By Enrique Rojas R.
An issue that has been
discussed for a long time, without having a conciliatory answer been found, is
whether class teachers should be the ones who create the exams for their
students or if the tests should be drawn up by the educational institutions or
someone else. There are even people who think that the evaluating tools should
be produced at a supra school level and be used by the different schools.
The problem is that assessment
is necessary for different reasons and for different purposes. As professional
educators, we know there exist placement, formative, diagnostic and summative
evaluations. The first is to classify and place our students; the second, to ascertain the pupil-progress from
time to time; the third tries to identify the learning impediments or drawback
of pupils during instruction and the fourth is to assign grades to the students
and determine whether they should or should not be promoted.
The
success of standardized international exams resides precisely in their capacity
to determine the real level of learners’ proficiency in the language, something
that the usual classifications of teaching institutions fail to do (Beginners,
Intermediate, Advance, etc.)
So,
there is no formula to prepare efficient evaluation means without determining
first what we wish to evaluate and with which purpose. The type of assessment
and evaluative tool should be based on that. And different types of assessment
may not be combinable but you can alternate them, although you should be
careful not to overwhelm students with too many or too frequent evaluations.
On
the other hand, we cannot overlook that exams have a negative side
too. Since
their outlook becomes so important for the future of students their whole
learning activity becomes oriented towards achieving good grades rather than
learning. Studies made in Great Britain revealed that students under pressure
to perform well in tests obtained lower grades than others that were simply
encouraged to learn. Another study showed
that when teachers focused on their students' learning, the students became
more analytical than when the teachers concentrated on their pupils' exam
results. That some students get demoralized by bad exam
performance and that provokes a bad attitude towards studying is also a reality
witnessed by many teachers.
In sum, evaluating should not be just considered
a habit or something we have to live with or even abuse of, but when we prepare
to do it we must be very clear why we do it and what we pretend to do with it
and use the appropriate tools in accordance with that.
Now is your turn:
Your pupils study to learn or to get good grades?
Is taking test a positive experience for your
students?
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
Graduated in Journalism at the PUCP, Peru, Enrique Rojas R. holds a MA in Journalism and MA in Inter American History from Southern Illinois University, USA; an MA in Literature from University of the Americas, Puebla, Mexico, all the coursework for a MA in TEFL at Universidad de Piura, Peru and BA in Education from Universidad Federico Villarreal. He has also obtained Certificates of Proficiency in English both from Cambridge University and the University of Michigan and the Diploma for EFL Teachers from Universidad del Pacifico. He is an Oral Examiner for the Cambridge University exams and has been awarded the title Expert in E-Learning from Asociacion Educativa del Mediterraneo and Universidad Marcelino Champagnat. He has worked as a professor in universities in Peru, Mexico and the United States; as a newscaster and a producer in radio and television stations in the United States and Mexico, and as a writer and editor in daily newspapers of the same countries. He has been in the staff of CIDUP for 19 years teaching English and Spanish specializing in International Exams, English for Business, ESP and Teacher Training. He has been a speaker in every Congress of English for Special Purposes organized by Centro de Idiomas de la U.P. He is also a member of its Research Area.
