+

Summer Assessment Workshop for High

UW-Whitewater School World Language Instructors
Languages and
Literatures The Three Modes of Assessment:
Ellen Titzkowski Boldt Interpretive, Interpersonal, Presentational
boldte@uww.edu
August 6, 2014
+
Overview

UNDERSTANDIN DESIGNING
G ASSESSMENT ASSESSMENTS

IMPLEMENTING EVALUATING
ASSESSMENTS ASSESSMENTS
+
Overview
 Introduction
 The Purpose of Assessment
 Attitudes Towards Assessment
 Intended Use of Assessments
 Developing Effective Assessments

 Types of Assessments
 Integrated Performance Assessments (IPA)
 The Three Modes of Communication
 Assessing the Modes: Tasks & Strategies

 Designing Performance Assessments

 Rubrics
Why is assessment
important?
+ Why do we keep doing it in
our classrooms, despite the
challenges it can present?
+
The Purpose of Assessment

 To motivate students
 To serve as more than a vehicle to assign a
grade
 To drive the instruction (Sandrock 2010)
 To show evidence that learning is occurring
 To evaluate the effectiveness of instruction
 To identify areas needed for improvement
+
The Purpose of Assessment
 Assessment is used as a diagnostic tool to
 describe what students have learned in the past
 shape future learning goals
 document progress towards student learning objectives
 identify areas needing improvement (in instruction and
student performance)
 measure language proficiency, communicative
competency, and cultural awareness
 evaluate teacher effectiveness*
 WI Educator Effectiveness System  DPI
 *Starting in 2014-2015, all WI educators will be evaluated on
student achievement & student learning objectives/outcomes
(SLOs).
 See http://ee.dpi.wi.gov/ for the latest information.
+
The Purpose of Assessment

 “Language assessment is the process of using

language tests to accomplish particular jobs
in language classrooms and programs” (42).

 “To keep our language assessment practice

purposeful, we therefore need to evaluate the
extent to which the language testing tools we
select and use are actually helping to
accomplish the jobs of language assessment
in our classrooms and programs” (44).

(Norris 2000/2012)
+
Attitudes towards Assessment

http://gratisography.com/
+
Attitudes towards Assessment

http://gratisography.com/
+
Assessment Stakeholders: How do
different groups view assessment and
why?
 Stakeholders Step 1: Brainstorm
 Teachers individually
 Students  Goals?

 Administrators  Attitudes?

 Students’ Families  Problems?

 Curriculum planners Step 2: Share and compare

 Future employers  Discuss ideas with a

 University admissions partner.

counselors  Focus on differing
motivations.
(Norris 2000)
+
Drag picture to
placeholder or
click icon to add

What
makes a Drag picture to

good placeholder or
click icon to add

assessment
?
Discuss in pairs.
+
Quality and Selection:
What makes a good assessment?

TRICK QUESTION!

The selection and perceived quality of

an assessment depends on its
intended use.
+
Intended Use of Assessments

WHO? WHAT?
Test Test
Users Information

INTENDED
TEST USE

IMPACT? WHY?
Test Test
Consequence Purposes
s

(Norris 2000)
+
Developing Effective Assessments

 Key questions to ask when creating/selecting

the right assessment:
 Who uses the assessment?
 What is being assessed?
 Who/What is impacted?
 Why? What is the purpose?

 Specify the intended use of the assessment.

