Assessment in support of adult S2 teaching - staff training 19.3.–31.12.2021
The training aimed at Finnish teachers in the liberal arts field focused on assessment, and in particular on continuous assessment as a support for course planning and as a guiding activity for both teachers and students. The training aimed to broaden and strengthen teachers' understanding of the possibilities of assessment from the perspective of both the student's learning experience and the teacher's planning and goal-setting.
Training objectives:
- strengthen the continuous assessment skills of Finnish language teachers, especially as a student-directing activity (appropriate teaching methods and materials),
- process and apply information related to assessment and practice assessing both comprehension and production skills,
- support teachers in strengthening students' self-assessment skills,
- also give and receive peer feedback regarding the assessment,
- prepare a group-specific plan for achieving learning goals.
Different subject areas enabled in-depth focus on one theme through learning tasks and feedback from online discussions. The final assignment A plan for achieving learning goals required the coordination of these topics and the planning of a broader whole, which in turn benefits colleagues in the participants' work communities in joint development work. The alternative final task was to familiarize yourself with the competency-based approach A guide to competency-based assessment in liberal arts education -publication. The purpose of writing this final assignment was also to develop the participant's perspectives and implementation methods related to the evaluation of work communities.
Practical assessment expertise and pedagogical planning of course units in terms of learning materials, methods and practical solutions for assessment can also be implemented at the level of work communities through new ideas and jointly considered working practices: in everyday activities, teaching and assessment planning is very concrete and intertwined. Easy-to-use tasks that support assessment and clear objectives streamline course units and strengthen the teacher's pedagogical approach.
Feedback on training
Even though I came to the course blindfolded, I always became enlightened!
I have gained a lot of useful information and had to think about some things in a new way. It was nice that we had the opportunity to exchange opinions and get comments from experienced teachers. All of this helps me in my everyday work, in planning future courses and in preparing course materials.
I have gained a lot of useful information and had to think about some things in a new way. It was nice that we had the opportunity to exchange opinions.
I gained a lot of new information and new perspectives on teaching. The learning tasks were suitably challenging.
It was nice to get peer feedback.
Reading related to the topics of the training evenings
Continuous assessment to support teaching and learning
Aalto, Tukia, Taalas & Mustonen 2008: Suomi2, Me and the Media, teacher's guide. Helsinki: Otava.
Aalto, Tukia & Mustonen 2010: Guiding the learning process. In Tani & Nissilä (eds.), From level to level. A guide to using the language proficiency level description scale in teaching Finnish as a second language, pp. 6–23. Helsinki: Finnish National Board of Education.
Bachman & Palmer 1996: Language Testing in Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bogdanoff, M., Kärkkäinen, K., Mustonen, S., Nikula-Jäntti, T., Reiman, N., Seilonen, M., Suni, M., Tammelin-Laine, T., Tarnanen, M., Törmänen, S., Vaarala, H. & Virtanen, A. (2020). Mastering the Basic Skills Training Model.
Online material for teacher training. University of Jyväskylä.
The European Framework of Reference for Languages 2003: The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Council of Europe. Helsinki: WSOY.
Huhta & Tarnanen 2006: Language proficiency assessment lectures. University of Jyväskylä.
Kokkonen, Laakso, Piikki 2008: Should I guess or should I assess? A guide to assessing the language skills of adult immigrants. Finnish National Board of Education
Nissilä, Martin, Vaarala & Kuukka 2006: Can I be Finnish? A guide to teaching Finnish as a second language. Helsinki: Finnish National Board of Education.
Seilonen, Suni, Härmälä & Neittaanmäki 2016: An experiment in assessing professional language skills in the healthcare sector. In A. Huhta & R. Hildén (eds.), Language skills assessment study in Finland. AFinLA-e: Studies in Applied Linguistics 9. 110-141.
Tarnanen, Mirja 2016: Do you spot mistakes – do you develop your assessment? Ruusupuisto News 2/2016.
On the characteristics of spoken language, language use and teaching
Alisaari, Jenni 2017: Singing to support learning Finnish. Tuner 1/2017: pp. 1–6.
Alisaari, Jenni 2016: Songs and Poems in the second language classroom. The Hidden potential of singing for developing writing fluency. Annales Universitatis Turkuensis. Series B Humanities 426. Turku: University of Turku 2016.
Intke-Hernandez, Minna 2020: Immigrant mothers' everyday language stories: An ethnographic study of socialization into a language community. University of Helsinki.
Jarva, Vesa & Nurmi, Timo 2009: Correct Finnish. Dictionary of Spoken Finnish. Dictionary of Spoken Finnish, second, revised edition. Gummerus Kustannus Oy.
Lauranto, Yrjö 1995: Norm, register and S2 teaching. Tuner 2/1995: 261–263.
Language proficiency assessment for the proficiency badge. Teacher's guide. Language proficiency levels as marks of competence project (2018–2019), funded by the Finnish National Board of Education.
A scale for describing language proficiency levels, National Board of Education 2012
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages – Supplementary section and additional descriptors. Finnish National Board of Education 2018.
Pötzsch, Tobias 2020: Critical Social Inclusion as an alternative to integration Discourses in Finnish and Canadian Integration Education Programs. Migration - Migration. Vol 46 No. 4 (2020)
Rouhikoski, Anu 2021: Variation of directives – requests, advice and instructions in customer service situations. University of Helsinki.
Ruuska, Katharina 2020: At the Nexus of language, identity and ideology: Becoming and being a highly proficient second language speaker of Finnish.
Scotson, Mia 2020: Highly educated integrated immigrants as users of the Finnish language – Agency, emotions and perceptions.
Storhammar, Marja-Terttu 1994: The role of spoken language in foreign language education. Tuner 98 pp. 97–109.
Suni, Minna 2008: Second language in interaction: sharing linguistic resources in the early stages of second language acquisition. Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities 94. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä.
General language exams, Language exam evaluation and certification, Buckle
From the basics of reading and writing to independent writing skills
Bogdanoff, M., Kärkkäinen, K., Mustonen, S., Nikula-Jäntti, T., Reiman, N., Seilonen, M., Suni, M., Tammelin-Laine, T., Tarnanen, M., Törmänen, S., Vaarala, H. & Virtanen, A. (2020). Mastering the Basic Skills Training Model.
Online material for teacher training. University of Jyväskylä.
Kokkonen, Marja; Laakso, Saara; Piikki, Anni 2008: Should I guess or should I assess?: a guide to assessing the Finnish language of adult immigrants. Finnish National Board of Education. (also online)
Tammelin-Laine, Taina 2015: Let's start from the beginning: illiterate adults learning a new language. Tuner, 119 ( 2 ).
Tammelin-Laine, Taina 2014: Starting over: illiterate adults learning a new language [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Jyväskylä. Jyväskylä studies in humanities, 240.
Picture: Everyday basics, Unsplash