BIR 3053 – LANGUAGE TESTING IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

ASSIGNMENT 1 – SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT

GROUP

UPSI 02

LECTURER

DR MAZURA@MASTURA BINTI MUHAMMAD

NAME MATRIK NUMBER/GROUP

CONTACT NUMBER

NURHAFIZAH BINTI AJLAN

D20102040807

801204-14-5448

019 -7166070

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INTRODUCTION

School Based Assessment is a unit of study the pupils’ products and performance which

are assessed by some criteria that are linked to the content and learning standards

using the checklists, observations, presentations, quizzes and tests and used to

document any one of the standard. Through this process, the teachers are able to build

up a profile of pupils’ language development and assess them personally and

individually. The assessment is a combination of formative and summative assessment

methods.

The rationale of School Based Assessments are to achieve the aspiration of National

Philosophy of Education towards developing the learners’ physical, emotional, spiritual

and intellectual abilities, to reduce exam-oriented learning among the learners, to

evaluate learners’ learning process as well as to enhance teachers’ integrity in

assessing, recording and reporting of the learners’ learning.

The features of School Based Assessment are , the assessment for and of learning,

standard-referenced Assessment, Holistic, Integrated, Balanced and Robust. All the

assessment done are basically based on two components of SBA which are Academic

and Non Academic. The Academic assessment covers the performance standards and

centralized assessment and Non Academic assessment covers the physical activities,

Sports, Co Curricular Assessment like PAJSK ( for PJK ) and PEKA ( for Science ).

The teachers are doing both centralized and school assessment in schools using the

instruments, rubrics, guidelines, time line and procedures prepared by Lembaga

Peperiksaan which is monitored and moderated by PBS/SBA Committee at School,

District and State Education Department and LP. The School Based Assessment

emphasizes on collecting the data and information about pupils’ learning based on the

curricular standards. At the same time, the teachers need to plan the assessment,

prepare the instruments and administer the assessment during teaching and learning

process. The most important thing is the teachers mark and record the pupils’

responses and progress.

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ABSTRACT

In recent years, the main focus of the educational system in Malaysia is emphasizing

the flow or process of the School Based Assessment ( SBA ) which is involving the Year

1, 2 and 3 ( for the primary level ) and the Form 1, 2 and 3 students ( for the secondary

level ). The focus is the methods and process of assessing or evaluating the pupils or

students in order to achieve the aspiration of the National Philosophy of Education

towards the pupils’ development and progress by looking at their performance in giving

their response to the instruments given by the teachers at schools. This research is

done in order to identify how School Based Assessment is planned and done at school

and how is the pupils’ performance using particular instruments which are suitable and

applicable to their abilities.

SCHOOL BACKGROUND

Sekolah Kebangsaan Haji Mat Dahan is located in the district of Pendang in Kedah. The

enrolment is 180 pupils which has 23 teachers including the headmistress and

Penolong Kanan 1, Penolong Kanan Hal Ehwal Murid and Penolong Kanan Ko

Kurikulum. It is a Gred a rural school which takes approximately 15 minutes driving from

the city of Pendang. The pupils are categorized as mixed ability group because few of

them are good in English Language but some of them are average. This research is

done to highlight the methods of getting them to achieve the instruments given using

various of ways and how the instruments are planned and chose by the teachers in their

assessment to their pupils. The main focus is the Year 3 pupils ( one class only ) in SK

Haji Mat Dahan which has 27 pupils. An interview has been done to an English teacher

of the class.The questions were :

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1) What is the level of the pupils in her class?

2) How do you identify their level or ability?

3) How do you choose the instruments of SBA ?

4) What are the conclusion after doing the assessment using the instruments that have

been chosen?

Understanding the level of the pupils is very important because it is a benchmark and

guidelines for the teachers to choose the suitable instruments to assess their ability.

And, at the same time, some solutions need to be taken to ensure that the pupils are

able to response accurately using the instruments given by the teacher. The solutions

should be carried out with several actions using the teacher’s creativity or plan.

PROCESS OF DEVELOPING THE INSTRUMENTS AND STANDARDISATION

In order to ensure a good performance of the pupils, it is important for the teachers to

build some good instruments to be conducted and to be used in the classroom as the

assessment tool for the teachers towards the pupils. One of the best way is by

discussing about the instruments with the other teachers. So that, the teachers can

choose the best instruments with their justification or reasons of choosing them. Each of

the instruments should be able to show the pupils’ performance and really meaningful

and applicable in the assessment. After having the discussion, then the teachers should

decide the best instruments to be used in the actual assessment which are done by the

teacher at the end of the months.

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IMPLEMENTATION OF SBA IN SCHOOL

The SBA is done once in every month from January to November in a year. The teacher

needs to do the assessment at the end of the units / topics and normally it is done on

the fourth week of the month. The teacher also needs to give the instruments to the

pupils pertaining to the pupils’ level as long as the performance indicators are covered

or achieved. If the pupils are not achieved, the teachers needs to do other actions or

methods to ensure the pupils master or achieve the instruments. It depends on the

teacher’s creativity or initiative to achieve the objective.

