Assessment for managing behaviour

hard to get those pictures. Teachers claim such strategy as helpful in motivating students as it retains students’ attention in the class.

No, I have only special stickers but I used to use them but students were disappointed that they didn’t get it. It was a kind of motivation for them. (Jen)

Alongside these methods, another premise that supports assessment for motivation was the fun-based assessment approaches in the form of games or game-like activities, dialogue, pair work, group work, and songs related to listening, reading, writing, and speaking, not just from the textbook, but also from other sources, such as magazines and the internet to motivate students. These activities raised students’ interest and they became receptive to them. In addition, these assessments facilitate peer learning, promotes interpersonal skills and cultivates positive learning ambiance.

I try to make lessons fun. I try to play games or game-like activities with them even if the topic is not like what they might think is interesting normally. (Pat)

The results of this subsection revealed that the teachers created various motivation theories to support learning. Subsequently, it brings to the forefront the strong link between assessment, motivation, and student learning.

Teacher regulated the behaviour of the learners by using various forms of disciplinary methods, including black dots, small marks, pluses and smileys. For example, these teachers applied black dots while assessing students. The black dots and pluses were used to signify offenses students had committed in class. This was done to express something negative and discourage those learners and others from doing undesirable activities. The following statement makes this clear:

I just give them little dots, but it’s mostly to express when something negative happens, like when they don’t have their homework, so they get one small black dot. When they get three of these, then they get a 5 in their grade book, which you know means a fail.

(Taylor)

In addition, student documents as well as the interviews revealed teachers allocating small marks and pluses for managing behaviour. Teachers also mentioned that awarding small marks for small activities and initiatives students make work quite well. They perceived such strategies as useful in keeping students alert and involved in the class. Furthermore, these teachers also believed such a strategy contributed in stimulating the spirit of competition amongst the students, as reported by a teacher:

A great example is that I do exercises in the class and if they do well, they get a small mark. So, they really like this competition and they really work hard. (Jen)

In short, a penalty in the form of black dots and small marks were used to caution learners to be careful and to discourage them from doing anything objectionable. Additionally, the class observation data also exposed the teachers’ instant authoritative action on the bad behaviour of the student wherein the teacher said, “Tony, you have lot of circles in your sentences, so, write down the sentences in your notebook, you bad boy.” This reprimand was

seen by the teachers as having positive effect in the sense that it informed the children that they need to put extra effort to further their learning. It was also a warning to the offending learner that the teacher was aware of his misdoings.

The observational data also revealed additional practices in classroom behaviour management. For example, teachers implemented active learning strategies like positive and negative emotions, exercises, banging on the table, and making funny facial expressions to gain their attention. Teachers were seen awarding positive emoji for good behaviour and negative emoji for bad behaviour. For each positive emoji the class was awarded with a short two-minute video or a short lesson of one minute. Teachers also granted learners one minute to make noises freely. This was permitted to prevent students from making noise throughout the lesson. The teachers claimed that random application of such strategies after 20 minutes made the class tremendously effective. Additionally, the teachers stated that these activities allow the students to move around physically and, as a result, the brain benefits from increased oxygen and increased brain functioning. It also eases peer pressure as they support and push each other to work hard, thus, promoting a conducive learning environment. As a consequence of this, the teachers claim their learning results improved.

Nowadays, I use this system and my students have become hardworking and so, there is no need to give them the small marks or anything like that. Yes, I just use two smileys, one good one and one bad one. If the class behaves well, they get the good smiley and if they behave badly, they get the bad one. Moreover, it eases the peer pressure, because other students pressed those who would not work otherwise or behave badly to perform, to work and their results get better as a result of this system. (Terry)

Hence, the above mentioned are some of the punitive measures practiced by teachers to manage classroom behaviour.

Short summary of this section

The conceptual understanding of assessment of the teachers in this study appeared clear-cut. The findings conclude that the teachers’ subjective theories regarding planning and execution of assessment tasks is elicited through the major roles teachers’ places on the five dominant themes and they further revealed that the teachers used assessment for the purposes of accountability, certification, improving teaching and learning, managing behaviour and for the purpose of motivating students.

Furthermore, although, some useful and effective practices were used around the assessment themes, generally, to a large extent as observed during observation and as was evident from the student document analysis. After looking at teachers’ questioning methods and written assessment, it was discovered that both were very generic in nature. In regard to it, teachers need to improve their strategies of questioning and giving constructive and suggestive written assessment that would enhance learning. Rather than asking closed questions and offering general praises as written and verbal feedback, as most teachers do, it was expressed that students learn when they are asked analytical and critical questions, as well as when given specific, detail and focused written and verbal feedback. This, of course, is also necessary, but a more effective learning-oriented pointer should also be supported. In conclusion, these subjective theories will be useful in transforming teachers’ assessment practices for the purpose of better teaching and student learning.