 Provide a general description of the intended
assessment.
 Note problems and possible solutions. (Norris 2000)
+
Developing Effective Assessments

Purposeful language assessment

requires:
 Acknowledging the context for assessment
 Focusing on assessment, not just on tests
 Specifying the intended use(s) of the
assessments(s)
 Evaluating the outcomes of the
assessment(s)
(Byrnes 2001; Norris 2000)
+
Developing Effective Assessments

 What does purposeful assessment look

like?
 Identifying the thematic and cultural contexts
 Setting attainable benchmarks or learning
targets
 Creating classroom activities to support
student success on performance assessments
 Synthesizing language and content
instruction
 Fostering task-based instruction
 Developing both formative and summative
assessments
 Involving all three modes of assessment
+
Assessment Models

 Common Assessments
 Level- and course-specific assessments
 Formative vs. Summative vs. Prototypical
 Exit interviews (OPI, SOPI, MOPI)
 Content-based, task-based, genre-specific
 Performance Assessments
 Three Modes of Communication
 5 C’s of the National Standards
+Types of Assessments
Traditional
Assessment Tools
 Focus on:  Focus on:
 grammatical accuracy
 focus on form
 vocabulary building
 discrete learning
checks
Alternative
Performance
Assessment Tools
 communication
 application of learning
 authentic language use
 performance of real world
tasks
 meaningful contexts
 proficiency development
 integration with standards
 3 modes of
communication
 teaching to the “test”
(Sandrock 2010)
+
Types of Assessments

 Assessment is a continuum.
 Teachers need to provide students with a
variety of feedback on various types of
assessment across the spectrum, including:
 specific and focused feedback
 holistic and broad feedback
 Formal (rubrics) and informal (learning checks)
feedback

 A balanced assessment system = both

formative and summative assessments.

(Sandrock 2010)
+Types of Assessments
Formative Summative
Assessment Assessment
 Learning checks, guided  End-of-unit, end-of-course
activities with teacher support assessment (no support)

 Informs and modifies  Demonstrates knowledge

instruction, classroom gained without teacher
activities and student learning assistance

 Builds students’ confidence  Motivates students

 Scaffolds information to be  Showcases application of

used in summative various skills learned via
performance assessments formative assessments

 May focus more on specific  Synthesizes a variety of

learning targets (i.e. grammar communication skills and
concepts, vocabulary) language concepts
+
Characteristics:
The 3 Modes of Communication
 Interpretive Mode:
 listening, reading, viewing

 authentic, text-based (audio, written, video/film)

materials
 monologic tasks (one-way communication)
 Interpersonal Mode:
 spontaneous communication (oral or written)

 negotiation of meaning

 dialogic tasks (two-way communication)

 Presentational Mode:
 speaking, writing

 monologic tasks (one-way communication)

 Rehearsed language usage
+The 3 Modes of Communication
Interpersonal
Active negotiation of meaning
among individuals
Interpretive Presentational
Interpretation of what the author, Creation of messages
speaker, or producer wants the
receiver of the message to
understand

Participants observe and monitor
one another to see how their
meanings and intentions are being
communicated
Adjustments and clarifications are
made accordingly
One-way communication with no
recourse to the active negotiation
of meaning with the writer,
speaker, or producer
Interpretation differs from
comprehension and translation in
that interpretation implies the
ability to read (or listen or view)
“between the lines,” including
understanding from within the
cultural mindset or perspective
One-way communication intended
to facilitate interpretation by
members of the other culture
where no direct opportunity for
the active negotiation of meaning
between members of the two
cultures exists
To ensure the intended audience
is successful in its interpretation,
the “presenter” needs knowledge
of the audience’s language and
culture

Speaking and listening Reading (websites, stories, Writing (messages, articles,

(conversation); reading and
writing (text messages or via
social media)
articles), listening (speeches, reports), speaking (telling a story,
messages, songs), or viewing giving a speech, describing a
(video clips) of authentic materials
poster), or visually representing
(video or PowerPoint)
(ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners 2012)
+Standards-Based Performance
Assessment

Interactive graphic:
http://wimedialab.org/worldlanguageassessment/clover.htm
+Assessment: Interpretive Mode
How do you typically assess students’
abilities to communicate in the
interpretive mode?
+Assessment: Interpretive Mode
 Interpretive Assessment Task =
 Demonstrate literal comprehension (keys words, main ideas,
details) and interpretive comprehension (word and concept
inferences, cultural perspectives, author intent, text organization).
 Use a comprehension guide (worksheets, Q&A, creating or
identifying images based on descriptions, etc.) to document both
levels of comprehension.

