’ pedagogical beliefs and practices. Although the design of CA schemes suggests the possibility of synergy between formative and summative purposes, in reality this ideal is rarely achieved in these particular contexts.     

From course assessment to redesign: a hybrid-vehicle course as a case illustration

Assessment has become a central aspect of engineering education for evaluating student learning, attaining accreditation, and ensuring accountability. However, the final step of the assessment process, which requires assessment results be used to redesign courses and programmes, is appreciably underdeveloped in the literature. As such, this work suggests a process, based on the engineering problem-solving method, to analyse and act on problems and successes identified in the assessment results. The process is illustrated through an application to Colorado State University's new programme for Hybrid-Electric Vehicle Engineering, for which the redesign process was originally created. Readers will benefit by simplifying and systematising the essential aspect of the assessment process – application to course redesign – for use in both research and practice applications.     

Putting Rubrics to the Test: The Effect of a Model, Criteria Generation, and Rubric-Referenced Self-Assessment on Elementary School Students' Writing

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of reading a model written assignment, generating a list of criteria for the assignment, and self-assessing according to a rubric, as well as gender, time spent writing, prior rubric use, and previous achievement on elementary school students' scores for a written assignment (N = 116). Participants were in grades 3 and 4. The treatment involved using a model paper to scaffold the process of generating a list of criteria for an effective story or essay, receiving a written rubric, and using the rubric to self-assess first drafts. The comparison condition involved generating a list of criteria for an effective story or essay, and reviewing first drafts. Findings include a main effect of treatment and of previous achievement on total writing scores, as well as main effects on scores for the individual criteria on the rubric. The results suggest that using a model to generate criteria for an assignment and using a rubric for self-assessment can help elementary school students produce more effective writing.     

Continuous assessment as a selfinitiated teacher development strategy in Swaziland: practice and challenges for effective implementation

Abstract

The paper reports on a study that clarifies the challenges that a teacher in Swaziland faced in using continuous assessment (CA) as a self-initiated professional development tool. Drawing mainly on post-Fordist ideals we analyse the assessment tasks she gave to learners to establish the degree of agency, reflectivity and creativity she invested in the choice, adaptation and re-design of assessment tasks that were suggested to the teachers by education authorities. Items within these tasks and how they were employed to serve the lesson objectives are drawn on to illustrate how she took advantage of the professional autonomy the CA programme afforded her to judge the appropriateness of what was officially suggested. The curriculum expertise that informed her choice of items to reinforce or remedy learning is understood in terms of how she conceptualised CA as a tool to track learners’ cognitive competence and as a resource for a self-directed professional development strategy. In conclusion, an attempt is made to provide cues for the conditions under which the self-empowering elements of CA can function to improve learning and teaching.     

Personal meaning maps as an assessment tool for a Planetarium session: a study with primary school children

ABSTRACT

This study aims to analyse the potentialities of using Personal Meaning Maps to assess school children’s learning in a visit to a Planetarium. A total of 123 primary students were involved. They were asked to create a PMM, and a drawing, before and after the visit. The results suggest that the visit enhanced the degree to which students generate words and conceptual categories to describe their understanding of the suggested concepts. PMMs seemed to be a good tool to evaluate the impact of the activities on students’ ideas about the thematic explored. Drawings helped to understand the main misconceptions.