Each TEAL assessment task has a unique criteria sheet showing four levels of accomplishment across the domains of the Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL. It is organised around four main aspects of language:
- Communication
- Cultural conventions
- Linguistic structures and features: Text structure, Grammatical features, Vocabulary, Phonology
- Strategies
The criteria are organised in the same four aspects. This enables teachers to more clearly focus on different features of performance and to more precisely identify the level of development according to the Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL.
Using the criteria sheet
The four levels of the criteria sheet relate to the stages that the task is suitable for, such as A1, A2, BL, B1, B2.
After your student completes the task, you will need to go through a process of analysis, using the criteria sheet, to assess in detail if students have produced the type of oral language the task was intended to elicit, and to what level of proficiency they have done this.
In each column, identify and highlight descriptions that best match what you observe in your student’s performance. This will enable you to match a general level, from (1 to 4) of performance of the task. It is not unusual that students may spread at different levels across different aspects. Student performance may be influenced by a range of factors including whether they are talking about a very familiar, or an unfamiliar topic, involved in a very familiar, or unfamiliar task or text type, fatigue, support, or lack of it from conversational partners. These factors need to be taken into account when using the criteria sheet.
You may also notice other things your student is able to do that are not identified in the criteria sheet, and which may be noteworthy in the performance. These can be added to the criteria sheet, as they help enrich the description of your student’s performance, and to describe a point of English language development.