 Strategies for Developing Interpretive Communication

 Routinely incorporate authentic listening, viewing, and reading
texts/tasks into classroom instruction  skimming, scanning,
identifying language patterns.
 Encourage focused listening/viewing/reading of smaller textual
chunks and teach comprehension strategies  context clues, word
families, textual organization (headings, captions, photos).
 Design group activities that allow for collaborative interpretive
skills.
 Assist students as they move from literal comprehension to
interpretive comprehension goals.
(Sandrock 2010: 83)
+ Considerations for text
selection

(Intermediate Level)
 Assessment targets ability to
detect main ideas and
supporting details.
 Texts should focus on simple
Assessment: narratives, routines, familiar
Interpretive Mode contexts, personal experience.
 Include a range of sentence
lengths from simple to
paragraph-length text.
 Topics should be of high interest
to students and include cultural
content from the target
culture(s) to allow comparison
and contrast to their own
cultural practices.
(Sandrock 2010: 82)
+Assessment: Interpretive Mode
Sources for authentic READING
texts(highly contextualized &
thematically appropriate)
 product advertisements
 public service campaign
announcements
 interviews/surveys from youth
magazines
 poems
 simple stories
 genre-specific letters/email
 advice columns
 personal ads
 photo stories with captions
 simple news articles
 resumes
Sources for authentic
LISTENING & VIEWING texts
(highly contextualized &
thematically appropriate)
 commercials (TV/radio)
 public service campaign
announcements
 simple TV or soap opera
segments
 Interviews
 talk show excerpts
 film excerpts
 songs
 comic strips/cartoons
 podcasts
 descriptions (art/photos in
museum guides; directions)
(Sandrock 2010: 82)
+
Assessment: Interpersonal Mode
How do you typically assess students’
abilities to communicate in the interpersonal
mode?
+Assessment: Interpersonal Mode
 Interpersonal Assessment Task =
 Two (or more) students exchange information spontaneously, as
well as express opinions, feelings, and emotions with each other
 The student(s) may have information the other(s)do not have, thus
creating an information gap and purposeful exchange of real
information and negotiation of meaning.
 Generally no notes or written support are allowed.

 Strategies for Developing Interpersonal Communication

 Incorporate regular classroom activities that require interpersonal
communication to
 lower students’ anxiety levels for later assessments
 practice spontaneous speech in non-evaluation situations
 use discourse markers and key phrases to negotiate meaning
 reduce reliance on written notes and support
 negotiate meaning via information gap tasks
 allow students to interact with a range of peers and their
different proficiencies (mutual benefit of modeling and support)
(Sandrock 2010: 83)
+
Assessment: Interpersonal
Mode
 Example Interpersonal Tasks
(with partners or in small groups)
 Information gap tasks
 Interviews
 Cultural comparisons
 Discussions
 opinions
 reactions
 pros/cons
 personal perspectives
+
Assessment: Presentational Mode
How do you typically assess students’
abilities to communicate in the
presentational mode?
+
Assessment: Presentational Mode

 Presentational Assessment Task =

 Students create a message to communicate to an
audience by means of a written or spoken language
product.
 Monologic task  one-way communication
 Often used as a summative task after building upon
previous interpretive and interpersonal tasks.
 Presentational rubrics often evaluate “impact, which
refers to the degree to which the message maintains
the attention of the reader or listener. The teacher
should explore with students strategies for creating
presentational products that have impact (e.g.
selection of topic, use of visuals, choice of words,
visual layout)” (Sandrock 2010: 84).
+
Assessment: Presentational Mode

