motivation and evaluation

7/29/2019 Motivation and Evaluation

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38 J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3 E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M

Mu Fengying

C H I N A

FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNERS MOTIVATION CAN BE INFLUENCED BY MANY FACTORS:

social, psychological, educational, and economical, to name a few. In spite of the

complicated situation, teachers can still do a lot to motivate their students by

being observant, understanding, informed, and tactful. By reflecting on 20 years

of foreign language teaching experience, plus observing my colleagues and stu-

dents behavior, and reading professional literature of foreign language teaching,I came to realize that one of the things that we can do to greatly motivate our

students is to modify our evaluation methods.

MotivatingS t u d e n t sBY

Mo d i f y i n gEvaluation Methods


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The prevailing situation

In the Chinese educational tradition withConfucius as a model, a good teacher is viewedas someone who is responsible, stern, knowl-edgeable, authoritative, and respectable. He

usually works conscientiously and sets highdemands on his students, and therefore, is verystrict with them. This Confucian model hasexerted a great influence on foreign languageteaching in China. Here are some typical scenes:

1. The teacher is very demanding. Most of thetime students cannot live up to his expecta-tions because the expectations simply go upwith the students achievements. Whatsmore, the teacher will not express his satis-faction or appreciation even when he feelsit in his heart. A Chinese teacher is simply

not used to praising his students.2. The teacher is responsible. He will correct

every students assignment, working untillate at night. Notice the word correct hasbeen used instead of mark or assess. Theteacher will be careful to point out every sin-gle mistake, error, or improper use of the tar-get language and write the correct answer.Looking at all the red marks on the studentswork, he might think, I have done my workthoroughly, seriously, and responsibly.

3. The students are compared with each other.

Throughout a course, students are rankedon the basis of their results on endless testsand exams. Some teachers will go to theextreme of informing a student that he nowranks nth place in the class, and that heshould work harder to move up to a higherranking on the following exam.

The sad thing is that a teachers good willand extra effort frequently bring about nega-tive and harmful effects on the students. Ateacher who is unrealistically demanding andonly begrudgingly gives praise will take away

confidence and self-esteem even from high-achieving students. Students lack the power orability to make an accurate judgment of theirown performance and are easily influenced bytheir teacher, who is the authority. By focusingsolely on mistakes and errors, and therebyignoring the successful attempts of students,the teacher gives them the false impressionthat they are failures.

In fact, by simply adjusting his methods ofassessing students performance, a teacher can

make foreign language learning interesting,pleasant, and fruitful. Here are a few tech-niques classroom teachers can use to modifytheir evaluation procedures and therebyincrease student motivation.

Techniques of assessing

Focus on success and achievementWhen evaluating students performance,

instead of looking at it with the critical eye ofan authoritarian, the teacher should examinethe ways his students have been successful.This shift in point of view will change a self-centered teacher who is always worryingabout his authority into a teacher with empa-thy and appreciation.

In foreign language teaching this shift is

vital. If a teacher looks at his students perfor-mance overcritically, he will never be satisfiedbecause errors and imperfections are a surepart of learning a foreign language. However,if the teacher focuses on his students success-es, he will be surprised to find how much theyare learning and how hard they are trying.There will always be things for the teacher tobe proud of.

Once in class, when brainstorming for ideasto eliminate hiccups, one of my colleagues gotthis piece of advice: eat sweet food. The wholeclass roared with laughter at this apparently

ridiculous suggestion. Just imagine howembarrassed the student who said it would feelif the teacher stood along with the other stu-dents and laughed, too! An even worse resultwould be that other students would be afraidthat they could be laughed at, too, so theywould choose to remain silent to protect them-selves. The brainstorming activity would beruined. In this instance, however, the teachermerely commented: Thats an interestingidea. Have any of you heard it or tried it? In alanguage class, communication in the target

language is much more important than findingcorrect answers.

The benefits of focusing on successes andachievements are manifold. Such a focus canbuild rapport between teachers and students,help students develop positive self-esteem,make learning pleasant, and, finally, lead togreater effort and success. Showing apprecia-tion of students makes it easier for students tolike their teacher, and once that happens, theywill take a liking to the subject. Of course,

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praise should never be overused, or it will loseits power. The teacher should be observant andgive genuine, well-deserved praise in appropri-ate ways, keeping in mind the cultural values ofthe learners.

Use objectives-referenced testingIn the science of language testing, there are

two types of measurement: norm-referencedand criterion-referenced (Bachman 1990).The former measures a students performanceby comparing it to the performance of otherstudents in the group (Bachman 1990:7274). The students are arranged along a contin-uum ranging from the first to the last, or fromthe best to the worst. The result is contrasting,ranking, and competition.

Norm-referenced evaluation is like athletic

competition in that prize winners are scarce. Itis even worse: language learners are always com-peting with the same rivals because the groupsof students in classes are usually fixed. Thereare harmful effects for both the good and thenot-so-good students. The former might be-come conceited or sluggish, for their victoriesseem to be guaranteed owing to the ability gapbetween them and the others. The latter stu-dents will become silent and humble, loseinterest and self-confidence, and eventuallygive up trying. So norm-referenced evaluationcan motivate neither the better students nor

the slower ones.Criterion-referenced evaluation measures a

students performance by comparing it to adefined range of knowledge or skills (Bach-man 1990: 7476). The students are evaluat-ed according to standards, not each other. Inclassroom teaching, objectives-referencedevaluation relates students performance toinstructional objectives for a specific course,lesson, or task (Henning 1987: 195). Thisform of criterion-referenced evaluation hasclear advantages over the norm-referenced

method. It gives all students a chance to suc-ceed as long as they are attaining the teachingobjectives. In the long run, students developpositive self-esteem and confidence and theability to accurately judge their own knowl-edge and skills.

