Education Essay Example: Assessment Alternatives

Explain Why Alternative Assessment Techniques Are Viable Techniques to Help Gain Information about Students

Most learners and other stakeholders in the education sector are mostly familiar with traditional assessment techniques. The old-style methods have so far started fading, and other techniques have steadily and without haste made headway. However, it is noble to ensure that the emergence of alternative ones is well understood and do not lead to a negative reception in the academic scope. To ensure that they are implemented well, there is a need to know two aspects linked to the assessment. One of them is to evaluate their need and understand why they are needed for assessment purposes. The other one is to assess the what aspect. In this case, there is a need to evaluate whether the alternative assessments are what the learners need to improve their class and co-curricular activities. The current paper explains the viability of alternative assessment techniques that are critical in helping gain information regarding students.

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Above all, it is worthwhile to note that traditional student evaluation methods have been relying on a learner's cognitive capabilities. In this case, they solely made students cram or only concentrate on only the content they learned in class. The scheme did not seem to help many learners as students are taught to recall not to innovate new methods nor expand their knowledge. In addition, such learners are never equipped with skills that help them solve some of the chronic daily problems. As a consequence, the thinking and cognitive skills become stagnated and never think outside the class content. With this problem, there is the need to introduce alternative assessment techniques to ensure that students are up-to-date with daily happenings and can actively work towards eliminating some erupting issues.

Another importance of alternative techniques is to determine what a learner can do. It is esteemed to determine whether the student possesses any valuable information that is crucial in performing non-academic functions effectively (Opitz & Erekson, 2015). In this case, the alternative assessments measure the ability of such students to use their proficiencies in tasks that demand knowledge. In this case, learners are provided with a platform to develop their understanding through the ability to perform various projects. Some of the ways to do these tasks are to complete specific projects that require a certain level of expertise, show their proficiency in various demonstration projects, and prove their knowledge after doing these tasks.

Conducting informal interviews is one way of assessing the behavior and likes of learners. In this case, an instructor can determine the likes and dislikes associated with each specific learner. Interviews help teachers create rapport with learners which helps them identify the learning weaknesses among them and their perception towards academic life. Also, this method enables teachers to guide learners to achieve specific targets that may not be achievable when done solely. An example of this aspect is by offering a questionnaire to learners and conducting them to write honest information regarding themselves. Later, this is used as a guiding tool to correct any problems that may be realized.

Other alternative techniques that may be used are the use of interest inventories, reading autobiographies, reading and analyzing surveys, and use of projective techniques. Interest inventories are vital in learning the students' likes and dislikes after which this is used as a stimulating tool by teachers to motivate and guide them. Reading autobiographies help students analyze their problems and correct them when done in either group or individually. Thus, it is critical to note the various alternative assessment techniques that are available for learner evaluation. It helps in guiding them to understanding more than what is expected in the classroom.

Ways Teachers can Help their Students Expand their Vocabulary

Most people argue that reading effectively is directly related to good vocabulary. With this idea, it is essential for the teacher to enhance and expand a student's vocabulary in the attempt to improve on reading skills and overall performance. Enhancement of vocabulary is also a prerequisite to learner development which is critical in the academic life of a learner (Opitz & Erekson, 2015).

One of the ways teachers expand the vocabulary of a learner is to help them acquire the necessary vocabulary. In this case, learners are guided into the choice of words to use in specific areas and when they should be used. To enable this aspect, teachers provide learners with materials rich in vocabulary for guidance purposes. In addition, students are taught on the mechanisms to locate various vocabularies from various sites and the recommended books to use. In this case, vocabulary acquisition is a critical issue in that learners are taught on word choice and the multiple ways of categorizing words. When this is done, students have a benefit in enriching their language as they learn more vocabulary.

The other way is to assess the vocabulary that students need. The teacher needs to determine the vocabulary that is beneficial to the available learners as well as evaluate why they need such content. For example, vocabulary expansion helps students in learning activities such as answering problems and in debating activities. After assessment of vocabulary is done, teachers should teach their learners the available content. In this case, instructors should use their teaching strategies to ensure that most of the students benefit from this whole process. Assessment helps teachers plan the kind of vocabulary that is needed at any time of the learning process.

References

Opitz, M. F., & Erekson, J. A. (2015). Understanding, assessing, and teaching reading: A diagnostic approach. Pearson.