Introduction

In this paper we describe an assessment design based on Winter’s (2003) patchwork model to give pre-service teachers (PSTs) in a MTESOL an authentic if limited teaching practice experience. The paper is written from the perspectives of a former student and tutor. It starts by outlining the challenge before describing the assessment design, the student’s perspective and ‘beyond course’ initiatives.

The Challenge

External challenges to teaching in Higher Education provide opportunities to think ‘outside the box’ to find solutions to perceived obstacles. One such opportunity was provided in the MTESOL course at an Australian university in 2014 (iteratively reviewed since to meet online challenges). It was brought about by three factors: a course review resulting in blended teaching, changes in course offerings, and increased international student enrolments. At institution level, discussions about employability and assessment were also taking place. These combined issues led to a review of the assessment tasks in the professional practice unit (one of four in the MTESOL at that time).

In reviewing the assessment tasks, consideration needed to be given to designing assessment tasks that could:

• provide certification as well as learning via “doing” and reflection through quality feedback practices
• be transformative, involve partnerships for real life application, and generate life-long learning and feedback literacy (Boud & Molloy, 2013)
• calibrate summative and formative assessment to give the lattera morecentral place
• be connected and build on each other through a patchwork assessment model (Winter, 2003).

In turning these principles into practical assessment activities consideration was given to:

• planning for learning
• providing self-, peer- and tutor-assessment
• creating collaboration through group work, co-teaching and co-evaluation
• providing actual teaching experience by working with an EAL learner to improve an area of language through a project-based design
• creating opportunities for iterative professional reflection (Farrell, 2018).

The Assessment Tasks

Three tasks were developed:

Assessment 1 (AT1): A scope & sequence (S&S) chart and rationale

Assessment 2 (AT2): A minilesson (part 1) and critical review (part 2)

Assessment 3 (AT3): A group learning intervention project (part 1) and individual reflection (part 2)

•  In AT1, PSTs develop an overall plan (S&S chart) for a unit of work comprising six lessons which they then critically discuss against language learning and teaching principles. Also included is peer feedback on the S&S chart, and discussion about how the feedback was used to improve the plan.
• The first part of AT2 is a 12-15 minute microteaching task. PSTs take one of the lessons included in AT1 and teach a 12 minute segment. Three minutes is provided for immediate discussion/feedback about the minilesson. Peers also provide written feedback and the tutor provides private feedback during a 10-minute conference. In addition, PSTs also assess their own teaching using recordings of their teaching. In part 2, they use the three sources of feedback to review their minilesson, and discuss what they would do differently, and why, against pedagogical and language learning theories.
• In the first part of AT3 (the group intervention project), PSTs work with an actual EAL learner over a five week period. They interview the learner, conduct a needs and linguistic analysis to identify an area for improvement, devise a plan for learning to be shared with the learner, and subsequently implement it. The plan includes bespoke activities and resources that will assist in improvement. It also includes an explanation about how learning will be monitored, show what feedback approaches will be adopted, and how the intervention is to be evaluated formatively and summatively. PSTs present the completed project to peers in the final week of semester. Throughout, PSTs develop a group document using Google Docs, shared with each other and the tutor, and used in weekly conferences with the tutor. These processes provide formative assessment so that the PSTs are supported in the project development. Groups share their completed projects and resources on Moodle.
• In part 2, PSTs complete an evaluation of the project. An online, optional journal through a Moodle wiki (the university’s online platform), is also set up for PSTs to formatively reflect on the task from which they can extract reflections for the final summative assignment.

Through this patchwork and authentic assessment approach, the focus is on cycles of planning, teaching and reflection. PSTs are given opportunities for applying theory “in the wild”, to practise and iteratively reflect on both theory and practice. The intention is to build skills in assessment and reflection through varied models, modes and dialogic practices (Boud & Molloy, 2013), and to develop approaches in connecting formative assessment to summative assessment.

The Student Voice in 2020: Perspectives on Reflective Practice in Action

AT3 enabled our group to participate in reflective practice in individual and collaborative ways. We recorded all our lessons on zoom, and our immediate impressions of our teaching on a shared Google Doc. All team members provided feedback on lessons taught on this shared document, subsequently discussed in online weekly team meetings and in the online weekly consultations with the tutor.

