1.?Learning from experience
When young learners encounter tasks for the first time, errors can stem from unfamiliarity with instructions rather than content. Providing clear explanations in their native language, practicing with similar tasks throughout the year, and modeling expectations for speaking tests are all effective strategies. My Disney Stars and Heroes includes test preparation exercises to help students familiarize themselves with the format and expectations and you can also select which tasks you¡¯d like to stick with using the Test Generator. For speaking tests, modeling clearly, letting them rehearse first in pairs and using speaking rubrics ensures clarity and success.
2. Shifting interests
As young learners expand their focus beyond themselves, lessons and assessments can leverage their growing social awareness. This influences which grammar I will focus on. In my assessment, I will lessen the inclusion of the third person and be more forgiving of any errors related to it at this stage. Speaking tasks should emphasize personal likes, family and hobbies rather than abstract third-person structures, which they are less prepared for. Throughout My Disney Stars and Heroes, the emphasis remains on relatable, immediate topics.?
3. Need for movement
I love this characteristic. Young learners are physically primed for movement, making long periods of sitting counterproductive. For written tests, keeping them short (20 minutes or less) or breaking them into chunks is ideal. Speaking assessments can incorporate movement through role plays or pair interactions. Short explanations before a test and time for questions also maintain their engagement and reduces sitting time!? ?
4. Responding to stories, gestures and pictures
These media offer rich opportunities for assessment. Your students have become attuned to the flow of?stories?¨C their characters, complications, resolutions, and moral messaging. Using stories as input and in assessment is an essential part of learning English. Each unit in?My Disney Stars and Heroes?has a story and comprehension questions that check understanding. You can ask additional questions such as: What did ___do? (factual question). Who is missing? What will they do next? How does ___feel? (inferential questions). How many times was ___ happy in this textbook? Who is the friendliest character in this book (connecting information questions). Other methods of assessing are?, where students are assessed individually as they read a passage.?Gestures?are a powerful way to support the learning of new vocabulary ¨C see??for my thinking on this. Also watch??to see how I apply the use of gestures to support learning. Gestures can support speaking during speaking tests. If one of my students is struggling to remember a phrase or word, I follow this series of prompts:
- Silence ¨C give them thinking time.
- Use a gesture ¨C ideally one already used in class to cue the vocab ¨C e.g., What time do you get up?
- Say the beginning sound of the vocabulary item and wait again.?
- Provide the answer and move on.?
- Test again later the ones they couldn¡¯t answer.
Pictures?are essential for young learners in their assessments ¨C especially for pre-readers. They play a vital role in listening assessments, allowing pre-readers to respond with circling, moving items digitally or drawing.
5. Fun and playful engagement
Play-based assessments encourage authentic language use. Activities such as roleplays or guided Lego building tasks prompt natural interactions. For example, one student could instruct another to get them their pieces (Book 2 Unit 2 ¨C Is there a long, green block? Are there any single blocks?). You can note what language is used with checklists from your assessment toolkit in the Assessment Booklet which is included in your online resources.?
6. Adapting to limited familiarity of letters and their sounds
Many young learners are pre-readers, requiring more listening-focused tasks and age-appropriate written assessments. We need to also avoid mismatches between what our students can do and what our test tasks require our students to do. For example, on page one of a test there may be a word and picture matching task that requires your students to read the word "mouth" and on page 2, there is a listen and select the phoneme task (e.g., listen and circle "a") which is at their actual level of reading ability. The Test Generators in My Disney Stars and Heroes?enable you to select tasks aligned with your students¡¯ abilities.
7. Fostering self-belief
As young learners form beliefs about their abilities, promoting and using a??is essential. Therefore, a word like "unsatisfactory" to describe their learning ability needs to be replaced with "not yet". This is not just a question of semantics. In real terms, it requires us to help that student improve at their pace and not create any mental biases in our own minds about what they can and cannot do. In real terms, that translates into how we engage with them (including our eye contact patterns with them), how we manage their learning and how we praise and challenge them. It also means providing regular opportunities for little successes ¨C like role plays, speeches or tailored reading texts that will build sustained self-belief over time. In?My Disney Stars and Heroes?each unit provides a self-assessment box for your students to reflect upon their learning and their little successes, too. But a kind word and direct, specific praise is also great, too!
By embracing these developmental characteristics, teachers can shape and craft assessments that inspire and support growth. The Latin root of ¡°assessment¡± ¨C ¡°assidere¡± ¨C means ¡°to sit beside.¡± So, as we sit beside our students in their learning journeys, let¡¯s continue to focus on who it is we are sitting next to as they move through "not yet being able to do or say something", to "I can do it or say it with help", to finally, "I can do or say it independently and feel good about what I have achieved!"
Happy assessing!
McKay, P. (2006).?Assessing young learners.?Cambridge University Press.
