Leeza Williams

Assessment Philosophy

Assessment concepts are critical in order to achieve the learners’ and the

courses’ outcomes also, to vindicate my teaching schema. My assessment philosophy

is promoting opportunities for learners to demonstrate their ability to be openly

expressive to others in a learning space. Conversational competence is the main goal

for ASL learners and the course. The curriculum is strongly designed around the

integrative and discrete-point approaches, as stated by Brown & Abeywickrama, 2018.

Using the formative approach through video journals, short answers, and

self/peer assessment is most practical for learners to gain a sense of ownership,

confidence, and self-assessment. The ability to correct themselves fosters group

learning and develops critical life skills outside the classroom, mentioned by Brown &

Abeywickrama, 2018. In addition, reviewing learners’ portfolios is a great way to

measure their learning processes and to practice self-reflection. As a teacher, I will be

responsible for providing my learners with affirmingly conclusive in-class and video

assignments feedbacks by rephrasing and displaying the correct signs informally with

no pressure of grading, stated by Hurt, 2018 and Brown & Lee, 2015. The summative

approach using tests and assignments aligns strongly with multiple choice and matching

questions. The tests and assignments are designed through Brown & Abeywickrama,

2018, objective, and subjective approaches. By following these approaches, I can be

associated with learners’ discourse and lexicalized skills. As a teacher, I will be able to

measure their expressive and receptive skills reasonably and to provide Brown &

Abeywickrama’s formal and processed feedback (2018). The feedback is specifically on

learners’ accuracy and fluency of their signing by rubrics and/or daily interactions in and

out of the classroom.

My classroom will be a safe environment for the growth of learners by

emphasizing the importance of being respectful and supportive of others in the syllabus

and the contract. As a teacher, I want to recognize and accommodate different needs

preemptively by following the work of disability academics and curating a list of

resources easily accessed by my students. By having no attendance and participation

policy, learners will not feel pressured to communicate about their struggles. I expect

my learners to become inclusive and empathetic by interacting with each other through

class activities and assignments. Specific to my hearing students, I plan to cultivate an

environment of self-reflection on the inaccessibility of current systems and social norms.

I believe being open with our personal lives and experiences will create an inclusive

classroom and I aim to have a welcoming and safe office space where my learners will

be comfortable going for chats, feedbacks, and anything else.

In order to measure students' sign language ability, tests and assignments must

be designed well and executed accurately to achieve the true validity of tests and

assignments. That falls under the four principles of assessment, My goal will be to

ensure that the tests and assignments are practical and reliable by providing a good

flow of consistent pieces of information that are easily graded; for instance,

multiple-choice and matching questions; assessment techniques suggested by Brown &

Abeywickrama, 2018. For an authentic perception of assignments and tests, I want to

mainly use videos of myself signing instructions/answers. That way, my learners will be
able to perceive real context and, impacting my washback principles to run high on the

authenticity of the materials. After every assignment and test, I am committed to grade

with feedback and meet with each learner to provide feedback. I aim to review the

contexts with the class depending on assignments and tests, according to four

principles quoted by Brown & Abeywickrama, 2018. By grasping all four principles, I

believe that my assignments and tests will be valid and will promote learners to be

motivated in growing their signing skills referring to Hurt, 2018.

With all the assessment approaches and techniques that Brown &

Abeywickrama, 2018, and Brown & Lee, 2015, brought up, the critical interest of the

assessment concepts is to meet the course’s outcomes by practicing and by developing

a conversational competence in ASL. My assignments are built by the assessment

approaches that are effective for the learners’ learning processes and meet the course’s

outcomes.

References

Brown, H. D. & Abeywickrama, P. (2018). ​Language assessment: Principles and

classroom practices. ​(3​rd​ ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson.

Brown, H. D. & Lee, H. (2015). ​Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to

language pedagogy.​ (4th ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson.

Hurt, N. (2018, July 26). 4 Handy Types of Assessment in Language Teaching That
Stray from Tradition. Retrieved from https://www.fluentu.com/blog/
educator/assessment-in-language-teaching-4/.