UNIT IV: ASSESSING STUDENTS' Overall, as these practices guarantee that students

learning is relevant to the world they live in, it focuses on

GRAMMAR OUTPUTS skills and knowledge that are immediately applicable to
21st-century assessment- serves as a fundamental their lives and future careers. However, practices will not
blueprint for educators be as effective as it should be without conforming that
 offering essential guidance for the development and the assessment crafted is indeed aligned with various
implementation of assessment activities. rigid characteristics.

Assessment activities- these activities are instrumental in CHARACTERISTICS OF 21ST CENTURY ASSESSMENT
determining the effectiveness of the educational process. 1. Responsive- The observable performance-based work,
 provide the means to measure and evaluate the which is the outcome of assessment, provides valuable
learning journey, ensuring that education fulfils its data used to shape curriculum and guide instructional
intended purpose. decisions.
Example: An example involves engaging in a discussion
It is imperative that the assessment procedures and about a particular literary work and then implementing a
instruments align with the specific requisites, ensuring formative assessment by having students respond to a
that learners are evaluated in accordance with the skillset question on paper, such as, "How does the piece reflect
and demands of the 21st century. your own life experiences?"

As diverse evaluation techniques were utilized in 2. Flexible - In the realm of education, crafting lessons,
developing learners' knowledge and skills, these are some developing curricula, and conducting assessments
practices that foster their growth towards a well-rounded demand flexibility, adaptability, and the capacity to adjust
teaching-learning environment: as needed.
Example: Organizing a survey to identify the multiple
intelligences within your class, grouping students based
1. Formative Assessment - involves continuous feedback on their specific intelligences, and them to deliver creative
and adaptations throughout the learning journey. presentations. and then encouraging

 Widely employed to aid students in comprehending 3.Integrated -Assessments should be seamlessly

progress and facilitating improvement. integrated into daily teaching routines, rather than being
treated as supplementary tasks appended to the
2. Performance-Based Assessment - focuses on students'
conclusion of lessons or confined to a specific week on
ability to apply knowledge and skills in practical, real-
world scenarios. the school calendar.
Example: Regularly evaluating your students, as
Examples: presentations, projects, simulations. assessment should occur at the conclusion 1 of a learning
period. Additionally, providing periodically, students with
3. Summative Assessment - gauges the degree to which formative assessments rather than exclusively relying
students have achieved objectives or met standards. ones

 Differs from formative assessments, which provide 4. Informative - Clear 21st-century goals and objectives
feedback and assistance for improvement are explicitly taught, with students demonstrating their
throughout the process. evolving skills, guided by exemplars, and ensuring
alignment between learning objectives, instructional
strategies, assessments, and reporting.
4. Culturally Relevant Assessment- assessments are Example: Before starting a class, it's essential as an
crafted to be culturally sensitive and all- encompassing, educator to present the topic's goals and objectives to
acknowledging the variety of learners and their respective make students aware of them. This awareness will then
backgrounds. guide them toward their achievements.

5. Interdisciplinary Assessments- A common feature of 6. Multiple Methods - Assessment includes a range of

21-century assessment is the promotion of students' strategies, with students demonstrating knowledge and
ability to link knowledge across diverse subjects and skills through relevant tasks and projects. Authentic,
disciplines. performance-based assessment is emphasized, and there
is a recognition and appreciation of the learning
These approaches are designed to equip students with processes and products.
the skills and adaptability needed to make meaningful 7.
contributions to the demands and opportunities of the Example: Considering that each individual possesses
contemporary world, ensure that learners are prepared unique multiple intelligences, teachers should not rely on
for the challenges of today's rapidly changing world. a single method for assessing their students' learning.
 the understand their progress, and providing guidance on
6. Communicated - Assessment data is communicated in how to enhance their understanding and skills.
a clear and transparent manner to all parties involved.
Example: When an educator returns their students' SUMMARY
papers, it enables the students to track their progress Outcome-based education (OBE) in education focuses on
based on the assessed answers they provided. students achieving specific learning outcomes, unlike
Additionally, submitting students' grades on schedule traditional teaching methods that focus on content and
ensures that parents are well-informed about their child's skills mastery. The curriculum serves as a guide for
academic performance and achievements. teachers, guiding the creation and execution of
assessment activities that evaluate the educational
7. Technically Sound - The assessment process is adjusted process's success and ensure that students are assessed
and accommodations are provided to ensure fairness and in line with the 21"-century competencies and needs.
meet the individual needs of each student.
Example: Ensuring that assessments are reliable, valid, CHAPTER 5 : ISSUES OF GRAMMAR
support fair comparisons, and are tailored to the unique
characteristics of each student under a teacher's care. TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT
Carol Burnett - "Words, once they are printed, have a life
8. Systematic - The 21st Century Assessment is an integral
of their own."
component of a comprehensive and harmonized system
that is equitable and encompasses all students, Jeffrey Gitomer - Your grammar is a reflection of your
stakeholders, and constituents. Its purpose is to facilitate image. Good or bad, you have made an impression. And
improvement at all educational levels. like all impressions, you are in total control.
Example: Ensuring the identification of students' needs to
Our belief and attitude towards learning a language may
develop them into globally competitive individuals by
influence our level of success in grammar teaching in the
providing a well-suited plan and lessons to address any
future and grammar learning at present.
existing gaps.
Teaching and learning go together, one cannot teach what
Adoption of 21st century assessment characteristic is one hasn't learned.
essential as they harmonize education with the
contemporary world's requirements and prospects. SEVEN arguments why grammar should be taught and put
These characteristics, emphasizing: at the forefront of language teaching.
 critical thinking, 1) The sentence-machine argument
 problem-solving,
 adaptability, and The gramar is like a “sentence- maker machine “ and it
 cultural competence gives learnersthe oportunity to develop their limitless
crativity. The number of opportunities a learner can make
is controlled by vocabulary at the learners command and
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN "ASSESSMENT OF creativity.
LEARNING" AND "ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING™ 2) The fine-tuning argument

