2. The purpose of this document is to submit a proposal to
the English Department of the University of Panama
which considers the application of the model presented
by Joan Herman from the University of California. This
proposal is focused on the assessment of students’
learning and achievement at the University level.
3. Our Top Assessment Proposal has the following objectives:
Provide the English department with a proposal….
Help the english department…….
Persuade the English Department
4. The assessment and evaluation process must be related
to the course objectives.
According to its mission and vision, the students of the
English Department will develop linguistic competences
that will allow them to be prepared for a successful
professional life.
5. Nowadays, English is a language spoken by over 2
million people, many of them non-native speakers
around the world who are using English as an
instructional and commercial language.
The English Department of the University of Panama has
also created a new program for the Bachelor’s Degree in
English in order to prepare students who can speak
English with a high command of the language.
6. In order to have a precise path to follow and achieve its goal, the
English department of the University of Panama has the following
vision:
Be a leader and a model of excellence……
Its Mission:
Forming competent professionals..
Developing communicative competences….
Contributing to the development of knowledge..
Being a leader in the usage of modern technology…
Teaching English to all the other schools that request this service…
7. Summary:
What’s wrong with current assessments?
Why a “system” of assessments?
Many assessment purposes
10. In 1572, Oxenham took part on the
raid in Panama which was headed by
Francis Drake as one of the ship
captains . In 1567, became the first
English person to come to Panama and
use the language to communicate
others.
11. Lather than, 1848 a
significant group came from
the United States to work in
the Pacific Mail Company.
In 1850 the Pacific Mail
Steamship Company
established a steamship
line competing with the US
Mail Steamship
Company between New
York and Chagres
12. From 1903 to 1979 the
territory was controlled
by the United States,
which had built the
canal and financed its
construction. From 1979
to 1999 the canal itself
was under joint US and
Panamanian control.
13. In 19 04 the YMCA
Clubhouses had brought
to the Canal Zone’s
people a new quality of
life.
Lather than, in 1975
after treaty negotiation
the YMCA opened to the
public and offered and
English School.
14. According to this study,
this year our country ranks
number 51 on a list of 54
countries which indicates
that Panama has a very
low level of English taught
in schools.
15. Weak public education hampers
English proficiency.
The poor quality of public
schools across Latin America
combined with
Unequal access to education
provides a more convincing
explanation for the region’s
weakness in English.
16. Education Minister Lucy Molinar
said that for a real
transformation of national
education takes place, the
whole society should withdraw
authority to continue with an
ongoing process of change
and updating.
So, she declared the year 2013
as “Meduca way to
consolidation and
educational excellence”.
17. 1. 15 New curriculua in a Secondary Education
with a focus on skill training.
2. 125,385 students were benefited by
“Children program”.
3. 13,000 youth in grades 11 and 12
attended the After School program and
681 teachers participated in 600 hours of
English .
4. In 2012, they undertook the design and
construction of 5 schools of excellence
called , Model School.
18.
19. WHAT ARE DOING THE UNIVERSITIES AROUND THE WORLD
TO IMPROVE ENGLISH PROFICIENCY.
THE BEST OF THOSE UNIVERSTIES ARE:
1. Offers a complete English program including individual subjects such as
Morphology, syntax, semantics. The literature subject is divided in all the
different periods, and it also includes linguistics as a main subject.
(Chulanlancorn University of Thailand)
2. Another university requires an examination at the end of each semester.
Also they have a continuous assessment. (Kashmir University, India)
3. Some universities offer different B. A. programs in English; for example,
B.A. in English and Linguistics and B. A. in Language and Linguistics so the
programs have specific subjects oriented to the students’ goals (University
of York, London)
4. Others offer two specializations in English: Linguistics an Literature and
they focus on lectures, writing workshops, seminars and project work in
order to approach problems creatively and critically. Also, they emphasize
on creative writing skills and oral production is emphasized through courses
in drama and rhetoric. (Malmo University, Sweden)
20. OUR FUTURE
IT IS CLEAR THAT IN OUR COUNTRY WE HAVE TO WAIT YEARS
FOR THOSE PROGRAMS RECENTLY ESTABLISHED TO WORK
OUT AND SHOW BETTER RESULTS.
HOWEVER, DUE THE INFORMATION ABOVE MENTIONED
REGARDING OUR POSITION ON THE LIST, WE DEVELOPED THE
FOLLOWING QUESTION ABOUT ADULTS EDUCATION AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF PANAMA.
