Mi verano

In my experience, there are certainly good and bad test-takers. Some people are more comfortable demonstrating their knowledge on a test, while others get overly-stressed and then forget everything they've learned. The best way that I can think of to accommodate all types of test takers would be to have a variety of questions and formats included in one test. For those who write best, have an short essay portion. For those who know the grammar best, have a couple questions that focus on that aspect. Along the same lines, it would also be fair to include a listening and oral part to every test to accommodate the students who excel in this portion. However, this would quickly become an extreme amount of work for the teacher, both during and outside of class, and would be extremely impractical. Because this ideal balance is simply not practical, I think tests can be slightly biased toward those who do better on written and reading segments.

I happen to be a very good test taker most of the time. I tend to do better on more objectively scored exams and worse on test that place more emphasis on essays. My ideas are not always well focused and concise, which can make answering an essay question quite difficult.

I'm not really sure what can be done to either make tests more student-friendly or to train students to be better test takers. Some might suggest that students should practice what they're worst at in an effort to improve, but I've learned that that may only make them resent it more and have it become ever more frustrating and tiresome for them.

FL Assessment

I believe that assessment of foreign language skills and proficiency is one of the bigger problems faceing Foreign Language Teaching. As a L2 learner, I remember taking tests and quizzes in high school and not having the slightest problem getting an A: all I had to do was memorize vocab or correctly conjugate a verb based on the subject. Most of the tests were a lot of matching, multiple choice and fill in the blank with the occasional short answer question thrown in. All I had to do was memorize the material that would be on the test, then just spit it back out on the paper. I would forget about what we were supposed to have "learned" by the time I got to my next class. One of the reasons I prefer taking tests to writing papers or doing projects is that, for me, tests are so much easier and require so much less effort and knowledge on my part.

On the other side, there are students who do not test well. Some of my friends in my high school language classes dreaded taking tests and they would study for days before taking the test, spending hours going over flash cards and notes, while I crammed 10 minutes before the class. And when the results came back, they were scored lower than I was, even though they probably knew the information better than I did and remembered it for longer than I did. Some people would freeze up and panic, while others just weren't able to work within the confines of the test. I was luckier, in the sense that my mother had taught my how to take tests well, looking for the keywords and looking at another part of the test in case it had the answer for a different section.

I feel that the stress that the current education places on tests and quizzes isn't fair or accurate. I believe that the idea of hybrid testing - using some traditional tests and quizzes, some written thoughtful responses and some skits or role plays - work much better than relying mostly on how skillful students are at test-taking, instead of their skills in the L2.

Each student will have different strengths and weaknesses in dealing with assessments and if teachers use a variety of types, then students will be on a more even playing field and can be tested more on their knowledge of the content of a lesson, than on how well they can take a test. I know some of my former classmates who could write amazing skits that were engaging and conveyed their proficiency in the language and would score much higher in those types of assessments, because they could show their skills in a way that worked best for them.

I believe that the most effective, and difficult, assessment of L2 skills and proficiency is that of discourse. It requires knowing vocabulary, grammar and the pragmatics of a language, as well as being able to make a coherent argument and understand what is said in return, then commenting on it. The problem with this type of assessment is that some students are very shy and soft-spoken and feel uncomfortable speaking that much, in public or in private.

As I said before, I feel that the best assessment is to mix up the styles and types of assessment, as each has benefits and detractors.

Testing

Personally, I do not feel like most classroom based tests give an accurate assessment of a students ability. Most tests are purely written, and therefore do not assess a students speaking ability. Also, students can easily pass an exam and stuff have no real understanding of the material. My experience as a test taker truly supports that. In high school, my Spanish teacher's tests were extremely easy. Most of our tests were fill in the blank, matching and multiple choice. There wasn't any oral portion or listening. In college, my French professor added listening, but there still was no portion of speaking. I believe the best type of test includes both speaking, listening, reading and writing. This would mean the instructor should ask the students questions, in private, and have them answer orally. For listening, have the students listen to either the instructor speaking or a recording and answer questions. For the reading section, students could read a passage and then answer questions based on the content, not something they can just copy from the text. For the writing section, students should write a paragraph to answer a prompt. The prompt should require them to use the grammar and vocabulary that is to be assessed. I also think it is important to teach some aspect of culture each month,so that should also be assessed using a combination of these methods.

