Emerson Park Academy

Modern Foreign Languages Faculty

Assessment and Marking Policy

The aim of our marking is to provide feedback to the pupil on their learning, in order to assist them in continually improving. It should be done on a regular basis and the marks recorded on

GO4SCHOOLS, in accordance with school policy.

Assessment has 2 forms: Formative and Summative

Formative: information contained within Teacher’s Go4Schools Mark book and Teacher Planner, which is used to inform lesson planning. These marks can also be obtained from the students’ exercise books; demonstrating the day-to-day progress in their learning.

Summative: occurs at the end of a unit of work (in all 4 skills). These are the end of unit assessments (contrôles) for the

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EXPO/VIVA Schemes of Work. These assessment marks can show the students’ progress over time. ALL MFL Staff must:

When Book-marking- mark exercise books using GREEN pen- collect and mark exercise books fortnightly- SAMPLE a spread of class work and mark it, using the faculty

LITERACY POLICY; giving a positive comment in the TL (target language) and a short ! formative target related to improving the students’ performance/effort (before you see the books again in 2 weeks’ time)

- Draw a highlighted box, beside this target, to “probe” the students’ understanding of the target you’ve set, for how they can improve for next time

- Refer back to this in your next marking cycle and comment to ensure a dialogue begins (does not need to be lengthy)

- Comment on presentation and set targets relating to this, where necessary

- Set and mark a written homework at least once every ½ term and this should always have the heading “HOMEWORK” written clearly at the top of the page in their book

- make good use of PEER and student SELF assessment in the classroom (which should minimise the amount of teacher marking) using purple pens

- adopt the school SLEUTH system of PRIDE points for students’ efforts in classwork, homework, attitude to learning etc.

- ensure consistency in the faculty adaptation of the PRIDE system- stickers/stampers/badges etc.

Assessment marking- implement the school’s www/ebi policy, at least once per half

term. - allow the students to evaluate the ebi feedback and adjust the

piece of work in RED pen (spelling errors)- assess a combination of skills per half term, but ensure all 4 skills

have results, at the end of each term- upload the students’ marks on to GO4SCHOOLS regularly (this is to

be the teacher mark book- no paper mark books to be kept separate).

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Improving students’ LITERACY KEY STAGE 3 & 4 marking :

The following document should be in the back of every student’s French/Spanish exercise book. You should mark their work, with a view to promoting independence through improving their literacy. It is imperative that the literacy marking is standardised across the faculty.

French/Spanish Marking SymbolsWhen your work gets marked by your teacher, the mistake will be circled and the following symbols will be used

to help you understand why.

You should reflect on your work and aim to fix the corrections, so that you make fewer errors next time.

Always fix your errors in RED ink!

A = Accent missing (í/ ñ etc.)

V= Verb conjugation (your verbs don’t match who is doing the action!)

WT= Wrong Tense (perhaps you’re talking in the past when you meant the future, etc.!)

ADJ m/f/pl = Adjectival Agreement (remember masc/fem/pl adjectives must match their nouns!)

G= Gender (perhaps you got your “el” and “la” mixed up!)

WO = Word Order (careful not to translate directly, sometimes you have to change the order of words)

P= Punctuation error (maybe a “!” instead of a “?”, or a comma needed! Don’t forget ¡ and ¿)

Sp = Spelling error (Yes, it is what it says; you’ve written a word wrong! E.g.: “llamo” isn’t spelt like “yammo”!)

? = Unclear point (maybe you just mixed up some ideas…either way, it didn’t make sense!)

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= A good point/structure/sentence (maybe you took a risk and used a dictionary to say something new; it worked!)

// = New paragraph needed (paragraphs are needed for new ideas, same as in English!)

Exercise book Marking at Key Stage 3

All opportunities for student peer and self-assessment should be used in marking classwork. This means, where possible, that students correct Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing Exercises done in class; themselves, or with a peer. After each learning activity, the teacher should give the students the criteria for the subgrade C / B / A and the Attainment Target Achieved. This should be noted by the student, alongside the task and then shaded in on the student record sheet at the front of their exercise books. The teacher should collect in meaningful classwork marks in these exercises, for their formative assessment mark book on GO4SCHOOLS.

Students’ exercise books should be collected in fortnightly; the teacher should stamp the top of the page, as shown above, to show the student that this piece of classwork is being sampled for marking. At the end of the sample, the teacher should write a comment on the students’ work/ attitude to learning (in the target language), award PRIDE points where necessary and give a ! target to enable the student to improve towards the next level or sublevel (in English). Then, a highlighted box should be drawn, beside the target, to probe the students’ understanding of the target set.