1. Assessment of Learning- involves the evaluation and Teaching grammar is corrective against ambiguity. For
summary of students' knowledge and skills, example:

Last Friday night, I was boring in my house. In written

- usually conducted at the conclusion of a specific
language, the Latement has to be more explicit. It is
learning period, such as a lesson, unit, course, or
similar to the 'Me Tarzan, you Jane'-type language that
academic year.
fail to deliver in terms of intelligibility and
appropriateness,
- primary objective is to gauge the extent of students'
overall understanding and to assign grades or certificates 3) The fossilization argument
based on their achievements.
Technically, linguistic competence becomes fossilized
when learners who receive no instruction become at risk
2. Assessment for Learning- also known as formative
of fossilizing sooner.
assessment,
4) The advance-organizer argument
- is a continuous process of offering feedback and support
to students throughout their learning journey. Grammar instruction could have a delayed effect.
Grammar teaching received previously even insufficient
- this approach aims to improve learning in real-time by can still turn one into a fluent speaker especially when
identifying students' strengths and weaknesses, helping there was a heavy emphasis on grammar.
5) The discrete item argument 2. Lack of Facilities

Crucial to aid in making grammar lesson more meaningful

 Grammar consists of a finite set of rules that help
reduce the enormity of language learning for both are the sufficient facilities. Enough exposure of the target
teachers and students by organizing it into neat language will help learner learn language better (Ana &
categories (called discrete items). Grammarians Ratminingsih, 2012) Teaching and learning process could
make language digestible. be done with the chalk-and-talk method (Hassan, 2013;
 Normazidah, Koo & Hazita, 2012), but the lesson might be
A discrete item is any unit of the grammar system perceived as boring. Students these days appreciate the
defined to form the focus of a lesson or exercise lessons which involve more the use of ICT facilities or at
(e.g., the present continuous, the definite article, least presentation slides (Hiew, 2012)
possessive pronouns).

6) The rule-of-law argument

3. Negative perceptions on the teaching of grammar
Since grammar is a system of learnable rules, it lends
The way we perceive grammar greatly affects the amount
itself to a view of teaching and learning known as
of learning and rate of proficiency in language learning.
transmission.
Having a negative perception on language teaching as
 A transmission view refers to the role of education as noted by Wong and Barrea-Marlys (2012) may demotivate
the transfer of a body of knowledge (typically in the both the English lecturers and the students. They, the
form of facts and rules) from those that have the students have to bear the consequences as a result of the
knowledge to those that do not. English lecturers' perceptions. Wong and Barrea-Marlys
2012.
It is typically associated with the kind of institutionalized
learning where rules, order and discipline are highly
valued. The need for rules, order and discipline is
4. Preparing grammar lessons
particularly acute in large classes of unruly and
unmotivated teenagers a situation that many teachers of Preparing grammar lessons can be very heavy and difficult
English are confronted with daily. In this sort of situation on the part of the teacher than most people think Azar
grammar offers the teacher a structured system that can (2007) emphasized that the lessons should be a balance
be taught and tested in methodical steps. between fulfilling the students' needs and achieving the
objectives. English teachers should find good resources
and materials in preparing grammar lessons.
7) The learner expectations argument

Regardless of the many arguments for or against grammar

teaching,learners do come to language classes with fairly
fixed expectations. These expectations may be derived
from previous classroom language learning experiences.
So, should we teach grammar, or should we just create
the conditions for learners to learn naturally? What
grammar should we teach?

PEDAGOGICAL ISSUES

Research shows five main challenges in teaching

grammar: lack of experience, expectations of students,
lack of facilities, negative perceptions about teaching
grammar, and preparing grammar lessons (Yusob, 2018).

1. Lack of Experience and Students' Expectations

Students have high expectations of teachers. When

teachers lack the experience, it is tantamount to failing.
Teachers must know his or her students, how they learn,
and how to make them learn. Experience is something
essential in managing a grammar class and the lack of
experience makes grammar teaching for them a trial and
error event which often results to learning frustrations on
the part of the students.