Discussion 7 - Foreign Language Assessment

I feel that classroom-based tests reflect student abilities fairly reliably. If a student cannot produce the language points that they were learning in class in a written test format, then chances are they cannot produce them on the spot in conversation either. In my own experiences, this has been true. If I do not remember how to conjugate a verb on a test, it's because I do not remember how to conjugate that verb and need to study more.

In my personal opinion, I do not think there are students who simply do not test well. There are students who get very nervous under pressure and forget things they knew before, but if that is the case then they won't speak well either, meaning that rather than being a bad test taker they are simply a nervous speaker. That being said, I do not mean that this type of person is bad at language. A nervous speaker will perform the best in a relaxed setting, like a conversation with their peers. A test does not accurately reflect their ability to speak the language, but there is no real way to evaluate their ability in a one time instance, the only way to see what they can do is to observe them in a daily format where they do not feel pressured.

I think using a daily rubric is the most effective way to judge a student's language ability, whether they get nervous on tests or not. Seeing whether or not they can remember things on the fly and without studying them will reflect the most on their conversational abilities, which is arguably the most important aspect of foreign language learning in the first place.

Discussion 7: Classroom testing

          I think that there is too much of an emphasis on testing and that classroom testing doesn’t always reflect a student’s abilities.  Some tests are not broad enough and ask very specific questions on small details instead of questions based on the overall topics.  I think most classroom-based tests that I took in my high school language class concentrated too much on reading, writing and grammar skills, and a little on listening skills.  I think having an oral component to every test is essential.  I think being able to speak and understand a foreign language is the most important aspects and ways to show that a student is learning the language.  I really like the idea of students making a portfolio of their progress through out a semester and having them write a reflection to explain why they included each artifact in their portfolio, these artifacts would include tape recordings, essays, projects, and maybe past test.  I think a portfolio like this would be a much better final exam, then a written final exam.

            The classroom-based tests that I took in high school didn’t show much and any student that just memorized a few new vocabulary words and grammar structures could have easily aced the test.  I think test need to show that the student can use the language in new and meaningful ways, not just with simple fill-in the blanks and matching type questions.  I do think that there are students who just don’t test well.  Traditional testing methods focus too much on small details such as grammar and unrealistic language use.  I really like the writing and mixed-skills formats.  The cloze adaptation is a better fill-in the blank method than just having a sentence and the verb right after because students do not even need to show that they understand the sentence to get the answer correct.  The partial conversations are also very good for testing reading and writing skills at the same time.  I think even novice students can have some open-ended questions and maybe have a word bank provided to give them cues on what vocabulary they should be using. Testing listening comprehension using a table that students have to fill-in and they have to listen for certain semantic cues.

            All language tests should be designed as hybrid tests, which purposefully blend grammar, context, structure and situation.  I think there should be open-ended (convergent) and one-right answer specific questions (divergent).  Chapter 9 points out that achievement tests which are the standard classroom-based test can be made to reflect proficiency goals as well.  It may be harder to grade an exam like this, but it will more accurately reflect the students’ abilities.  The focus needs to be on providing students with sequential, naturalistic discourse on tests and not a random sequence of single sentences or phrases.  People use language in so many different ways and this is what makes learning a second language so challenging, but also fun at the same time.  Students need to be exposed to as much authentic material as possible and do in class communicative activities that reflect meaningful language use.  The testing formats used should be ones that the student has encountered before in classroom or homework assignments and these assignments need to encourage students to use their new language skills.  Testing is a part of life, but tests in general should not focus solely on achievement because a student who doesn’t perform well on standard tests should not be considered incompetent.  Testing formats need to be adaptive and diverse enough that students aren’t just memorizing and filling-in answers without even thinking about real language use. 

