Teaching and Assessing Young Learners’ English:
Bridging the Gap
Luciana
Teaching English to young learners in conjunction
with the nature of learning processes has been teachers’ main concern. To a
large scale, the cognitive, affective, and psychomotoric aspects of the
learning processes have been coherently interwoven to nurture the internal
mechanisms underpinning learning. Paradoxically, assessing which is a sine qua non to teaching presents a
different reality. It is often the case
that assessing has been restricted to the use of paper and pencil tests merely
targeted at measuring learners’ achievement, depriving learners from the social
interactions they encounter in learning. This disjuncture might stem from
teachers’ and parents’ view toward good marks as the parameter of success—far
from the essence of education and learning. To bridge the gap, this chapter
argues the importance of developing assessment which is geared toward its
impact on nourishing and facilitating the learning processes. This chapter is
an attempt to discuss such assessment by putting forward four ways of assessing
without using tests. In particular, it brings to light the aspect of social
interaction in the use of observations, portfolios, and conferences as well as
journals. This chapter is significant for teachers of young learners to furnish
and enrich their knowledge and teaching practice.
------- ---- -------
Luciana. (2004). Teaching and assessing young learners’ English:
Bridging the gap. In B. Y. Cahyono & U. Widiati (Eds.), The
tapestry of English language teaching and learning in
Website: www.geocities.com/eltindonesia
Email: eltindonesia@yahoo.com