11. Report on some recent learning

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Task details

Name of oral assessment task Report on some recent learning
EAL curriculum level range  B2, B3, C2, C3, C4
Text orientation Informative
Task type Listening and responding/oral presentation

 

Task specification

Purpose

To assess students’ abilities to report information obtained by enquiry into a topic.

The task can be used get information about a student’s ability to use language in any area of the curriculum, as well as to see how well students can talk about the use of learning resources as part of their awareness and management of their own learning.

Description Learners are asked in a one on one conversation about the information they have learned when researching a topic, and the resources they used in getting the information
Assumed knowledge and description
  1. Content knowledge: familiarity with a topic from a learning area studied by the student
  2. Text type, genre: spoken research report, report on data sources and findings
  3. Linguistic structures and features:
    Use of past tense to report research processes and what was learned: I went to the library…, I did a Google search..I found out that… I learned…; use of tenses relevant to the topic, for example, a topic on jobs would use present tenses to describe an occupation and what that person does, while a report about a historical figure would involve the use of past tenses in talking about that person: An interior designer gives advice about…, Ned Kelly was captured….’; some topics, such as innovations in technology may also involve talking about future uses or application of the innovation; use of comparatives and superlatives in comparing the usefulness of different sources: The web page was the most useful.., the picture book was more useful that the encyclopedia.
  4. Vocabulary: relevant to the topic selected, and vocabulary to discuss learning resources

Learning/teaching context

Language centre/mainstream class Mainstream class – EAL support
Subject/key syllabus objectives, outcomes  The topic can be related to learning objectives in any topic in any learning area.
Topic/teaching Unit Enquiry (research) strategies, reporting on research/study skills.
Assessment conditions
  1. Individual/pair activity
  2. Formal/informal: formal, spontaneous speech
  3. Time limit: The conversation should take between three and seven minutes (depending on how much information the student provides).
  4. Teacher intervention:  limited to response to student response for clarification and encouragement
  5. Access to resources: None. The intention is that the student spontaneously answers the questions they are asked.
  6. Scaffolding (modelled/guided/independent support): independent
  7. Accommodations: Teachers may provide a matrix card, including a table for notes about the content of each of the topic areas on the interview card (see Assessment Task section). Having a fellow student ask the questions may make a student more comfortable in completing the task. If choosing this option, help the interviewer to work out the best way to ask the questions. If conducted in this way, the student answering the questions is being assessed, rather than the interviewer. If interviews are being conducted by students, teachers may choose to intervene if the set questions are producing only short responses. In such cases the teacher could intervene directly to ask the student to say more about or more fully explain their answers, or if appropriate, direct or suggest the interviewing student asks such questions.
Notes
  • Pre-assessment activities can be extended or reduced as appropriate for the learners.
  • Audio recording will assist teachers in making refined assessments of student performances and giving feedback, and be a basis for some of the post-assessment tasks.
  • This task is intended for informative language use. It will not work effectively for imaginative language, such as the study of a novel or film.

