On April 21, Shinshu JALT was happy to welcome Jerry Talandis, Jr. of the University of Toyama for a talk in the new campus building of Nagano Prefectural College. Surrounded by glass walls and local wood, he presented on the very practical topic “Turning Speaking Tasks into Assessment Activities.”
Jerry began by taking us back to J.D. Brown’s presentation from JALT 2016 during which he suggested that regular classroom tasks could also be assessment activities with the addition of a feedback loop. Simply stated, “Speaking Task + Feedback Loop = Assessment Activity.”
We have probably all complained at one time or another that the testing culture of schools in Japan does not help us promote English as communication. We know that it can have a negative washback effect. Rather than reject testing, though, Jerry projected images of Akido and recommended that we redirect the energy that students have for tests to use it to our advantage. He highlighted balancing reliability (fairness), validity (measuring what it is supposed to measure), and practicality (easy to make, administer, mark) in order to create well-designed tests that can produce positive washback.
Jerry ended his talk by summarizing choices that have to be made as teachers create their feedback loop: marking approach (holistic or analytic), evaluation criteria, and practical test details, including making a feedback sheet. His sample sheets provided examples of several different styles that allow for teachers to assess fairly and quickly and that give students clear feedback they can understand and use.
After a pleasant walk around the building and snacks in the cafeteria, we returned to the classroom for some free discussion about teaching with Jerry’s textbook Conversations in Class which several attendees are using this semester.
Thank you again to Jerry and Nagano Prefectural College for an informative and enjoyable afternoon.
reported by Colleen Dalton