To obtain some information about SBA in the Year 3 class, I have interviewed a male

teacher of the class who is teaching English and the conclusion is, the pupils from her

class are mixed ability because twelve out of twenty-seven pupils are good in English

Language but the rest of them are average.

The teacher of Year 3 is using some instruments to assess their pupils in the classroom.

The instruments are covered the Band 1, Band 2 and 3 only. The Year 3 pupils were

able to finish up the instruments of the 3 Bands successfully but unfortunately, they are

not be able to achieve to Band 3 due to some problems or weaknesses. In this

research, I chose three out of five descriptors in Band 1.

For example : Instrument of B1,DL1,E1 – This instrument needs them to do any of the

following, recite rhymes, sing songs, tongue twisters and sing in groups. It requires

them to recite the rhyme accurately and correctly. Fortunately, all the twenty-seven

pupils were able to recite the rhyme accurately and correctly and they were categorized

as ‘achieved’ in this assessment. The next instrument is B1,DL2,E1 – It requires the

pupils to do any of the following : jazz chants, action songs or tongue twisters. For

example, they are required to do an action song using the song given. The teacher

found that only twenty of them were able to perform the action song in their own group,

but not the seven of the pupils. They were not be able to perform it due to lack of

understanding of the content of the song. An action has been taken by the teacher to

ensure that all her pupils achieved.

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The teacher did some body gestures and showing up some picture cards to the seven

of the pupils who were not achieved in the instrument. Luckily, after doing some drilling

or practices, the seven pupils were able to perform the action song successfully. The

next instrument is B1DB1E1 – They are required to group the words accordingly. Ten

words were given to them and they are needed to read and group the words to the

correct categories ( Fruits and Vegetables ). Based on the instrument, she found that

twenty-five of the pupils were able to group the words correctly and accordingly. The

other two pupils were not able to make it because they confused the meaning of

‘mango’ and ‘mangosteen’. The action has been taken was, did another drilling to the

pupils and asked them to memorize the meaning of all the ten words before grouping

them correctly. As a result, after the second time drilling, they were able to group them

correctly ( achieved ).

For Band 2, there are five descriptors need to be covered. But for this research, the

teacher chose two out of the five descriptors. The first one is B2DL1E1 – This

instrument needs them to participate in the following conversation : talk about oneself

and introduce their family members and friends. The teacher has found that all the

pupils were able to talk about themselves because the questions in the instruments are

quite familiar to them since they were in Year 1. So, it is an advantage for the teacher

and the pupils in order to achieve the objective of the instrument and to get succeed in

this assessment.

Second instrument for Band 2 is, B2DL2E1 – which is requires them to ask and answer

correctly using the personal pronouns. Five questions were given to them to answer.

And, the teacher found that twenty of them were achieved but seven of them were not

able to achieve or answer the questions given 5/5 correctly. The main reason is, they

were not able to differentiate between ‘he’ and ‘she’. Then, the teacher did some

drillings to the pupils by showing some picture cards of ‘he’ and ‘she. The teacher took 2

times of drillings and finally, the seven pupils were able to differentiate between ‘he’ and

‘she’ by answering the same questions for the second time.

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The last Band ( the highest band for the Year 3 pupils of SK Haji Mat Dahan ) is

B3DB1E1 which requires them to recognize, read and match the pictures with phrases

and sentences correctly. The pupils were needed to read the phrases and sentences

and then match them accurately and correctly. Based on this instrument, she found that

all of the twenty-seven pupils were able to read and match correctly because the

phrases and sentences have been used are quite easy to be understood and the

pictures are very helpful to them to get the ideas of the phrases and sentences. The

next instrument is B3DT3E1 which requires them to complete sentences using the

correct verbs: simple present tense. They were needed to look at the table given

carefully and then write the sentences in a paragraph using the table. And, based on the

instrument, the teacher found that all of the twenty-seven pupils were able to write the

sentences correctly. This is because they always make use of substitution tables to

create sentences since March until October 2013. Substitution tables are very good

method in writing skills especially for the primary pupils. And, the words or verbs have

been used are quite easy and familiar to them. In addition, the use of the word ‘car’,

‘Proton Wira’, ‘office’ and ‘good’ are the key words or main points to help them

understand what are the sentences are all about.

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APPENDICES

INSTRUMENTS ( BAND 1, BAND 2 AND BAND 3 )

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REFLECTION

Based on the interview that has been done to one of the teacher of Year 3 class, I found that SBA is done successfully using the selected instruments which are suitable to the pupils’ and related to the standard and the descriptors of the pupils’ ability in SK Haji Mat Dahan. This is because, the teachers are always discuss and finalize their

instruments before assessing their pupils in the school. The most important things are the teachers always keep on drilling them frequently and extensively in order to let the pupils perform very well and achieve the objectives of the SBA at school and record all the results in their checklists as their reference to observe the pupils’ progress. The assessment is good to help the teachers to identify and to know their pupils well too. The main key points of SBA are the instruments, standard, evidence, checklists, observation and records as well as the performance of the pupils.

REFERENCE

MODUL INSTRUMEN STANDARD PRESTASI ENGLISH KSSR, PEP PUBLICATION SDN BHD

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