Task implementation

STAGE ACTION STEPS
Pre-assessment activity
  • In normal class work, the students will be involved in extended study of a topic, which also usually involves out of class research (library, homework, computer with internet access) to obtain further information about the topic. 
  • Discuss with the whole class how important independent research is in school, and how important it is that students can talk about their learning and how they have obtained information.
  • If necessary, introduce language necessary for students to talk about their own learning and the processes they used, and allow students some opportunities to practice this language, as needed.
  • Then ask the students to identify topics they have studied in class recently. Involve the students in a class discussion about what they have learnt and the resources they have used. This may be a whole class discussion or smaller group discussion led by the teacher. This class discussion should include some evaluative comments about different resources.
  • Tell the students that they will be interviewed about a topic they have studied, so they should prepare for this by thinking about what they have learned in class, and from the resources they have looked at. They might want to note the details of the names of the resources.
  • Inform the students being interviewed they will be assessed, in a way that is appropriate to the context, including general comments about what you will be looking for such as the language you use, how well you can explain they ways you have learned new things, and so on.
Assessment activity
  • Remind the students of the discussion about their learning and the resources they used.
  • Identify who will be interviewing whom, students or the teacher, so students are aware of what will be happening and when.
  • Give the students who are responding some time (about 5 to 10 minutes) to think about the topic they want to report on, and maybe allow them to consult notes about the resources they used.
  • While the students are doing this, talk to the students conducting the interviews. Use the interview cards to prepare the questions they wish to ask. (It may help if they have had a short conversation with their partner just to identify the topic they will report on).
  • Provide for the interviews to take place, and arrange recording equipment if possible.
  • Alternate roles, so the original interviewers become the interviewees, repeat steps 8 and 9 to prepare for the second round of interviews. Alternatively, after step 7 you could brief all students about the interviewer role, then allow students time to mentally prepare for the interview. Then put students in their pairs. After student A has interviewed student B, reverse roles, so student B interviews student A.
  • Click here for the assessment task:
Post-assessment activity
  • Follow up the activity with a class discussion about expectations in the school about approaches to learning. Discuss what the school (and generally in schools in Australia) expect of students, and ways in which students can learn about topics in their subjects, and how they are expected to report or communicate what they have found out.
  • Use this discussion to have students to report about the ways in which they experienced learning at schools in their country of origin, or other contexts in which they learn (such as week end language schools).
  • This could be used as the basis of a classroom report of learning practices and strategies in different countries. Groups of students from the same country could report on their own country. Some students could be asked to report on Australia, or native English speaking students could be asked to make this contribution (joining the class if necessary).
  • If an individual follow up task is desirable, students could be asked to make a table recording the similarities and differences between Australia and their country of origin. This could be used as the basis of a more formal piece of writing comparing the two countries the students are familiar with.
  • The students could be encouraged to share their table or writing with their parents, so that parents can become more aware of the expectations and practices related to learning their children will experience.

Sample One
Sample Two
Sample Three
Sample Four
Sample Five

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nature and purpose of the task

This task is intended to assess EAL learners’ abilities to report information learned by enquiry into a topic. The task can be used obtain information about a student’s ability to explain what they have recently learned during an extended study of a topic, and can relate to any area of the curriculum. As well as assessing how well students can talk about a new topic, an assessment for learning focus is incorporated by asking students about their use of learning resources as part of their awareness and management of their own learning. This is important for teachers supporting EAL students, as there is a need to conduct conversations about learning across the curriculum, in order to monitor student progress and support their students in their areas of learning need.

The language related to this task can be quite variable, depending on the topic being discussed. However, there are some constants, such as the use of past tense to report research processes and what was learned, e.g. I went to the library…, I did a Google search…, I found out that…,and I learned…The use of the present tense to talk about information that is generally true, or the product of learning, such as Ned Kelly is a hero to many people, black holes pull object into them is also likely to be used. The framing of the task elicits the present perfect, because it involves talking about a recent event (the recent learning and learning activities) and relating this to the present, such as I’ve been learning about the scientist Stephen Hawking. Teachers should note the extent to which students use the present perfect when appropriate throughout the interview, or whether it is used only in response to a prompt question that is framed in the present perfect. The task involves some personal uses of language when talking about what they learnt, I learned about Stephen Hawking, and when talking about their personal response to what they learnt, I really enjoyed hearing about how … I enjoyed using the internet.

The range of tenses used in the interview will depend on the nature of the topic the student is describing. For example, a topic on jobs would use present tenses to describe an occupation and what that person does, while a report about a historical figure would involve the use of past tenses in talking about that person, an interior designer gives advice about…. compared to Ned Kelly was captured…. A topic about innovations in technology may also involve talking about future uses or application of the innovation. The interview may also elicit use of comparatives and superlatives in comparing the usefulness of different sources, such as the web page was the most useful.., the picture book was more useful that the encyclopedia. The students are also asked to identify future learning plans, eliciting use of ways of talking about the future. Historical topics may also involve (optional) use of the present historic; Ned Kelly kills the policemen at Stringybark creek and is declared an outlaw. This task is related to TEAL Oral Task 6: What I learn at school and TEAL Writing Task 17: What I learn at school.

Context

All students were placed in pairs for these interviews. The primary students were interviewed by a teacher, while the secondary-aged students were interviewed by a peer. All questions were consistent with the task sheet. While consistent questions from a task sheet increases the standardisation of an assessment task, asking students to explain or give more information to short responses can elicit important assessment information that would otherwise not be obtained. As teachers view the sample videos consider the extent to which close adherence to the standard questions could have been complemented with additional follow up questions.

