Guide for the Assessment of Children's English Learning

from the development to the suggestion of assessment instruments

Abstract

With the increasing offering of English teaching to the initial years of schooling, some demands arise in the context of teachers’ education to act in this context. One of these demands is to enable reflections on the English language learning assessment. Usually when we talk about evaluation, we think of written tests that serve summing purposes providing a final note. However, the specialized literature shows the importance of continuous assessment that can indicate to the student and to the teacher the child’s development, in our case. In this research we focused on self-assessment for learning as a concept that explores the act of reflecting, with the help of the teacher, on the children’s own learning path and as an instrument for the emancipation of the child apprentice. The objectives of the research were: 1) to discuss self-assessment as a proposal
in teaching and evaluation for learning English for children, and 2) to suggest adaptations of activities to perform it in the English language classroom with children. For this, we analyzed excerpts from transcripts of the recording of a course aimed at the English teachers’ education
who work or wish to act with children. From the specialized literature and the sayings by the course participants, adjustments were suggested in activities that can be used in the assessment for learning. It is concluded that the adequacy of assessment instruments is a practice that needs
to be promoted among those who are teaching English with children and that, since it is not widely used in Brazil, self-assessment needs to be better explored, especially in the context where the research was developed.