Discussion 7

I think that classroom based tests will show more than a standardized test, however I do not think that tests are the best way to show a student's ability. What most tests do is show that student's know that vocabulary and are able to produce it in a format demanded by the test. Also, generally, most testing does not include a oral portion to the exam. I personally would be more interested to see what students can do in a project rather than a test. 

As a test taker, I am normally fairly good. I generally do no do well on the essay section unless it is for English, but I find that often when I take a test everything I have studied will be leached from my mind. It is of course after the test that I can remember anything. This obviously stems from nervousness, and I always hate it because I know I could have done better. As a side note, I watched a NOVA episode explaining that one way to combat that nervousness that can interfere with testing is to write own your feelings about the test in a journal entry about 10-15 minutes before the test. The studied showed that the average for the control group ( those who sat there and did nothing for 10-15 min) got an average of a B-. Those who did write down their anxieties over the test, got on average a B+. 

(If you're interested in the video, it's on this NOVA page, it should be the last 10 minutes of the episode.

I think that there are plenty of people who simply don't test well, and changing the environment of the test won't help much. However, for testing it is impotent to put a variety of test questions such as open ended, multiple choice and the ilk.  

Blog 7 - Testing

I believe that classroom tests are good and show the student's strengths and weaknesses. Classroom tests are a good way to see how the class is grasping the concept. As a test taker I like it when a teacher gives a test at the end of each chapter because I dont like to feel overwhelmed when a test is comprised of 3 or 4 chapters. I also feel that tests should be a combination of different styles. For example, multiple choice, matching, short answer and an essay are components that should be in 1 test. I know for a fact that some students do not test well because I am one of them. When it comes time for a test a psych myself out which, lowers my test score. This is very true in classes that I don't care for. When we want to measure language skills I feel that oral tests are best because it allows student and teacher interaction. It also allows the teacher to gage the student's ability using the ACTFL guidelines. In high school all of my Spanish teachers would at least have 1 or 2 speaking test or quizzes every month or so. I feel that this was a good way to not only use the vocab and the grammar but also to improve my pronunciation. The feedback from the teacher during these oral tests are very helpful because it is a 1 on 1 situation.

Discussion #7: Foreign Language Assessment

How accurately do you feel that classroom-based tests reflect student abilities? What are your experiences as a test-taker? Do you think there are students that do not test well? What method of testing do you think is most effective to measure students' language skills? Use examples to justify your point of view. 

Discussion 6: Teaching Culture

          Culture in my view is everything that makes up a group of people.  Culture really is what defines a group of people.  When people asks about where a person is from, where they grew up or where there family is from, what they are really asking is about their cultural background.  They want to know where that person came from because it helps them to better understand that person in a very important way.  This is why I believe it is so important to teach L2 culture.  Teaching C2 is just as important as teaching the language.  What is language without culture?  A foreign language should be taught within a context and that context is culture!  It is easy for language instructors to forget the most important aspect of teaching language, because they become overwhelmed in the details of the language and overemphasis how important grammar and vocabulary are.  