Here is a worked example:

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In addition to this marking and feedback, and according to the whole-school policy, a formally- assessed piece of written homework should be completed at least once per half term. This should have the school www/ebi comments written on it in English. The student should be given detailed and clear feedback and given the opportunity to improve on the piece of work. This homework should be clearly labelled with “HOMEWORK” written at the top of the page.

The rationale behind just “sampling” students’ classwork

As MFL teachers, we know that we encourage our students to do a great deal of work in the exercise books, be it Listening, Reading and Writing exercises, translations, or making good notes on new vocabulary. It is, therefore, not always productive to the student’s progress to mark absolutely everything they write down. An effective teacher will be able to ascertain literacy errors or lack of understanding in classwork, by sampling/moderating 1 or 2 pages of class notes and then using this as a basis to write a formative target to improve. Example: if a student is making verb errors on the sampled piece of work, it is therefore; fair to assume that they are making them quite often, throughout their work. Therefore, catching this lack of understanding and promoting reflection on the students’ part by commenting on it and highlighting a box for the student to write their response; creates a much more meaningful dialogue and interaction between the student and teacher.

“Tick and flick” marking to make it appear that work has been seen and marked, does not promote pupil progress and is a waste of both teacher and student time. Marking is at its most effective, when it is personalised to the student and shows a clear suggestion for improvement.

We always assess and give a NC level to pieces of work done in class and it is sufficient for the teacher to mark this as “seen” when the books are collected.

Marking End of Unit Assessments (Contrôles)

These are to be completed in 2 chosen skills (ALWAYS 1 productive + 1 receptive skill) every 6-7 weeks (half term), so that all 4 Skills will have been assessed in detail by the end of each TERM (Autumn/Spring/Summer).

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Please see the KS3 Assessment Schedule on the Shared Drive, for further guidance on which skills to assess and when.

When marking the Expo/Viva Assessments, the teacher should start marking at the highest level in each skill and use the EXPO/VIVA Teacher Mark scheme to give a sublevelled AT level for that exercise. The next level down should also always be assessed, to ensure that the student is a genuine achiever of the higher level (i.e., is it true to say a student is a 4C when further marking illustrates that they didn’t even achieve the level 3 exercise?). Teacher discretion and professional judgement should be applied on a case-by-case basis. Teachers should use the grid below, for sub-levelling, in order to apply marks consistently across the faculty.

All levels should be updated on GO4SCHOOLS database immediately after the assessments have been completed. The students should be given their results and they should note these, as well as their current working level and whether or not they are on target, in their NC Record Sheet. All Assessments are to be retained and stored by the teacher in their teaching group’s summative (final) assessment folder.

Teachers should make use of the following grid when marking assessments, in order to ensure continuity in the assessment of sublevels in classwork and assessments.

LISTENING AND READING LEVELS Year 7 Spanish

Grade 4

Grade 5

Grade 6

Grade 7

Grade 8

Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6Mark 5 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A

/5 4 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B3 1A 2A 3A 4A 5A2 1B 2B 3B 4B 5B

0-1 / / / / /

Mark 6 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A/6 5 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B

4 2C 3C 4C 5C 6C3 1A 2A 3A 4A 5A2 1B 2B 3B 4B 5B

0-1 / / / / /

Mark 8 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A/8 7 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B

6 2C 3C 4C 5C 6C5 1A 2A 3A 4A 5A

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4 1B 2B 3B 4B 5B3 1C 2C 3C 4C 5C

0-2 / / / / /

Mark 10 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A/10 9 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A

8 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B7 2C 3C 4C 5C 6C6 1A 2A 3A 4A 5A5 1B 2B 3B 4B 5B4 1C 2C 3C 4C 5C

0-3 / / / / /

Mark 12 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A/12 11 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A

10 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B9 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B8 2C 3C 4C 5C 6C7 1A 2A 3A 4A 5A6 1B 2B 3B 4B 5B5 1C 2C 3C 4C 5C

0-4 / / / / /

Mark 20 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A/20 19 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A

18 2A 3A 4A 5A 6A17 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B16 2B 3B 4B 5B 6B15 2C 3C 4C 5C 6C14 1A 2A 3A 4A 5A13 1A 2A 3A 4A 5A12 1B 2B 3B 4B 5B11 1B 2B 3B 4B 5B10 1C 2C 3C 4C 5C9 1C 2C 3C 4C 5C

0-8 / / / / /

Teacher professional judgment alongside the marking criteria in EXPO/Viva should be used for assessing Speaking and Writing Skills.

