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Alternative assessment and the teaching of Mandarin Chinese to elementary school students in multilingual Singapore
Citation
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, 2008
Author
Koh, Kim Hong
•
Gong, Wengao
Abstract
This study examined the feasibility of introducing alternative assessment into the teaching of Mandarin Chinese as a quasi second language at the elementary school level in linguistically heterogeneous Singapore. Drawn upon the ideas from the communicative language teaching theory, the framework of authentic intellectual work, the revised Bloom's taxonomy of knowledge, and the principles of alternative assessment, we developed five criteria for authentic intellectual quality. The criteria served as guidelines for the teachers to design and implement alternative assessments in Mandarin Chinese. The findings showed that the implementation of alternative assessment could result in improved students' engagement and interest in learning as well as higher quality assessment tasks and student work. Moreover, teachers' attitudes toward alternative assessment became more positive.
Date Issued
March 2008
Project
CRP 25/05 KKH