Commentary

The students in the sample videos respond to the questions they are asked and provide an account of what they have been learning about, how they have been learning and the ways the learning activities have helped them. In doing this they use a range of relevant grammatical structures. What differentiates the proficiency of the students is the range of meanings they communicate, and the extent to which they are able to provide more complete and detailed answers. Some students are more fluent and smooth in their interaction, reflecting greater control over stress, and intonation, to make their speech more interesting and less repetitive. There is also increasing use of adverbs and adjectives to give more precision to what is said. Because it was fun and we get to draw and to write. Some answers are limited yeah, and not really.

 

Sample One
Sample Two
Sample Three
Sample Four
Sample Five

Sample 1

Biographical information

Year level: Year 5

Home language: Tagalog

Commentary

The student communicates effectively, and responds to the teacher’s questions. His answers provide the required information, but the answers are relatively short, and at times the teacher needs to ask a follow up question to obtain all the information she would like. For example, when asked What activities helped you learn best? the student provides an answer I think the experiment that I did, but the teacher asks for more, Why did that help you to learn best? As well as the relative brevity of the answers, compared to students in the other sample videos, the student is also less fluent in given his answers. He speaks at a relatively slow pace, and while there are no inordinately long pauses, he seems to be taking some time to formulate is answers, and to be thinking about the words he needs to use. His intonation is not particularly expressive, giving the effect of making his speech sound less interesting and expressive.

Nonetheless, in responding to the teacher’s questions, the student uses a wide range of grammatical structures. He uses appropriate verb tenses, present perfect for his recent learning, I’ve been leaning, I’ve learnt that…, simple present for things that are universally true, When you add water to cornflour and mix it up … it will turn into solid, simple past for completed actions, The teacher helped me to … I used the internet, and he responds to and uses future forms when he is asked, What would you like to learn about? he answers Technology and explains, I would like to learn how…, using the modal verb would to indicate a wish or desire. He combines some complex expressions I think the experiment I did because it showed me …, and uses an adverb to add precision to his meaning, Mostly the internet.

The student seems a little self-conscious during the task, which may have inhibited the length and animation of his answers.

The marked criteria sheet shows that Student A meets most criteria at level 1 of performance.

His language use in this task is consistent with Level B2, Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL. 

TEAL Oral Task 11 – Criteria sheet – Sample 1

Sample 2

Biographical information

Year level: Year 5

Home language: Malayalam

Commentary

The student responds to the teacher’s questions, and talks about her recent learning, volunteering more detailed information than the student in Sample 1, such as I have been learning about space… for space we created… like a poster… full of like… different planets and the sun in order… The student talks about what she has been learning about, recent learning activities and what she found helpful. In doing this she uses a range of tenses including simple present, It just keeps on going, simple past, She told us what a photosynthesis is…, and present perfect, I have been learning about. She also uses complex verb phrases such as they helped me learn how to create something with the group…, as well as superlative adjectives, smallest to largest… Most responses are complete and detailed, however, she makes some grammatical errors in using complex grammatical structures, such as ..what a photosynthesis is, we looked from a picture. She either does not understand or avoids a question about her future intentions, What other things would you like to learn about cycles? answering Not really!

The student’s pronunciation is clear throughout the interview, and there are very few problems of intelligibility in this sample.

The marked criteria sheet shows that the student meets most criteria at level 2 of performance. Her language use in this task is consistent with Level B3, Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL.

TEAL Oral Task 11 – Criteria sheet – Sample 2

Sample 3

Biographical information

Year level: Year 9

Home language: Arabic

Commentary

The student begins with a greeting in response to How are you? I’m good thank you.

She responds to the question about what she has been learning using simple past, I learned how to do like a (incomprehensible) speech I chose the Ned Kelly. She then gives an extended account of Ned Kelly’s life, expressing complex ideas in language that is generally easy to understand, His father was dead when he was 12 years old… He tried to help his mother but he couldn’t, although it is not always grammatically accurate. She generally uses past tenses appropriately, sometimes in quite complex sentences such as They couldn’t believe him they tried to protect themselves from the police but they couldn’t. Some aspects of grammar break down as she attempts to express more complex information, and she sometimes mixes some simple present verbs with her general past tense narrative, as in, He killed a cow and he steal it.

The student uses simple past to describe her learning activities I went to the library and is able to use present tenses to describe ideas that are true in the present, such as They believe he’s a hero, some people believe he’s a villain, and can add a personal comment to her narrative, I believe he is a hero. The student uses a range of topic appropriate vocabulary through the narrative and comments.

