scholarly journals Exploring the washback effects of a high-stakes English test on the teaching of English in Spanish upper secondary schools

2010 ◽  
pp. 149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Amengual Pizarro
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
High Stakes Tests ◽  
The Past ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Teaching Curriculum ◽  
Upper Secondary Schools

In the past decades, there has been a growing interest in the effects of language tests, especially high-stakes tests, on teaching and learning referred to as ‘washback'. In fact, high-stakes tests have started to be exploited to reform instruction and achieve beneficial washback. This paper focuses on the washback effects of a high-stakes English Test (ET) on the teaching of English. The main goal of this study is to examine the washback effects of the ET on the following aspects of teaching: curriculum, materials, teaching methods, and teaching feelings and attitudes. The study also attempts to discover teachers' perceptions towards the introduction of a speaking and a listening component in the design of the new ET due to be implemented in 2012. The overall findings, collected from a questionnaire carried out among 51 secondary teachers, indicate that the ET is clearly affecting curriculum and materials. Results also reveal that the ET appears to influence teachers' methodology. Furthermore, most of the teachers believe that the introduction of a speaking and a listening component in the new ET design will help solve the mismatch between the communicative approach they seem to value and the skills so far evaluated in the ET.

The Challenges of History Education in Iceland

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-110
Author(s):  
Súsanna Margrét Gestsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Teaching Material ◽  
History Teaching ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Standardized Exams ◽  
Upper Secondary Schools

In this article the author discusses the teaching of history in Iceland, first and foremost in relation to the environment in which the subject finds itself, the legislation relating to it and the curriculum. Curriculum development over the past decades is examined, in addition to changes in teaching material and the general attitudes that have influenced both of these from the time of the struggle for national independence in the former half of the twentieth century. There is a discussion of the disputes that have arisen as a result of tampering with the curriculum and teaching material in history in recent years, both when new emphases were introduced in the eighties and when history teaching in upper secondary schools was substantially reduced with the new curriculum in 1999. Considerable attention is given to history teaching in upper secondary schools, despite there being a dearth of research at this level. There is quite a degree of evidence that history is popular amongst Icelandic students and the public at large. In this article, an attempt is made to analyse the state of history as a school subject in Iceland, not least in the light of the extensive freedom enjoyed by teachers in their jobs, bearing in mind that there are no standardized exams in the subject and no supervision of teaching methods. At present there is a review of the curricula at all school levels in Iceland and the future of history as a subject is therefore rather uncertain.

scholarly journals History teaching in Finnish general upper secondary schools: Objectives and practices

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matti Rautiainen ◽  
Eija Räikkönen ◽  
Anna Veijola ◽  
Simo Mikkonen
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
History Teachers ◽  
History Teaching ◽  
Student Activities ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Teaching History ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Upper Secondary Schools

In Finland, the trend towards a new kind of history teaching emphasizing the understanding of historical knowledge and historical thinking skills began in the mid-1990s, when history teaching objectives were defined much more broadly in the curriculum than previously. In this article, we examine how, in over twenty years since the changes in curriculum objectives were made, general upper secondary school teachers have come to value the curriculum objectives of history teaching and how these have impacted on their teaching. The data for this article were collected by a semi-structured survey in 2016. Using counts, percentages, means, standard deviations and medians, a descriptive exploration was made of history teachers' perceptions of the essential objectives in teaching history and how often they were put into practice in related student activities. To investigate the balance between the objectives the teachers emphasized as the most essential and the teaching methods they actually used, we applied the Kruskal–Wallis test and the Friedman test. According to the results, what the teachers considered essential for teaching history did not correlate with their teaching methods. In addition, according to the results, this state of affairs is still undergoing change; old traditions and new objectives of history teaching are creating tensions. The results were interpreted in the light of the cultural viewpoints of Finnish teaching, the position of matriculation examinations in Finnish general upper secondary schools and the challenges the curriculum is setting for history teachers.

scholarly journals WASHBACK TO LANGUAGE TEACHERS: A REVIEW OF MODELS AND EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN AND BEYOND VIETNAM

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinh Minh Thu
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Key Innovation ◽  
Teachers Professional Development

Washback, i.e., test effects on teaching and learning, has been emerging as an attractive research topic in language training and assessment for over the past 20 years for its significant implications of test validation and fairness for both policy-makers and practitioners. Presently, it deserves more Vietnamese researchers' interest in the context of the enactment of the National Foreign Language Project 2020 (extended to 2025), which puts language assessment as a key innovation requirement. Washback operates either positively or negatively; i.e. promoting or inhibiting learning. Teachers are considered the precursor in the washback mechanism. There is only one washback model on the washback effects on teachers, which is proposed by Shih (2009). This paper aims to critically browse other washback models besides Shin’s (2009) to generate a washback framework on teachers' perceptions and practices. Previous empirical washback research on teachers in and beyond Vietnam is, then, investigated in alignment with the aspects illustrated in the framework to point out achievements and gaps in the field. A qualitative approach of document analysis of over forty studies of differing types, i.e. books, dissertations and articles, has been adopted to reach the research aim. The discussion is divided into two major parts, including the washback models pertaining to teachers to scaffold a model for teachers' perceptions and practices, and the results in empirical research in terms of the aspects mentioned in the model. Findings show that washback on teachers' perceptions ranges from perceptions of the test itself, students' language ability, teaching contents and methodology to teachers' professional development. Plus, washback on teachers' practices concerns their selections of teaching contents and methodology in class as well as their involvement in professional development. The element of professional development can be considered a new light in the reviewed washback model. This has a significant meaning by raising teachers' awareness of developing themselves professionally. The current paper expects to contribute to elaborating the scenario of washback research for interested researchers, practitioners and policymakers not only in but beyond the context of Vietnam.

