Page 211 - Teaching English at Primary Level: From Theory into the Classroom

Formative Assessment and Feedback

My postcard starts with a greeting
followed by a comma (Dear Annie,).
My postcard closes with ’Best wishes’
or ’Love’ followed by a comma.
I wrote about my holiday (where I’m
staying, what I’m doing)
My sentences begin with a capital letter.
My sentences end with a full stop.
I checked my spelling.
Figure 14.2
Success Criteria for Writing a Postcard
Image by Freepik

also use ‘comfort’ feedback, aimed at encouraging and reassuring them. As
McKay (2006, p. 46) argues, ‘assessment and feedback need to evoke positive
emotions in children about language learning, about themselves and about
others.’
Besides teacher feedback, we also should encourage feedback from learn-
ers. Learner feedback is at the heart of the assessment for learning (AfL) con-
cept whose main purpose is ‘to support learners in improving their learning
outcomes by helping them to reflect on the extent to which they already
meet learning objectives and on how best to move their learning forward’
(Britton, 2021, p. 2).
An important aspect of AfL is giving the pupils opportunities to progress.
This can be done by using different techniques, such as self and peer assess-
ment, defining and discussing learning intentions and success criteria (Crich-
ton & McDaid, 2016). Success criteria, for example, give the learners an idea of
what is expected of them and feedback on the quality of their learning. In this
way, they promote greater learner autonomy. Success criteria can be negoti-
ated with the learners and presented in different ways. A common practice is
to use rubrics which lay out what learners need to do to accomplish a writing
task, such as in Figure 14.2, in which learners tick the criteria boxes for writ-
ing a simple letter. Another technique is to use ‘I can’ statements which refer
to the skills learners need to accomplish in order to meet a specific learning
goal. In the self-assessment task in Figure 14.3 (p. 212), learners colour parts
of the rocket when they feel they can do the activities listed.
In integrating AfL into their teaching, teachers may use several practical
strategies and activities, such as Traffic Lights, Think-Pair-Share, Admit and
Exit Tickets, Learning Partners, and Self-check Questionnaires (Table 14.1 on
page 213).

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