Managing learning

Term Definition

21st Century skills Learning skills (collaborative, communicative, creative, critical

thinking), literacy skills (information, technology and media) and
life skills (flexibility, leadership, initiative, productive, social
skills).

Assessment for When the assessment results are fed back into the teaching and
learning learning cycle.

Assessment of When the assessment results are used to give a grade or rank
learning the learner.

Assessment Dates when testing / assessment / exams take place during the
schedule or plan academic year. This is usually coordinated with a more detailed
plan with content and learning outcomes, also called the
syllabus which is part of the larger curriculum.

Assessment Collecting information and observing learning progress.

Backward design Also called backward planning or outcomes-based curriculum

design, is a process that educators use to design learning
experiences and instructional techniques to achieve specific
learning goals.

Coding The invention of writing, converted spoken language into visual

symbols. These symbols are marks, signs, or words that indicate,
or are understood as representing an idea, object, or
relationship. This forms a code which we need to teach learners
to decode to understand meaning.

Common European An international standard for describing language ability on a

Framework of six-point scale, from A1 and A2 for beginners, through B1 and
B2 for independent users, up to C1 and C2 for those who have
mastered the language. This makes it easier for anyone involved
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Reference for in language teaching to plan learning, see progress and assess
Languages (CEFR) learning.

Continuous Carried out in an ongoing basis throughout the learning process

assessment to assess progress towards learning outcome achievement.

Criterion-referenced Assessments which assess the test taker’s ability to understand

assessment a set curriculum. They focus on what the learners can do in the
language with different language skills. The Common European
Framework of Reference (CEFR) has very useful ‘can do’
statements at six levels of proficiency so it is possible to see
language progression, these are often used in this approach of
assessment. The learner sees the ‘criteria’ before and during the
assessment so they know how marks will be given. This is part of
an assessment for learning approach.

Decoding The reverse process of coding, converting code symbols back

into a meaningful form that the recipient understands. It
involves seeing a written symbol and being able to say what
sound and meaning it represents.

Digital portfolio A collection of learners’ work over a period of time. It is kept

online which helps the teacher and learners literally see and
hear their progress. It can include, written assignments, creative
works, recording of speaking activities, using both audio and
video, copies of presentations and infographics, as well as
project work completed in teams or individually. It helps to
assess progress, and can be motivating. It can include teacher
and peer feedback.

Drag and drop A type of online activity where the learners selects an item on
screen, and moves it to a place where is helps create meaning.
For example, a gap-fill in a sentence, or the relevant column or
row in a table.

Drop-down A type of online activity where the learner can select words
from a menu that ‘drops down’ when you click or hover over it.

Empower Helping learners to be independent, to learn how to learn by

developing their learning skills (collaborative, communicative,
creative, critical thinking), literacy skills (information, technology
and media) and life skills (flexibility, leadership, initiative,
productive, social skills). These are all part of 21st Century
Skills.

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Encoding The process of hearing a sound or word, and being able to write
symbols to represent that sound. This also involves
understanding the meaning of the symbols or sounds being
read or heard.

Evaluation The interpretation of the data collected during assessment, e.g.

test scores, completed task checklists, comments on written
work and other performance tasks.

Examinations Tests that are used to collect information about learning. These
can either be used to impact the teaching and learning cycle, or
to report a grade or position in a class or year group.

Extrinsic motivation Learning because of external factors. Learners may be

motivated to learn to pass a test, to gain a reward, or to avoid a
punishment. An example of extrinsic motivation is a learner who
is studying so their parents will not punish them for poor
grades. This is the opposite of intrinsic motivation.

Formative Carried out a part of the learning process to inform teaching

assessment and learning. If done at the beginning of the learning process, it
can benchmark the starting place for learning, but it can be
done at any point during the learning process to check process
and ensure learning outcome achievement is on track. If it is
not, the assessment can be used to form adjustments to the
learning process.

Grade A number or letter score assigned to learner work through

some form of measurement.

Graphic organisers Also known as a concept maps, mind maps or relationship

charts, are usually diagrams with blank areas for learners to
complete with ideas and information which are connected in
some way.

High-order thinking Based on the revised Bloom's taxonomy, there are six levels of
thinking, with the highest based on: i) creating or generating
new ideas, ii) evaluating by justifying a decision, iii) analyzing by
breaking up information into parts. Lower order thinking
involves: iv) applying information in another familiar situation, v)
understanding concepts and the lowest vi) remembering
specific pieces of information.

Impact The level of and type of effect of one thing on another.

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Infographics A clipped compound noun formed from "information" and
"graphics". These are visual representations of information,
data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and
clearly. They can improve our understanding by helping us to
see patterns and trends.

Intrinsic motivation When learners have a real interest in the subject matter, and
learn for learning's sake. They enjoy exploring the material and
mastering it. They don't look at learning as a way to get things
like grades or rewards. That is extrinsic motivation.

Learning how to Strategies the learner is taught to empower them to be

learn autonomous learners. It is part of assessment for learning where
the learner is included in the assessment process through self-
and peer-assessing, using clear, unambiguous marking criteria.