Interactive Learning of Recursion

2012 ◽  
pp. 254-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Pérez-Carrasco ◽  
J. Ángel Velázquez-Iturbide
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Mental Models ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Conceptual Models ◽  
Computer Science Education ◽  
Interactive Learning ◽  
The Past

One concept that has proved to be especially difficult to comprehend in computer science education is recursion. This chapter provides an overview of past efforts on the teaching of recursion. The authors first introduce concepts and models about the teaching and learning of recursion. In particular, they identify models used by teachers to explain recursion (i.e. conceptual models) and models used by students in their learning process (i.e. mental models). Afterwards, they review the teaching methods used in the past. Finally, the authors survey visualization and animation systems for recursion, explaining how they support conceptual models and how they try to remove wrong mental models. They also include a comprehensive technical comparison of the systems and review the evaluations these systems have been subject to.

“A degree of latitude”: Thinking historically and making holistic judgements about internally assessed NCEA course work

2014 ◽  
pp. 18-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Sheehan
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Historical Thinking ◽  
Research Process ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Course Work ◽  
Assessment Tasks ◽  
Specific Feedback ◽  
Assessment Environment ◽  
Conceptual Nature

This article draws on a recent New Zealand study of how young people learn to think critically about the past when they conduct internally assessed course work. The research demonstrated that, although students can develop advanced understandings of historical thinking when they conduct research projects, this development is largely dependent on how well teachers understand the conceptual nature of historical thinking. Teachers who understand how the discipline of history operates are more consistent and accurate in making judgements, able to provide specific feedback to students during the research process and they structure their assessment tasks to reflect historical thinking concepts. In the high-stakes internal assessment environment of NCEA understanding how the concepts of historical thinking drive teaching and learning at this level matters. It provides a robust, disciplinary framework that teachers can draw on when they are judging students’ work. This framework equips them to have the confidence to mark holistically when this is appropriate and to see the criteria as a guide.

Straddling the Fence: Implementing Best Practices in an Age of Accountability

2002 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 30-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine M. Brighton
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Best Practices ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Classroom Practices ◽  
State Testing ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
State Tests ◽  
High Stakes Tests ◽  
Age Of Accountability ◽  
Effective Teaching And Learning

Educators in contemporary public schools face tremendous challenges: implementing classroom practices aligned with their beliefs about effective teaching and learning while still balancing the need to prepare students for success on state-mandated, high-stakes tests. Teachers, attempting to straddle the fence between what they believe to be the most sound curricular and instructional practices and test-focused experiences for learners struggle to find a path that balances these seemingly contradictory demands. However, increased pressure to meet state testing goals appears to directly affect teachers' instructional and assessment behaviors, as they increasingly provide students with experiences that closely resemble, if not directly mimic state tests (McNeil, 2000; McNeil & Venezuela, 2000; Moon, 2001; Quality Counts, 1999; Shepard, 2000).

scholarly journals Chemistry in crisis? Perspectives on teaching and learning chemistry in Swedish upper secondary schools

1970 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Broman ◽  
Margareta Ekborg ◽  
Dan Johnels
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Chemistry Education ◽  
School Students ◽  
Advanced Level ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Subject Areas ◽  
Upper Secondary Level ◽  
Upper Secondary Schools

Explanations for a decline in the number of students studying chemistry at advanced level all over the world have been sought for quite some time. Many students do not find chemistry relevant and meaningful and there have been difficulties in developing school chemistry courses that engage students sufficiently and tempt them to further studies in the field. In this study, Swedish upper secondary school students (Ns=372) and their teachers (Nt=18) answered a questionnaire on their experiences of the content and the working methods of their chemistry course. They were also given the opportunity to express ideas on how to make chemistry courses more interesting and meaningful. The results point out some subject areas as both easy and interesting, e.g. atomic structure; while other areas are hard to understand but still interesting, e.g. biochemistry. The students find chemistry lessons teachercentred, something they appreciate. When teachers and students gave suggestions on how to improve the relevance of chemistry education at upper secondary level, more laboratory work and connections to everyday life were the most common proposals. But on the whole, these students seem quite satisfied with their chemistry courses.

scholarly journals ”At knække lærerkoden” – en elevperspektivisk analyse af adressater ved mundtlig eksamen

2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-311
Author(s):  
Julie Isager
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Case Analysis ◽  
Oral Exam ◽  
School Students ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
High Stakes Tests ◽  
Student Interviews ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Gain Access

In order to graduate, Danish (and Norwegian) upper secondary high-school students are assessed orally in high-stakes tests by two teacher-assessors. Based on a fieldwork following students preparing for the oral exam, the article investigates who the students are presupposing to talk to at the exam. Exam introductions and student interviews are analyzed using Bachtin’s dialogical theory. The paradigmatic case analysis finds that students focus on delivering interpretations that they think the teacher wants to hear, since alternative interpretations are considered a confrontation with the assessors. Potentially, this limits what students allow assessors to gain access to at the exam.

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