1 Introduction
1.1 Background of the study
The Ministry of Education (MoE) promulgates the document The Teaching Requirementsfor College English Curriculum (hereafter referred to as the “document”) in the year of 2007after its trial issue in 2004. As stipulated in the “document”, the traditional teaching mode isreplaced by a new teaching mode based on computers and classrooms. The teaching andlearning of English is not restricted by time and space any more. The “document” also statesclearly the teaching targets of college English teaching and three-level instructionrequirements. In the teaching assessment part, the “document” addresses the significance ofestablishing comprehensive, objective, scientific and accurate assessment system. It alsofurther emphasizes the functions of teaching assessment. More importantly, the “document”proposes that classroom assessment should include both the formative assessment and thesummative assessment, which suggests that college English teaching should combineeffectively the two assessment modes to implement classroom assessment of college Englishmore effectively and appropriately. Such proposition signifies a fundamental reform inclassroom assessment and poses new demand and challenges on present college Englishteachers in that they will have to cope with new potential problems and incidents that mightoccur during the combination.As stipulated in the “document”, college English teaching should be aimed at cultivatingstudents’ comprehensive application ability especially in listening and speaking so that theycan effectively communicate in English for their future learning, career and social interaction.Unfortunately, the results from one empirical research interviewing six college graduates aboutthe situation of English application at their work places reveal that the college graduates arenot satisfactory with their proficiency in English and they all agreed that the educationalbackground of teach-to-tests does not help with the improvement of their spoken English (You& Wang 2013). In their learning experiences, teachers focused solely on language points andscores in examinations. Such teaching and assessment mode can not satisfy the requirementsput forward by rapid social development and extensive international communication.
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1.2 Significance of the study
This study proves to be significant in three aspects: in theoretical, methodological andpractical aspects. Its theoretical significances are manifested in the equation of teacherknowledge construction with that of students’ learning of knowledge as well as its intentionsto differentiate teacher knowledge and teacher belief. The practical significances of this studymainly centers on teachers and their role played in the process of classroom assessment. Themethodological significance is embodied in the application of narrative inquiry to explore intoteacher knowledge and practice.Although it is stipulated in the College English Curriculum Requirement to applyformative assessment as well as summative assessment spontaneously, the compulsoryimplementation of such policy can not promise the effective execution by teachers. With suchgovernmental attention given to the classroom teaching, many reform efforts have been madein classroom assessment, however, reforms will only remain to be a format without practicaleffect on teaching if they are not understood by teachers. Assessment reforms will not becomplete without teachers’ cooperation and meaningful unless the parties involves in it fullyunderstand the rules and put it into practice.
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2 Literature Review
2.1 Definition and features of key words
There is no widely accepted definition of teacher-based assessment in the Englishlanguage teaching field, with many terms used interchangeably to refer to the same practicesand procedures, including terms such as alternative assessment, classroom and/orschool-based assessment, formative assessment, and more recently, assessment for learning,which signify a teacher-mediated, classroom-embedded assessment practice (Davison &Leung, 2009).The conventional assessment of students’ learning is seen as the more formal assessmentin the form of externally-set, large-scale examinations taken at the end of a certain period oflearning to mark students’ grade and record their present competency. It does not value theteaching/learning process. Whereas, the formative mode of classroom assessment, known asformative assessment, is designed to reflect the performance and progress made by studentsduring the learning process. Teachers can be aware of students’ weakness from suchclassroom assessment and make their teaching better. One implication made by Paul Black(2009) is that a focus on marks and grades, on written work or in a regime of frequent testing,can do positive harm by developing obstacles to engagement, effects which can be as harmfulto the high achievers as to the low. This implication arouses the author’s curiosity to confirmthe validity of this statement: whether frequent testing can do harm to students and whetherthe frequent testing belongs to formative or summative assessment.
