CAPES 12 : Evaluation

Teaching implies evaluation. A teacher must attempt to measure - qualitatively and, where possible, quantitatively - during all phases of the learning process. Indeed, almost anything that a teacher does should involve an evaluative dimension ; this is part of the professional distance that you will need to maintain throughout your career. For a general discussion of in-school evaluation, read the essay 'What Does Research Say About Evaluation?', by Dietel, Herman & Knuth.

When we talk about evaluation, the thing that immediately springs to mind is the numbers on the end-of-term bulletins, or the mark out of twenty that pupils expect to get for every piece of work that they hand in. But this is only the tip of the iceberg (here you'll find a personal note on this aspect of schooling).

First of all, ask yourself who evaluation is for. Whose behaviour and beliefs will be affected by your evaluations? And in what ways do you wish to affect their behaviour and beliefs?

Now ask yourself what you should evaluate. You will probably find that there is a number of different things that people want to know - how should you evaluate each of them?

Now look through a textbook. Can you distinguish between those exercises which are intended to help the learner acquire the necessary skills and those exercises which are designed to test whether he has acquired them or not? How can you tell? And how far do the evaluative exercises really evaluate what they are intended to do?

Ask yourself the question : 'If I want to evaluate the capacity that my pupils have for understanding the spoken language, does it make any difference if I ask them to respond in writing or orally? And should my questions be in English or in French?'

(If you have a question of a comment, write to me at tmason@timothyjpmason.com)