The Use of Formative Assessment by Teachers in Writing and Learners Perception of its Use; in two Secondary Schools.

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Date

2020

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Université Mouloud Mammeri Tizi Ouzou

Abstract

The current research investigates the teachers’ use of Formative Assessment (FA) to develop 2ⁿᵈ year learners’ writing skill in two secondary schools of Tizi-Ouzou: Laadlani Amar in Maatkas and Amar Khodja M’Henna in Bouzguene. It sheds light on whether EFL teachers use Formative Assessment in writing sessions, the different techniques and activities employed to make use of Formative Assessment, and students’ perception of its use on the writing skill. The research is based on “the sandwich approach” proposed by Catherine Haines (2004) and Westwood’s (2008) Formative Assessment techniques. For the sake of investigating the issue, a mixed method approach is adopted which combines both the qualitative and the quantitative methods for data collection and data analysis. It integrates a questionnaire directed to 2ⁿᵈ year learners and an interview to their teachers. The study has used SPSS to analyze the quantitative data gathered from the close-ended questions of the questionnaires, and the QCA to interpret the qualitative data obtained from the open-ended questions of the questionnaire and the interview conducted with the teachers. The results of the investigation indicate that the teachers use FA to assess their students’ writings. Some teachers confirmed that they use the Feedback Sandwich Approach when assessing their learners’ writing by providing the learners with negative feedback between two positive comments. Whereas some teachers do not use the sandwich approach, they just use its features and neglect its steps. In addition, the results reveal that teachers implement FA through employing different techniques and activities such as observations, homeworks and classroom activities and other techniques. The results also show that 2ⁿᵈ year learners view that FA and teacher’s feedback are effective methods that help them to improve their writing skill.

Description

30cm ; 68p.

Keywords

Formative Assessment, writing skill. Haines’ sandwich approach. Westwood’s techniques, secondary schools.

Citation

Didactiques des Langues Étrangères