Vocabulary Tests

In order to try and encourage students to be more independent in the language, it is essential that they have a good grasp of vocabulary. It will therefore be faculty policy to test 10 words relating to the topic being studied, each fortnight (set as learning homework) and the faculty pass mark will be 7/10. (Please adjust accordingly for students with SEN). All students should have a red/blue vocabulary book and they should always write the date on a clean page in their books. The teacher should retain the book and keep it in the classroom.

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Students’ results should be kept on GO4Schools and updated regularly. The mark sheet for vocabulary test results does NOT feed into the students’ overall NC Level.

PRIDE points can be given for students consistently achieving excellent marks.

If a student falls short of the pass mark, they should be given 1 more night to learn the words and they should be retested by you (break time or lunchtime). Students who consistently do not reach the pass mark are clearly not completing this as homework and should be referred to the HOF. Marking at Key Stage 4:

Marking at Key stage 4 is always focused on the syllabus requirements for AQA iGCSE French/ Spanish.

Similar to KS3, The faculty will sample each pupil’s CLASSROOM/HOME WORK at least once per fortnight. However, it is expected that the students should complete and have assessed, an extended piece of writing in exercise books at least once per half term. Since the students’ classwork is essential for their preparation ahead of their final writing examination, more than 1 piece of work per half term may be done and this is encouraged. This piece of work should be done on a new page in the exercise book, in alternate lines (to allow for corrections) and should be re-drafted by the student once they have received their feedback. The teacher should correct any errors, so that students have the corrected version ahead of revision. Repetitions of the same error should be highlighted but not corrected, to avoid the piece of work looking too “incorrect” in the students’ eyes; as this can be off-putting.

A comment in the target language should be given, PRIDE points awarded for exceptional pieces of work and a grade given based on what the teacher thinks the student would have achieved if they were to continue writing/speaking at this standard in a completed essay of work. www/ebi should also be used (given in English). Grades A*-G should also be adopted. A plus or minus version of a whole grade, may also be used, since this helps give an overall impression of the piece of work (as it is not a completed essay).

Teacher comments should be made in English, in order to guide the pupil towards their target grades.

Students must address the ebi through using red pen (teacher has class sets). Allow time during a starter activity for students to complete this,

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they should peer-assess whether or not the ebi requirements have been achieved.

It is recommended that students at KS4 complete a past paper in both Listening and Reading per half term.

NO NEW language/units of work are to be taught after the Christmas break in Year 11, the focus in these lessons should be on revision and exam practice.

An examination paper in Listening and Reading will be made using “Exampro” to tailor the questions to those topics studied according to the SOW. These will all be available on www.exampro.org.uk and saved in an easy to locate format.

There will only be a Year 11 Mock Speaking in December of Year 11.

*Emily Bain is the faculty lead for year 10 iGCSE so please see her in the first instance of any queries.

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Good Marking Practice:

Set yourself a marking schedule and collect in the books once per fortnight, on a day which gives you as much time as possible, before you need to return them to the students. Try to stick to your schedule!

Use the pupil’s name when writing your comments, as it is more personal towards the student

The faculty encourages pupils to peer and self- assess their work as often as is possible.

All Teacher comments should be clear and the targets set should be specific and measurable.

Use the faculty marking stickers and stampers, to make marking smarter and quicker for you!

Always set time in lessons, as starter activity, for the students to “take up” the feedback and act upon it

Always allow time in your lessons for redrafting of work Ensure you have a good supply of red and purple pens in the

classroom

Some examples of short Target Language Comments to be used at KS3 and KS4:

pas malbon effortbon travailtrès bienexcellentfantastiqueformidable

¡muy bien!buen trabajofenomenalgenialfantásticoexcelente

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www/ebi comments should always be personal to the student, based on their level of effort, commitment, attitude, attainment and achievement in that piece of work. The ebi should always refer to how they could improve the work, to achieve the next level/grade.These comments should always be in English.

Exercise books will be monitored by HOF as well as SLT. Please refer to the “book- look timetable” for further information on when exercise books need to be handed in for checking.

The teacher mark books on GO4SCHOOLS should be updated very regularly, that way by the end of each half term, there should be no need to enter separate levels/grades, as the information on there will be up to date and relevant. There is no need to keep any information on your students on a separate excel sheet or paper mark book.

MFL-Specific target stickers

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www/ebi marking stickers

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Thank you for your hard work and cooperation!

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