Strategies for Developing Presentational

Communication
 Use a process-oriented approach (drafts, peer-editing,
revisions, rewrites, scripts, rehearsals, videotape) to allow
for a variety of feedback opportunities.
 Incorporate peer- and self-evaluation into the feedback
loop.
 Address the issue of “impact” in your rubric.
 Discuss and practice evaluating the “impact” of various
presentational messages in a variety of authentic and
student-produced products.
 Create a balanced rubric
 task appropriateness

 content
(Sandrock 2010: 84)
+Assessment: Presentational Mode
Example WRITING tasks Example SPEAKING
 Essay Tasks
 Poem  Speech
 Monologue
 Letter (genre-specific)
 Voice mail
 Email (context-
specific)  Video

 Advertisement/Flyer  Commercials

 Blog post  Podcast

 Description  Short play

 Glogster  News broadcast

 Journal Entry  Digital Story

 Genre-specific speech
 Photo essay with
captions (eulogy, campaign,
etc.)
+
Designing Alternative Assessments
 Task and assessment instruments must fit the
intended purpose for the student learning
objective and connect to the standards.
 Effective assessments (formative, summative,
informal and formal) should be situated in a
meaningful thematic context with real world
application and authentic language use.
 Transparency: Assessment ≠ Mystery
 What is the goal of the specific assessment?
 Informing students about the expectations and
communicative goals fuels student motivation.
 Discuss well-crafted rubrics at the beginning of the unit
so that students understand what the expected
performance involves.
(Sandrock 2010: 28)
+
Designing Performance
Assessments
 Backward Design
 By first selecting the intended goal,
performance assessments can function as a
filter for selection the content needed to
achieve the student learning outcome(s) in a
unit.
 What is necessary to complete the task(s)?
 Develop an essential question based on
the content/thematic unit in order to
determine the tasks.
 Create learning targets and formative
assessments to build towards summative
performance assessments in the three
+
Templates for
Designing Performance
Assessments
 Download the Blank Curriculum Planning
Template
 http://wimedialab.org/worldlanguageassessmen
t/resources.htm

 Templates for designing integrated performance

assessment tasks in future thematic units
 Copies are in your folder for use in afternoon
workshop session (Sandrock 2010: 34) and with
workshop handouts/references online.

 Nature Unit  detailed example

+Example Unit: Clothing (Intermediate
Level)
Essential Question: What do clothes say about a
person?
Mode Interpretive Interpersonal Presentational
Read & answer Interview a partner Fashion Show: Write
Performan questions from about their personal and present a text
ce an authentic style preferences in describing and a peer’s
Assessmen article in a various contexts and outfit and comment on
t fashion what they project. what trends & image(s)
magazine about it projects in which
current trends. contexts.
Read & analyze Info-gap tasks Describe outfits in
culturally describing outfits/ writing (draft & revise);
In-Class authentic style; view/analyze describe orally what
Practice clothing YouTube interviews  others are wearing,
advertisements “Kleider machen how the clothes they fit
online. Leute” and what they project
outfit/personality about the wearer.
perceptions
Necessary Clothing vocab Question-Answer Adjective endings
Language, Adjectives- Dative verbs (synthesis and
Structures, styles/trends Personal Pronouns application of
Functions, Pricing in Euros Comparative/Superlati everything previously
Cultural European sizing ve listed)
+
Sequencing Performance
Assessments
 ACTFL suggests a sequenced approach:

1. Interpretive assessment
2. Interpersonal assessment
3. Presentational assessment

 This methods allows each assessment to build on the

following one, securing vocabulary and language functions
from textual modeling via authentic texts in the
interpretive mode which are needed to be successful in
the interpersonal and presentational modes when the
language becomes productive.

 There is some debate about the last two steps since

spontaneous dialogic communication with its inherent
negotiation of meaning may appear more complex than
monologic presentational tasks, such as writing and
speaking (Tedick, D & Cammarata, L. 2014).
+
Rubrics

 Rubrics are a necessary tool for teachers and

students to evaluate communication.
 Rubrics must describe the expected
performance and provide useful, targeted
feedback.
 Does not meet expectations
 Meets expectations
 Exceeds expectations

 Rubrics should demonstrate how increased

proficiency can be achieved so students know
what to aim for.
+
Rubrics
 Share rubrics with students to allow familiarity and
goals for expected performance levels.