Learning objectives Ways for teachers to structure, sequence, and plan out learning
or outcomes pathways for a specific period of time.

Logograms Signs or characters representing a word or phrase, such as

those used in shorthand and some ancient writing systems.

Low-order thinking Based on the revised Bloom's taxonomy, 6 levels of thinking,

with the lowest based on a) remembering specific information,
b) understanding concepts, c) applying information in another
familiar situation. The higher-order thinking skills are: d)
analyzing by breaking up information into parts , e) evaluating
by justifying a decision and the highest f) creating or generating
new ideas.

Marking criteria Standards of judgement for the assignment a teacher has set.
Marking or scoring rubrics are a guide to marking against those
standards of judgement. The term 'success criteria' has the
same meaning and can be used interchangeably.

Marking scheme Connected to the success or marking criteria and is how the
teacher will give marks to the learners. This could be as simple
as: completely, to some extent and not at all with a range of
marks. It can also be very detailed with multiple different criteria
for specific language sub-skills, e.g. content, punctuation,
grammar, or interest. As long as the teacher is consistent with
how they allocate marks the learners will understand if they

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 have achieved their learning outcome and where the gaps in
their understanding might be.

Measurement The scale used to measure the evaluation, e.g. marks, ranks,
scores.

Motivation A reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way.

See also intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Multiple choice A form of an objective assessment in which respondents are

asked to select only correct answers from the choices offered
as a list. The Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) is most frequently
used in educational testing.

Norm-referenced Standardised tests designed to compare and rank assessment

assessment takers in relation to one another. The learner does not have
access to how the assessment is marked. They see only the end
result as a percentage, or grade but have little indication of how
to improve or progress.

Observations, or An act of watching a learner's performance in the classroom or

classroom learning environment. Classroom observations are a
observation quantitative way of recording and measuring learner
behaviour.

Peer assessment Learners taking responsibility for assessing the work of their
peers or other learners against set assessment criteria. This
makes peer assessment an important component of assessment
for learning, rather than simply a means of measuring
performance.

Poll A survey in which participants communicate responses via the

Internet, typically by completing a questionnaire on a web page.
Online polls may allow anyone to participate, or they may be
restricted to a specific sample population.

Productive skills Language skills such as speaking and writing, in contrast to

receptive language skills such as listening and reading.

Purpose Process Acronym used by Blackburn and Miles (2021) to prompt the
Product Resources process of assessment.
(PPPR)

Qualitative Uses opinion surveys, interviews, focus groups, and

assessment observations to collect data that can then be analysed.

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Quantitative Collects numbers that measure tangible factors about a
assessment situation.

Quiz A quick and informal assessment of student knowledge. They

are often used to briefly test a students' level of comprehension
of course material. They can provide teachers with insights into
learner progress and any existing knowledge gaps.

Receptive skills Listening and reading, in contrast to the productive language

skills of speaking and writing.

Reformulation Where a teacher corrects what a learner has said by repeating

the sentence correctly, but without drawing the learner’s
attention to the mistake. It is also used by parents with young
children.

Reliability The extent to which an assessment method or instrument

measures consistently the performance of the student.
Assessments are usually expected to produce comparable
outcomes, with consistent standards over time and between
different learners and examiners. (See also validity).

Self-assessment A way of encouraging learners to evaluate and assess their own

learning. It encourages learners to improve their own efforts
and empower them to take control of their own learning. Self-
assessment is a common type of formative assessment and
assessment for learning.

Self-correction Part of assessment for learning and learning how to learn.

Learners are asked to correct any errors in their own work. A
teacher may have used an error correction code to indicate
where the errors are and even what they are, so the learner
knows where the error is, and perhaps what type it is, but has to
work out themselves how to correct it.

Shared file When more than one person can access an online file. This
enables collaboration as groups of leaners can write and
comment on the same file.

Success criteria A list of features that indicate that a learner has achieved a
learning outcome. The term 'marking criteria' has the same
meaning and can be used interchangeably.

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Summative Carried out after the learning process to assess learning
assessment outcome achievement and give learners a grade.

Survey A structured questionnaire that your target audience completes

over the internet generally through a filling out a form. The data
is stored in a database and the survey tool generally provides
some level of analysis of the data.

Teaching to the test When teachers focus so narrowly on the knowledge needed to
enable leaners to pass the test, that rather than developing
their language ability, the learners only parrot what they have
memorised.

Testing A tool that attempts to measure the learner’s skills and

knowledge.

Validity Validity, refers to how accurately the assessment measures

what it is supposed to measure: 1. from the perspective of the
theory on which the test is constructed (construct validity); 2.
how well the test takers perceive the test to measure their skills
and knowledge (face validity); and 3. how well the test actually
measures those skill and knowledge (content validity). (See also
reliability of an assessment).

Weighting A mathematical calculation used to give more importance to

certain parts of assessment. It is a way to show that not all parts
of the assessment have equal importance.

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