When deciding how to assess students effectively and efficiently, one must first consider what is at stake for the students in the classroom. (Taylor & Nolen, 2008) My personal assessment philosophy includes a combination of a few different assessment techniques. A compilation of such techniques can ensure that I can guarantee effective instruction and identify a student or group of students who need additional support and/or resources.

 

First, the students will build expressive ASL portfolios, beginning from their first day in ASL 1, and continuing all the way through the program to display their progress over time. These portfolios encourage the students to take ownership of their own linguistic journey. They are solid evidence of growth and future potential. With the addition of the portfolios, and in-class, simultaneous, informal assessment, I am able to provide quality washback for the language learners.

 

My students understand what is important to learn and the criteria or expectations for good work by interpreting and utilizing the assessment tools I provide to them. Specifically, my expressive language rubric seen on the Assessment Tools page. It is of utmost importance to make sure that the students have clear test directions, and familiar test factors which makes it imperative to use the same rubric for all expressive assignments. (Taylor & Nolen, 2008)

 

For a positive assessment environment in the language classroom, there must be no time-limit, the tasks must be broken down into smaller, more achievable tasks, and the students be allowed an allotted time to practice their expressions.