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Diagnosing Students' Proficiency on a Spoken Performance Assessment

Article appearing in Shiken 18.1 (August 2014) pp. 10-17.

Author: Paul Anthony Marshall

Abstract:
The aim of this study was to diagnose specific gaps between current student proficiency and a target standard of proficiency in presenting a daily bulletin, in order to make an informed decision about what I can do to help students to span these gaps. After much trial and error with a variety of diagnostic tools, the study uses a thematic chart to successfully identify gaps in student ability on the performance assessment. Here, I begin by outlining the methodology, which has been broken down into three stages: definition of performance criteria, rubric development, and rubric operationalization. I then go on to reflect on the successes and shortcomings of the process and the decisions made.

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