Formal assessment


The purpose of Formal assessment is to provide teachers with a systematic and fair way of evaluating how well learners are progressing in a grade and in a subject. A Formal Assessment Programme is prescribed for each grade in CAPS. Formal assessment tasks are marked and formally recorded for progression purposes. The Formal Assessment Programme for Grades


4–6 consists of the following tasks: Formal Assessment Tasks


Term 1 Task 1 Task 2


Term 2 Task 1 Task 2 (June examination)


Term 3 Task 1 Task 2


Term 4 Task 1 Task 2 (End of the year examination)


25% of promotion mark Total: 100%


Seven tasks make up 75% of the promotion mark for each year. An end of the year examination makes up the remaining 25% of the total mark for the year. For Formal assessment you will need to use


memoranda (with marks), rubrics, checklists and rating scales to observe, assess and record the learners’ work. Formal assessment must cater for a range of


cognitive levels. You must use a variety of types of questions in assessment tasks, for example: direct questions, multiple-choice questions, gap-fill (cloze) questions and comparisons for these different levels:


• Level 1 Literal • Level 2 Reorganisation • Level 3 Inference • Level 4 Evaluation • Level 5 Appreciation. You should consult Barrett’s taxonomy of reading comprehension questionsand Section 4.3.2 of the CAPS documents for further information about cognitive levels. We have provided these assessment tools for


you in the Assessment tools section of this Teacher’s Guide.


The Formal Programme of Assessment in Oxford Successful English


We have selected a variety of activities for the Formal Programme of Assessment Tasks in each grade to ensure that learners are given the


%


75% of promotion mark


opportunity to show how well they have progressed in different tasks. We have included questioning at different cognitive levels, as required by CAPS, as well. (For further information about cognitive levels, please refer to Section 4.3.2 of the CAPS document.) The Formal Programme of Assessment Tasks


follow those suggested in the CAPS documents in Section 4.4. Each task is weighted according to the CAPS weighting. The tasks can also be used in a flexible way and adapted to the needs of your school or class. Each suggested task in the Learner’s Book and Reading Book (independent reading) is indicated with an icon P. We have also indicated it in the same way for these activities in the Teacher’s Guide. Sometimes we have provided more than one


activity per Formal Assessment Task. For example, we have often provided two comprehensions to ensure that learners are tested on a variety of topics (themes) and to ensure a fair reflection of different skills learned. In Grade 4 the comprehensions are quite short and then they get progressively longer to prepare the learners for longer comprehensions in the Senior Phase. You can let the learners do these two activities at times that best suit the school timetabling requirements. The Formal assessment activities will not


always fall in one unit (two-week cycle). This is because it would be very difficult to complete an assessment of each learner in this time and because the learners need to continue with other work as well during these cycles. It is only during Weeks 9 and 10 of Terms 2 and 4 that the focus falls completely on assessment. At the end of Terms 2 and 4 we have provided


Revision units in which the learners will find activities similar to those that they can expect to complete in the examinations and tests. To help with assessment, please refer to the following sections in this Teacher’s Guide:


• For the Formal Programme of Assessment for Grade 6, please refer to the Planning tools section.


• Recording sheets are provided in the Assessment tools section.


• Generic rubrics and assessment rubrics are provided in the Assessment tools section.


The needs of learners in the Intermediate Phase


Learners in the Intermediate Phase need to acquire a number of skills to prepare them for the demands of the Senior Phase and beyond. An appropriately structured environment that recognises the unique needs of young learners can help to lay the foundation for future success. The most common needs of young learners are shown in the table on the next page:


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