“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.

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.

scholarly journals Las narrativas nacionales en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la historia: Una revisión sobre los libros de texto y las narrativas de los estudiantes

Panta Rei ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-166
Author(s):  
César López Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Historical Thinking ◽  
History Textbooks ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
The Past ◽  
Revisión Sistemática ◽  
20Th Century History ◽  
The One ◽  
Siglo Xx

Tradicionalmente, las narrativas nacionales han jugado un papel central en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la historia. Sin embargo, desde finales del siglo XX, existe un énfasis en señalar lo inadecuado de estas narrativas para el desarrollo del pensamiento histórico. Este artículo, mediante una revisión sistemática, analiza la evolución del papel de las narrativas nacionales en los últimos 25 años. Para ello, se analiza por un lado el papel de las narrativas nacionales en los manuales de historia. Por otro lado, se recogen los principales avances producidos en cómo los estudiantes narran la historia de su nación. Las investigaciones muestran una pervivencia de estas narrativas nacionales en la transmisión y comprensión del pasado, si bien continúan surgiendo proyectos relevantes para desnacionalizar la enseñanza del pasado. Finalmente, se discuten algunos de los retos futuros que se plantean para este tipo de investigaciones. Traditionally, national narratives have played a central role in the teaching and learning of history. However, since the end of the 20th century, history educators have pointed out how these narratives can hinder the development of historical thinking. Through a systematic literature review, this article analyses the role of national narratives as it has evolved in the last 25 years. On the one hand, studies focused on the role of national narratives in history textbooks are analysed. On the other hand, the article reflects on the advances in research on how the students narrate the past of their nation. In general, research shows the relevance of these national narratives in the way the past is produced and consumed. Nevertheless, new projects continue to emerge which propose to denationalize the past. Finally, some of the new challenges for this line of research are discussed.

Tensions, articulations, and novelty in the ontogenetic development of historical thinking: Contributions of cultural–historical psychology

2021 ◽  
pp. 095935432110289
Author(s):  
Natalia Albornoz ◽  
Christian Sebastián
Keyword(s):  
Historical Thinking ◽  
Ontogenetic Development ◽  
Psychological Process ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Mediated Action ◽  
The Past ◽  
Future Action

To analyse or experience history, to argue or narrate it, two approaches define and explain the phenomenon of thinking about history. In recent decades, thinking about history has become especially relevant because of its relationship with citizenship, either to evaluate evidence of the past or to guide present and future action. The contributions of psychology are diverse and come from traditions that refer to apparently antagonistic psychological processes, such as narrative and argumentation. The objective of this article is to address this discussion from a cultural–historical approach, specifically Vygotskian. We propose that argumentation and narrative are psychological processes that can be developed separately in ontogeny. Both processes, under certain conditions and socially mediated action, are stressed and articulated to give way to historical thinking, a higher psychological process.

Engaging Exam-Oriented Students in Communicative Language Teaching by ‘Packaging’ Learning English Through Songs as Exam Practice

RELC Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003368822097854
Author(s):  
Kevin Wai-Ho Yung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
High Stakes Testing ◽  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Secondary English ◽  
Language Curriculum ◽  
Teachers And Students

Literature has long been used as a tool for language teaching and learning. In the New Academic Structure in Hong Kong, it has become an important element in the senior secondary English language curriculum to promote communicative language teaching (CLT) with a process-oriented approach. However, as in many other English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) contexts where high-stakes testing prevails, Hong Kong students are highly exam-oriented and expect teachers to teach to the test. Because there is no direct assessment on literature in the English language curriculum, many teachers find it challenging to balance CLT through literature and exam preparation. To address this issue, this article describes an innovation of teaching ESL through songs by ‘packaging’ it as exam practice to engage exam-oriented students in CLT. A series of activities derived from the song Seasons in the Sun was implemented in the ESL classrooms in a secondary school in Hong Kong. Based on the author’s observations and reflections informed by teachers’ and students’ comments, the students were first motivated, at least instrumentally, by the relevance of the activities to the listening paper in the public exam when they saw the similarities between the classroom tasks and past exam questions. Once the students felt motivated, they were more easily engaged in a variety of CLT activities, which encouraged the use of English for authentic and meaningful communication. This article offers pedagogical implications for ESL/EFL teachers to implement CLT through literature in exam-oriented contexts.