 Model rubric evaluation with students via sample

performances.

 Examples (included in your folders)

 ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language Learners
(2012) can serve as a basis for creating rubrics.
 UW-Whitewater Rubrics  based partially on the ACTFL
Performance Descriptors for Language Learners (1998
Version) & ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines
 Presentational-Writing Rubric
 Presentational-Speaking Rubric
 Interpretive Rubric (Assessing Textual Literacy)
+
K-12 Assessment Resources in WI

 Get in the Mode: Assessment Videos

(2008)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAJ8Zqan
Zr4&list=PL77DDFFFF389160BB&index=6

 http://wimedialab.org/worldlanguageassess
ment/video.htm
 Challenges
+ Time Constraints
Class size
Curriculum
Departmental Involvement
Student Attitudes  “test”
or “performance” anxiety

http://gratisography.com/
+
Final Thoughts

“Assessment is perhaps one of [the] most

difficult and important parts of our jobs as
teachers. Ideally, it should be seen as a
means to help us guide students on their
road to learning. No single procedure can
meet the needs of all learners and
situations, so we need to remember to
incorporate a variety of tools to help our
students know how they are progressing
and to gauge the effectiveness of our own
methodology and materials.”
~ Jerrold Frank (Frank 2012: 32)
+Final Thoughts
Assessment…
…is more than a test.
 …is all the things along the way that prepare students.
 …builds on itself to help students progress.
 …needs to be both formative and summative.
 …can be informal and formal.
 …provides opportunities for meaningful feedback.

…needs to be purposeful and meaningful for students.

…is motivational by setting a clear path for performance

goals.

…drives instruction.

…is integrated in the classroom and allows for evaluation of all

three modes of communication  interpretive, interpersonal,
+
Final Thoughts

“Language assessment…is much more

than simply giving a language test; it is
the entire process of test use. Indeed,
the ultimate goal of language
assessment is to use tests to better
inform us on the decisions we make and
the actions we take in language
education.”
~John M. Norris
(Norris 2000/2012: 42)
+
References
 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.
(2012). ACTFL performance descriptors for language
learners, 2012 Edition. Alexandria, VA: ACTFL.
 http://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/PerformanceDescriptor
sLanguageLearners.pdf

 Byrnes, H. (2001). Faculty assessment and evaluation:

additional considerations. ADFL Bulletin, 32(3), 34-36.
 http://www.adfl.org/bulletin/V32N3/323034.htm

 Frank, J. (2012). The roles of assessment in language

teaching. English Teaching Forum, 50(3), 32.
 http://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/50_3_7_fra
nk.pdf
+
References
 Norris, J. M. (2014, April). How do we assess task-based
performance? Invited LARC/CALPER testing and assessment
webinar.
 http://larc.sdsu.edu/testassesswebinar/jnorris/Norris_Task-BasedAsses
sment_PPT.pdf

 Norris, J.M. (2012). Purposeful language assessment. English

Teaching Forum, 50(3), 41–45. (Reprinted from Norris, J.M.
(2000). Purposeful language assessment. English Teaching
Forum, 38(1), 18–23.)
 http://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/50_3_10_norris
.pdf

 Sandrock, P. (2010). The keys to assessing language

performance: A teacher’s manual for measuring student
progress. Alexandria, VA: ACTFL.

 Tedick, D & Cammarata, L. (2014). "Integrated Performance

Assessment: Adapting the Model for CBI." [online
 http://carla.acad.umn.edu/cobaltt/modules/assessment/ipa/index.html
+
Questions? Feedback?
Contact me at boldte@uww.edu

http://gratisography.com/