            I don’t think that it is impossible to teach L2 culture in a classroom setting, but being restricted to a classroom does make it more difficult.  I think it is too easy for a language instructor to want to teach only “Olympian culture,” or “culture MLA,” and only show his/her students the best of that culture.  However, students are better served if they are also taught “Hearthstone culture,” or “culture BBV,” (beliefs, behavior, values) because students need to get an idea of everything that makes up a culture.  The limitations to teaching both aspects of culture is that teaching the “best” of culture is a lot easier than trying to teach culture as “everything” in human life.  The limitation is that there is so much that could be taught, so trying to focus on what should be taught is hard. The Spanish culture for example encompasses the culture of Mexico, Central American countries, South American countries, Caribbean islands, and of course Spanish culture from Spain, but people try to put all these different aspects of Spanish-speaking culture into one category.  Chapter 8 mentioned how students may get the idea that all Spanish-speaking people eat tacos, go to bullfights and take abundant naps, when this is not the case.  I have even had someone ask me in the past if I was Mexican and I do not look Mexican at all.  It would be wrong for students to believe that all Spanish people are like Mexicans especially the Americanized version of Mexican people, who eat spicy food, wear sombreros, ponchos, cowboy boots, eat tortillas and want to cross the border to get to the US. 

I think that teachers can easily teach “Big C” which focuses on product, such as the food, music, art and literature from that country (aka “Olympian culture”).  In high school I learned about “product” and was the only time I remember being tested on an aspect of culture was when I had a test that I had to match the date with an important Spanish holiday.  It takes a lot more effort for a teacher to teach perspective and practice, so students learn about “small c” which is daily life, which includes the beliefs, behavior and values of a people (aka “culture BBV”).  It is the nitty-gritty, what truly defines what a culture is and sadly it is the aspect of culture that is most often stereotyped.  Testing students on aspects of culture is crucial because that shows students that culture is just as important as language.  A teacher can list facts for students like Mexicans listen to mariachi music and Dominicans like bachata, but it is the attitudes and the reason “why” they listen to this type of music that is harder to teach.  I like how the book suggested using native informants and having students make semantic maps and do word associations.  Allowing students to explore their own word connotations and realizing that these are tied to their own cultural bias, can help students understand how the way others see their world is based on their own cultural beliefs.  I also like the idea of teaching students proverbs or idioms (un “dicho”) because these can say a lot about a culture and the belief system that the culture has.  It also shows that not all the ideas of one culture can be “translated” to another culture.

 Another important aspect of culture that is usually ignored is humor.  I wish that my Spanish classes in high school had done more on humor.  I think a teacher could easily have a “joke of the day” posted on the board each class and it would be a good way to either begin or end the class.  It would be a fun way to introduce new vocabulary or a new concept.  I realized when I went to Mexico last year how much “Mexican Spanish” I did not know.  I would be watching a cartoon show like “El Chavo” which is a very popular cartoon show in Mexico and I could not understand everything that was being said, but at least this show was meant for younger audiences so the jokes were a little easier to understand and they were acted out well.  It was even worse when I watched “El Platanito show,” a comedy show meant for adults and I couldn’t understand any of the jokes made.  It was frustrating because I could understand the individual words, but not the words as a whole.  An example in English would be the kid’s joke, Q: “How do you know when it’s raining cats and dogs?”  A: “When you step in a poodle.”  A native speaker of English would have no trouble finding this joke funny, since they understand the expression, “raining cats and dogs” and also understand that a “poodle” is a type of dog and that “poodle” sounds a lot like the word “puddle,” but a person learning English might not understand the joke/pun being made. 

It got a little better as time went on and I had been in Mexico longer.  I did “joke” with my friends that I would know when I knew Spanish well when I could understand everything on “El Platanito show.”  Mexicans jokes are pretty vulgar, so learning the use of some of the vulgar words did help, but I still have a ways to go.   Another comedy show, more family-friendly, was “La familia peluche,” which was about a “furry” family and one of the episodes I watched was about the boys in the family wanting to go watch football at a friend’s house but the mother/wife wants them to go over her in-laws house for dinner.  This is an idea that is pretty easy to understand from the point of view of American culture, so it shows that Spanish culture may not be all that different.  Learning about similarities is just as important as learning about cultural differences, though family-life is very important in the Spanish culture.  The use of authentic material such as jokes, interviews, TV shows, etc is a great way to teach about culture at the same time that you are teaching language.