Assessment


Assessment is a continuous and planned process of identifying, collecting and interpreting information about the performance of learners. Assessment needs to be both formal and informal. Oxford Successful English provides a complete programme for both formal and informal assessment.


Informal assessment


Informal assessment is done daily in order to monitor the progress of learners and improve their learning. This is done through observation, discussions, practical demonstrations, learner-teacher conferences and informal classroom interactions. You do not have to record the results of this informal assessment, but you may wish to keep your own informal notes and records about how the learners are progressing. You cannot take the results of informal assessment into account for promotion purposes. Informal assessment can be done by the teacher, by


the learners themselves, and by their peers. Involving the learners in assessment allows learners to find out about and reflect on their own performances. Informal assessment should include feedback to the learners so that they can improve their work. You can also motivate them by having some spelling tests and by awarding marks for some (but not all) of the activities they complete. In Oxford Successful English we have carefully


selected and suggested informal assessment opportunities that will prepare learners for formal assessment tasks and get a holistic/composite view of progress, and the skills being developed. Please refer to the weekly informal assessment


guidelines in the teaching notes for details of these activities.


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 7–9 consists of the following tasks:


Formal Assessment Tasks Grade 9


Term 1


Task 1: Oral


Task 2: Writing Task 3: Language and comprehension (Test 1)


40% of promotion mark


%


Term 2


Term 3


Task 1: Oral Task 2: Writing Task 3 (Mid-year examination)


Task 1: Oral Task 2: Writing Task 3: Comprehension and language use (Test 2)


Term 4


Task 1: Oral Task 2 (End-of-year examination)


60% of promotion mark Total: 100%


Ten tasks make up 40% of the promotion mark for each year. The End-of-year examination makes up the remaining 60% 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 questions and 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 Grade 9


We have selected a variety of activities for the Formal Programme of Assessment Tasks in each grade to ensure that learners are given the 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. Each task is weighted according to the CAPS weighting. The tasks can also be used in a flexible way and adapted


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