Objectives-referenced evaluation works wellwith essays. When marking an essay, a teacherdoes not just rank it outstanding or satisfactoryin comparison with the other students essaysand give a few comments based on a general

impression. Instead, the teacher judges it

according to how well the student has satisfiedthe objective(s) of that particular assignment. If,

for example, the objective is to develop a topic

with supporting details, then this is the stan-

dard by which the essay will be judged. Theother features of the essay would be dealt with

on other occasions or as other assignments.

Objectives-referenced evaluation should be

an integral part of the everyday teaching

process, because it evaluates teaching results by

referring to instructional objectives laid down

during the planning stage. A competent teach-er will not only pace his teaching properly, but

also frequently check whether his teaching has

been effective or not.

Teachers should not set unrealistic demands

or judgment criteria for their students, butrather depend on objectives referencing to eval-

uate both their students performance and their

own teaching. If objectives are realistic and ap-

propriate and if teaching activities are effective,

most students should be able to meet the re-quirements, and thus experience success and

achievement, despite any ability gaps within a

group. In addition, objective-referenced teach-

ing and evaluation encourage everyone to try

to reach the set goals.

Analytic assessment

When teachers evaluate students perfor-

mance, it should be done as one of several

means to help students succeed in learning.

Therefore, evaluation is an integral part of the

overall teaching process. Through thoughtful,

analytic assessment and checking, the teacher

can enable himself and his students to see whathas been successfully learned and what needs

further work.

In helping my first-year university students

to improve their English pronunciation and

intonation, I have found analytic assessmentvery effective. This is what I have been doing in

recent years: First, I ask my students to record

themselves reading a passage. Then I listen to

each students cassette tape and make a note of

mispronounced words or flaws in intonation.

Next I synthesize and analyze my notes to dis-cover consistently occurring problems in indi-

vidual speech traits and their possible causes.

Finally, I write out my comments and sugges-

tions for action.

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In doing this detailed analytic assessment, Ihave found surprises both for me and for mystudents, for example:

My initial and general impressions aresometimes misleading. A poor impression

may turn out to have been caused merelyby one or two problems, perhaps improp-er enunciation of word endings, misplacedword stress, or inability to differentiate twosounds owing to mother tongue interfer-ence. On the other hand, an initial goodimpression may cover up problems.

Students who used to be ashamed of theirspoken English may gain confidence fromlearning that they have to overcome only afew manageable individual habits or traitsinstead of having to deal with an over-

whelming number of mistakes. Students are willing to cooperate and they

show great enthusiasm to practice whenthey receive specific feedback on their er-rors. Such feedback should include specificsuggestions for improvement rather thanvague comments, such as You need toimprove your pronunciation or Your into-nation is not natural. With the help of theteacher, students see with their own eyesand hear with their own ears what is goodor not-so-good about their spoken English.

They know what to maintain and develop,and what to improve on and how.

In contrast to holistic evaluation, analyticassessment points out specific aspects of a stu-dents performance; it is not just an initial oroverall impression. It requires synthesizing andanalyzing the facts. The teacher must be ableto recognize and acknowledge successful workand find and explain possible causes for unsuc-cessful work.

Tolerance of differences

Every student is unique and differs fromother students in such diverse aspects as hisfamily, educational history, learning strategies,and aptitude for foreign language learning(Ellis 1994). To detect merits and achieve-ments in each student, teachers should be

aware of the differences and acknowledgethem. Teachers need to evaluate students per-formance not only in light of their teachingobjectives but also with due respect for eachstudents individual situation. Here are three

techniques for improving how we evaluate ourstudents work:

1. Diachronic evaluation. Follow a studentsdevelopment and make comparisonsbetween different stages in his learningprocess to decide whether he is improvingor not; specify the areas and extent ofimprovement.

2. Split method. Notice each learnersstrengths as well as weaknesses. Never labela student as poor, slow, or hopeless.

3. Dynamic view. Each day be sensitive to any

changes in your students attitudes, feelings,and accomplishments. Let them know yourfeelings in an appropriate way. Classes aredynamic and so are students. They can seeif their teacher cares about them and wantsthem to succeed.

Conclusion

Learning a foreign language is a long andcomplex task. Learners need constant encour-agement, and one of the best forms of encour-agement comes from a sense of achievement

and success. With a keen eye for achievement,an admiring eye for efforts, and a tolerant eyefor differences and individuality, a skillfulteacher can manage to enable the majority ofhis students to enjoy learning. A shift in theway we evaluate learners can work wonders.

References

Bachman, L. F. 1990. Fundamental considerations inlanguage testing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ellis, R. 1994. The study of second language acquisi-tion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Henning, G. 1987. A guide to language testing:Development, evaluation and research. Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and ResearchPress/Heinle and Heinle Publishers/ThompsonLearning Asia. z

Mu Fengying is an associate professor in

applied linguistics at Xuzhou Normal Univer-

sity in Jiangsu, China.

E N G L I S H T E A C H I N G F O R U M J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3 41

motivation and evaluation

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