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2.2 Relevant theories
The cognitive approaches are considered as contemporary in comparison to thetraditional approaches derived from behavioral learning theory, according to which, teachingand assessment focus solely on the observable outcomes of learning and does not include thecognitive mental process taking place in learning. The most significant difference betweencognitive approaches and behavioral approaches is the awareness of the active roles played bythe learner.Research in cognitive science points out that learners are constantly trying to make senseof the information they learn and to develop new learning and understandings in ways thatthat cannot be neatly mapped into rigid sequences and hierarchies (Wang, 2010). Learners areactive in the learning process in which they make sense of the information that they areexposed to. Learners should be the center of the learning process. The cognitive view stressesthat learners often derive or construct different meanings from the same information andexperiences and end up in different places (p.25) and it also points out that learners will arriveat their own understanding if the teacher provides a learning context that involves real-worldexamples, giving information, eliciting misconceptions, challenging ideas, modelingproblem-solving strategies, and giving learners skill in monitoring their own learning (p.26).
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3 Methodology ........... 15
3.1 Research questions ..... 15
3.2 Research instrument ............ 15
3.3 Participants ........ 16
3.3.1 Criteria for choosing the three teachers........ 16
3.3.2 Participants’ background information .......... 16
3.4 Procedures ......... 17
3.4.1 Being in the field for data collection ............ 17
3.4.2 Composing research texts........... 20
4 Results and Discussion..... 31
4.1 Discussion and research results.... 31
4.2 Further discussion ...... 39
5 Conclusion ..... 45
5.1 Major findings of the study .......... 45
5.2 Implications....... 46
5.3 Limitations of the study....... 49
4 Results and Discussion
4.1 Discussion and research results
It is not a difficult job to find out the general knowledge and practice based on the finalresearch texts, but it requires much patience and carefulness. Analyzing the research texts, theauthor noticed that the narratives made by three teachers shared some similarities as well asdifferences. What the author did was to generalize and synthesize the similarities withoutdwelling on their differences too much. The differences were seen as the manifestations oftheir distinctive knowledge about classroom assessment with emphasis on different aspects,which will be discussed in the next section. Teacher A ’s assessment knowledge included that he thought assessment was consisted ofclassroom tests, mid-term/final examinations, proficiency as well as the cultivation of suchaffective factors as character, confidence, attitude, etc. Teacher B divided assessment by theevaluation of daily response, performance and the overall assessment while Teacher Cbelieved that assessment referred to the measurement of the learning process and the resultsincluding the reflection of teaching. Although each teacher viewed classroom assessmentfrom different perspectives, it could be inferred that they all agree with the fact that classroomassessment no longer examination-oriented, which covers “richer ingredients”. Using onesentence to generalize the key points from each teacher, classroom assessment is theassessment of the learning process, the measurement of learning results and the reflection ofteaching and the cultivation of students’ affective factors such as character and confidence.
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Conclusion
This case study applies the research method of narrative inquiry into the narratives ofthree college English teachers with data collected from three channels. It presents how theparticipated teachers think of classroom assessment in general, in terms of its definition,purpose, teacher positioning and focal assessment practice. Classroom assessment is theassessment of the learning process, the measurement of learning results and the reflection ofteaching and the cultivation of students’ affective factors such as character and confidence. Itshould be aimed at guiding and helping students to increase confidence and interest inlearning English so that they can achieve the standards of practical talents. They also agreethat the testing targets and teaching range to be covered should be notified to students beforeassessment so that the assessment will be more purposeful. Besides, they all see themselves asnavigator and guide in students’ learning process as well as students’ friend. There are avariety of methods and strategies applied in classroom assessment by these teachers, however,the most frequently applied ones are not the same. The author goes on to reveal the “back”stories, in other words, the different focuses. Respective teacher holds specific assessmentknowledge on unique practices as well.This study also reveals the distinctive knowledge and practice possessed by respectiveteacher presented in the narrative stories in section 4.1.2, including frequency and punctuality,cultivation of confidence, students’ formation, important teach-to-tests education, mutualeffort and mutual benefits and assessment of practical application. Through their narratives ofthose distinctive stories, the three teachers further express and share their individualassessment knowledge to the audience in-depth.
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Reference (omitted)