21. •Does the English department of the University of
Panama have a continuous assessment procedure that
demonstrates the global effectiveness of the teaching
process?
•How can the English Department improve its
evaluation system in order to help students achieve
their final goals?
•How can the English department prepare students
better so that they can have a greater command of the
language and be able to teach it in the different levels?
•How can the English department assess the students
learning effectively?
•How can the English department assess quality before
or as students graduate?
23. PhD student Agustina Djihadi in her blog: A Jouney Called Life cited
different authors to explain both terms:
Ten Brink (1974), defines evaluation as the process of obtaining
information and using it to form judgments which are to be used in
decision making. The process has 5 stages (1) preparing, (2)
collecting the data, (3) making judgments, (4) making decision, and (5)
reporting.
The process will yield information regarding the worthiness,
appropriateness, goodness, validity, legality, etc., of something for
which a reliable assessment has been made.
Evaluation can thus concern a whole range of issues in and beyond
language education: lesson, courses, programs, and skills can all be
evaluated.
Egyankosh (2002), suggests that the evaluation must be a continuous
process and this means a regular assessment of the students'
development.
24. Assessment, as Burhan (2009) states, does not include
decision making and reporting. It focuses on data gathering
and placing a value on something. It covers stages 1, 2, and
3 of the evaluation process.
Kizlik (2010) Assessment is a process by which information is
obtained related to some known objective or goal. (We test
or assess to determine whether or not an objective or goal
has been obtained).
Assessment is concerned with students’ learning or
performance, and thus provides one type of information that
might be used in evaluation. Testing is a particular form of
assessment, that is connected with measuring learning
through performance.
25. •The evaluation process must be coherent to be successful.
•As Joan Herman expressed in her research “A good assessment is
not a single test but a coherent system of measures.”
•Coherent systems must be composed of valid measures of learning
and they should be horizontally, developmentally, and vertically aligned
to serve classroom, school, and district improvement.
26. We have developed the following proposal in order to help the English
department align its objectives with a vertical, horizontal and
developmental coherent assessment
27. •Students of the English department should have an annual assessment to
determine whether they can be promoted to the next level or not. The
assessment should be oral and also written (diagnostic).
•Assessment can also take place after all the parts of a subject are
completed; for instance grammar I, grammar II, grammar III, then students
can be assessed at the end of grammar III. (Diagnostic).
28. •Depending on the results, students who get low scores
in their term courses or / and annual assessment should
take reinforcement lessons during the afternoon periods
(when there are no classes in the department).
•Those lessons can be based on any deficiency the
students have in any of the four skills.
•Speaking and writing workshops as well as summer
reinforcement courses could be organized
29. •Students of the English department should also take the
certified English exam as other students from other colleges do.
This is a good opportunity to assess them too. They could take
this exam at the end of the first year of studies. (Diagnostic)
•At the end of the career, students should take a final exam
similar to the TOEFL in order to observe their English level as
they are about to graduate and the progress they have made
throughout the career. This exam can be taken during their third
year and if they do not get the required score they can retake it
during their fourth year
30. •Students could be involved in activities such as: newspaper or
magazine editing, reading circles, teaching English to children of several
communities as their communitary work. (it could be a way to assess a
group, not individual assessment)
•The department should have an assessment commission in charge of
supervising students’ progress throughout the career and reports should
be kept in students’ individual files.
•The department should count on an assessment professional for the
supervision of its assessment and to assist and guide the department in
all the process.
31. These are only suggestions aimed at improving the general
performance of students in the English department and thus have a
successful assessment.
These recommendations should be analyzed and improved before
being implemented; in this way, we can identify the department
strengths and weaknesses.
32. •Taking into account Joan Herman’s article, the assessment proposed
above is horizontal because there are objectives, because we include
students through instruction in order to achieve those objectives and at the
end objectives are evaluated to observe if they are met.
•This assessment is also vertical because it takes place first in the
classroom, later in the department and at the end at the college level.
•Finally, this assessment is coherent because it measures through the
different courses if the students’ career goals are met.
33. •The development of a continuous assessment process like the one we
have presented can definitely help faculty measure if the results equal
its main objectives, mission and vision.
•Likewise, it can absolutely help students work harder due to the fact
that their progress will be monitored all the time.
•We expect this proposal could be useful for the English Department of
the University of Panama and that it can lead to a coherent assessment
process as Joan Herman states.