Her pronunciation is generally clear, although a few words are difficult to identify, and ‘Ned’ sounds rather like ‘Nid’, and while she mostly pronounces ‘Glenrowan’ accurately, toward the end of the report this deteriorates to ‘Glenrowanin’.

The marked criteria sheet shows that the student meets most criteria at level 3 of performance. Her language use in this task is consistent with Level C3, Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL.

TEAL Oral Task 11 – Criteria sheet – Sample 3

Sample 4

Biographical information

Year level: Year 6

Home language: Vietnamese

Commentary

The student clearly communicates many different aspects of his recent learning experience. He talks about what he learned about, the activities that helped him to learn and how this may help him in the future. He covers all these topics clearly and effectively. He stumbles a little and loses fluency when he is asked questions about evaluating the learning tasks. In talking about the different aspects of his recent learning he uses a range of tenses, including simple present Books don’t really have much information…, simple past, I enjoyed, present perfect I’ve already learned about it, modals to express intention, I’d like to find out… He also expresses conditionals, In the future if I want to…, and uses a modal verb to express a future learning intention, In the future I should know. He also competently mixed tenses in single utterances to express more complex ideas, I did experiments about what black holes are (simple past and simple present) and… I used can really help me to find out. He also uses adverbs to add precision to what he is saying, Quite a few book, I only had two people, and It actually worked. He uses a wide range of vocabulary relevant to the topic.

This student’s pronunciation is very clear and causes little difficulty for an audience listening to him.

The marked criteria sheet shows that the student meets most criteria at level 3 of performance. His language use in this task is consistent with Level B3, Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL.

TEAL Oral Task 11 – Criteria sheet – Sample 4

Video Sample 5

Biographical information

Year level: Year 9

Home language: Farsi

Commentary

This student responds to the first prompt question using the present perfect, an adverb and a ‘going to’ expression of the future, We’ve recently been learning about careers and what we’re going to do next year. She goes on to talk about what she has been learning about and how she has been learning it. She is able to describe the topic of learning, careers and interior design, and also language learning, Extend our vocabulary and describing other areas of learning as well as knowledge and understanding, How to improve our skills. In doing this she uses a wide range of verb structures and tenses I learned how to I want to choose architecture We had to read. She uses a range of topic specific vocabulary, and other vocabulary to make her meaning clear, including adverbs Firstly, adjectives understandable, and some words to circumlocute things she doesn’t know how to say stuff and Things we’re going to do. While her language use is mostly accurate, there are some small errors with a few structures, saying work experiences as plural and interior designing for interior design.

Her pronunciation is clear and intelligible, and her accent is no impediment to understanding her.

The marked criteria sheet shows that the student meets most criteria at level 4 of performance. Her language use in this task is consistent with Level C4, Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL.

TEAL Oral Task 11 – Criteria sheet – Sample 5

Using the assessment to improve learning

Self review

  1. Relating assessment to learning objectives:
    • With the whole group of students, review the main points of the class discussion about independent research, and being able to talk about it. Make a list of your expectations about the language used to do this, including using present tense for things that are always true, such as, Black holes have strong gravitational pull, and simple past to describe specific, completed learning activities, such as I searched the internet...
    • Put the students into pairs, and have them listen to the recordings of their interviews.
    • Ask the students to compare their completion of the task with the list of expectations of the language to be used in the task comment on how well they did in relation to your expectations.
  2. Using a self-assessment rubric

Provide the students with a simple rubric for the task. The rubric should have rows for the information providedthe language used (words and grammar), and pronunciation. Provide 3 to 4 columns, and either negotiate or provide and explain a range of descriptions for each row, that simply report different performance levels of each dimension. Have the students listen to their recording, and circle the description that best describes what they did in each row.

Peer review

  1. Peer assessment:

Have the students work with their interview partners to listen to each of the interviews and review each students’ self assessment of themselves on the rubric. Then have each student make suggestions to their partner about how they could improve their performance in each of the following ways:

  • structuring the information they gave to make it easier to follow, or more interesting
  • the words and grammar structures they used – suggest other words or structures that could have been used
  • the clarity of the speaking: Identify any words or sounds that were hard to understand, and show their partner how these can be said more clearly.
  1. Productive feedback:

The teacher may independently review the recordings and provide feedback on each student’s performance of the task in a one-on-one conversation, or in written form, using the rubric to structure the conversation. Include feedback on how the student can improve the language they used in reporting to their partner.