Individual reflection included:

• recording impressions (through journaling) of our own teaching immediately after the lesson. Key benefits comprised tracking the evolution of our thinking, self-assessment of teaching and the lesson, and our emergent new and revised teacher beliefs. These immediate impressions were used for reflection through later comparison with the recording of the lesson the day after teaching. As a result, new insights emerged by allowing us to explore our blind-spots, and uncover biases in previously held beliefs. The following quotation illustrates how reflection fostered and challenged previous perceptions of teacher talk, body language, and also revealed stances to silence.

I noticed that there was more teacher talk in my first lesson than I had realised; that I needed to rely more on my voice rather than body language for zoom teaching and that silences were much shorter and more natural than I had thought during teaching.

• tracking changes and measuring progress formatively. This was made possible through the explicit reflection processes that were built into the assessment task. As a result, we adapted our teaching and changed activities in subsequent lessons.
• the individual 1000-word summative reflection task provided yet another opportunity to reflect on the project on completion to further learning and development.

Collaborative/teamwork reflection included:

• distributed responsibility that drew on different sets of experiences.
• comparisons about the lesson from each team member’s perspective based on observations, and feedback and suggestions made on the shared Google Doc. This proved to be an insightful and highly collaborative reflection activity. By comparing impressions in an ongoing dialogue through a shared document, we were motivated to offer ideas for alternative approaches to teaching.
  
  

The following quotations illustrate; one is report (1) and the other a suggestion (2):

1. Steve (ESL learner) made good progress on answering questions by using full sentences and adding some extra information, but the latter and more complex strategies will need more practice, scaffolding and repetition.
2. Rather than explaining strategies to him, I think it might be a good idea to model the strategies with him. I am going to try this by creating a mind map WITH him (allowing him to do as much as possible) and then letting him do a second mind map by himself (with help where necessary). These are the two Padlets on the 10.3 lesson plan.

In sum, group members were able to use each other’s impressions and teaching examples through recorded videos to develop their teaching and awareness of teaching, to brainstorm and apply new approaches, and to create learning materials. This fostered collaborative feedback practices and coaching, and built confidence.

The assignment’s explicit focus on reflection enabled us to learn that:

• reflecting on practice can prevent fossilisation and foster lifelong learning
• keeping a record of teaching, and reflecting through video and writing builds a profile and a portfolio
• documenting through video is beneficial for personalised reflection
• receiving peer feedback on teaching is invaluable for reflection as it provides rich, collegial interactions for learning
• positioning yourself as a learner can help you relate differently to your students
• professional learning through working with others from different cultural backgrounds enriches reflective perspectives.

Beyond Course Completion Boundaries: Opportunities for Life-long Learning

The university’s motto isAncora Imparo (I keep learning). The ways in which the unit has built this principle into its assessment design is through:

• students and tutor co-presenting at international conferences
• students and tutor co-writing papers for professional and academic journals
• ongoing dialogue with alumni through participation in an online panel to share teaching experiences
• continually shaping a professional portfolio including assessments and other material for interviews
• inviting PSTs with teaching experience to present workshops for MTESOL students on aspects of language, enabling them to receive formal recognition for work-integrated learning
• inviting alumni to participate in a video project to discuss their professional work post-study.

In closing, in 2020/21 owing to COVID-19, the unit has been delivered online. This has added a new and rich dimension to the unit’s practice-based assessment program which initially appeared impossible to achieve. It has provided a steep learning curve for tutors and PSTs making us realise new possibilities by removing traditional course boundaries. Going beyond borders is not just an interim measure but desirable in going forward.

References

Boud, D., & Molloy, E. (2013). Rethinking models of feedback for learning: The challenge of design. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 38(6), 698–712. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2012.691462

Farrell T. S. C. (2018). Reflective practice in TESOL. Routledge.

Winter, R. (2003). Contextualizing the patchwork text: Addressing problems of coursework assessment in higher education. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 40(2), 112–122. https://doi.org/10.1080/1470329031000088978