Interpreting testing and assessment: A state-of-the-art review

2021 ◽  
pp. 026553222110361
Author(s):  
Chao Han
Keyword(s):  
State Of The Art ◽  
Professional Certification ◽  
Automatic Assessment ◽  
Prospective Students ◽  
Assessment Practice ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Assessment Tasks ◽  
Interpreter Education ◽  
Selection Of

Over the past decade, testing and assessing spoken-language interpreting has garnered an increasing amount of attention from stakeholders in interpreter education, professional certification, and interpreting research. This is because in these fields assessment results provide a critical evidential basis for high-stakes decisions, such as the selection of prospective students, the certification of interpreters, and the confirmation/refutation of research hypotheses. However, few reviews exist providing a comprehensive mapping of relevant practice and research. The present article therefore aims to offer a state-of-the-art review, summarizing the existing literature and discovering potential lacunae. In particular, the article first provides an overview of interpreting ability/competence and relevant research, followed by main testing and assessment practice (e.g., assessment tasks, assessment criteria, scoring methods, specificities of scoring operationalization), with a focus on operational diversity and psychometric properties. Second, the review describes a limited yet steadily growing body of empirical research that examines rater-mediated interpreting assessment, and casts light on automatic assessment as an emerging research topic. Third, the review discusses epistemological, psychometric, and practical challenges facing interpreting testers. Finally, it identifies future directions that could address the challenges arising from fast-changing pedagogical, educational, and professional landscapes.

EU-China Student and Academic Staff Mobility: Present Situation and Future Developments

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cécile Mathou ◽  
Jin Yan
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Present Situation ◽  
Research Process ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Future Developments ◽  
The Past ◽  
Comprehensive Information

Abstract The objective of this study was to provide comprehensive information about student and academic staff mobility between the European Union (EU) and China as well as the main strategies and policies in place to promote mobility. Based on quantitative and qualitative data provided by national authorities and various stakeholders consulted throughout the research process, the study aimed at taking stock of the situation and identifying trends regarding EU-China learning mobility over the past ten years. It also aimed at drawing recommendations to improve current and future mobility actions between the two regions.

scholarly journals Online teaching: a reflection

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Sam Baddeley
Keyword(s):  
Online Education ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Personal Reflection ◽  
Remote Education ◽  
The Past

This article, written at the start of April 2021, is a personal reflection on what has and hasn't worked in remote/online education. I have drawn on my own experience of teaching over the course of the past year, observations of classroom practice I have undertaken as a mentor and middle leader with responsibility for teaching and learning in my school, and conversations I have had with colleagues in my school and elsewhere; it is, therefore, highly anecdotal, and the reader is asked to bear in mind the fact that, like many others, my journey into online teaching was enforced by the closure of schools during the first nationwide lockdown in March 2020. My core aim during both lockdowns was to provide for my students the best experience possible until such a time as we could all return to the physical classroom. As it became clear towards the end of 2020 and the start of 2021 that we were going to need to return to remote education, I began to think more deeply about the strategies I was employing in my online teaching, how effective they were for my students, and what I might do to maximise their learning experience and outcomes.

Design Philanthropy: Challenges and Opportunities in the Evolution of Philanthropic Giving

2021 ◽  
pp. 089590482110494
Author(s):  
Melissa Arnold Lyon ◽  
Shani S. Bretas ◽  
Douglas D. Ready
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Educational Innovation ◽  
Venture Philanthropy ◽  
Policy Borrowing ◽  
The Past ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Instructional Core ◽  
Democratic Engagement

Over the past several decades large philanthropies have adopted aggressive approaches to education reform that scholars have labeled venture philanthropy. These efforts focused on broad changes to schooling and education policy, borrowing techniques from the venture capital world. But many foundations have recently become convinced that market forces and macro-level policymaking alone cannot drive educational improvement, particularly in areas related to classroom teaching and learning. In response, foundations have begun to design their own instructional innovations and identify providers to implement them. This paper interprets these recent efforts as early evidence of a distinct adaptation in the evolving role of philanthropies, which we dub design philanthropy. Although this approach represents an attempt by foundations to simultaneously increase democratic engagement, directly influence the instructional core, and spur educational innovation, it poses new risks for coherence, scalability, and sustainability in education policymaking.

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