Page 204 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Assessing Language Skills

Read the text about a boy called Arturo who loves animals. Seven sentences have been removed
from the text. Choose from the sentences A-I the one which fits each gap. There are two extra sen-
tences which you do not need to use. An example (0) has been done for you.

“No, I'll just let them out. They'll be fine,” says Janette, opening the
door. (4) ___. Along with them, a cat gets out through the open door.
Arturo hears a loud sound and looks out of the window. A car almost hits one of
the dogs. The birds fly into the sky as the cat runs toward the bush.
Janette looks in the corner of the room and shouts, “Yuck! Look at the spider.
(5) ___. Do something, Arturo!”
Arturo covers the spider with a cup and goes outside. Carefully, he lets the
spider free. Then he picks up the cat and whistles for the dogs. (6) ___. Back in
the house, Arturo watches the birds through the window. The dogs bark, the cat
meows and Arturo smiles. “Now I know what to write about for the contest.”
(Prirejeno po: Pleasebekind.com. Pridobljeno: 21. 10. 2011.)

A There are dogs, cats, birds, hamsters and rabbits.
B That creature is scary.
C I have got a pet worm.
D Janette watches as he puts them in the grass.
E They all go back indoors.
F They run outdoors.
G “She can be your pet!”
H “What a wonderful insect.”
I And one day I will have one.
Figure 13.10 Example of a Gapped Test Task (Državni izpitni center, 2016)

gaps,requireslearnersto recognisetherelationshipsbetween different ideas
in the text and its overall coherence. An example is provided in Figure 13.10
(the original instructions were in learners’ L1).

Assessing Writing
Similarly to reading, writing is a complex activity which requires learners to
carry out several processes at the same time: combining letters, selecting the
right vocabulary, using the appropriate grammatical structures and punctu-
ation, organising ideas in a logical order, applying the conventions of a genre,
etc. This is why writing assessment is a challenging task for the teacher who
needs to decide how much attention to pay to accuracy (spelling, grammar
and punctuation) and how much to content and the message. It is especially
important to convey to children what our expectations are and which aspect
of writing will be assessed (McKay, 2006).
Writing assessment tasks should reflect the learning objectives of the YLs’
level and the activities aimed at developing different writing aspects and

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