28. Express your opinion on advantages and disadvantages of using tests for evaluating students’ knowledge.

It is a common practice for many schools and colleges to assess their student's knowledge through different exams and tests. Whether this method has more benefits than drawbacks is debatable; I believe that examinations provide several educational benefits.

To begin with, one of the main advantages of examinations is that (they are) an easy tool to regularly assess a student's capability. Exams help a lot to bring an improvement in the individual's knowledge because they provide regular feedback to the students who acknowledge their shortcomings and work on them.

Another advantage is that exams promote competition among students. They work harder to improve their knowledge and skills. In this way they learn more. Also, exams are an excellent tools to determine the efficacy of teaching methods because teachers get an opportunity to monitor and evaluate their teaching strategies according to their student's progress. (make sure each paragraph has a central topic – your topic sentence says you will discuss ‘competition among students’, but then you go on to talk about teachers monitoring and evaluation).

On the other hand, there are certain drawbacks of exams. Firstly, they have a poor predictive quality because they only judge a student's ability under set conditions and limited time. Many a times a student who is otherwise good may get anxious or confuse(d) under strict exam conditions and may not perform up to the mark.

Secondly, many exams encourage teaching to the test practice. This is to say, teaching a fixed curriculum focused on passing a specific exam. This method limits the curriculum to a set range of knowledge and skills. Obviously such practice does not provide much many educational benefits.

However, if some improvements are made to remove the above mentioned drawbacks, exams certainly provide many educational advantages. Therefore, I believe that the benefits of exams far outweigh its their drawbacks.

29. Teachers’ skills, attitude and knowledge that teachers need to acquire.

Teachers’ skills and attitude.

Teacher’s attitude: Teacher’s skills:

Adaptability Managing classes

Recognising students Matching tasks and groups

Listening to students Variety

Respecting students

Adaptability - what marks one teacher out from another is how they react to different events in the classroom during the lesson. Unexpected things may happen in lessons: the tape or CD player or computer program suddenly doesn’t work. We forgot to bring the material we were relying on, the Ss look at the reading text you plan to read and say ’We have done that before’. A good teacher should be flexible and react quickly to such unexpected situations. When Ss see that their teacher can do it, their confidence and respect grows.

Recognising students - Ss consider being important for good teachers to know their names. How can we do it? One method is to ask Ss to put name cards on the desk in front of them or stick name badges on to their sweaters or jackets.

But ‘knowing Ss names’ means also knowing about Ss, some things about them, who they are, what are they.

Listening to students – a good teacher should be attentive to Ss problems in learning his subject, it’s important that a student can talk to the teacher about his problems out of the class. There should be a good rapport, the relationship that the SS have with the teacher.

Respecting students – Whenever you deal with bad behaviour of your Ss, remember that it is the behaviour we want to criticize not the character of our student. Correct your Ss without offending them. If we are too critical, we can demotivate our Ss, on the other hand, if we are constantly praising them, we risk turning them into ‘praise junkies’, who begin to need approval all the time. (becoming addicted to praise). The main thing to remember is to respect your Ss, never laugh at them, and never use mockery.

Teacher’s skills:

Managing classes – a good teacher knows how to put Ss into groups, when to start and when to finish an activity, whether Ss should work in pairs or in groups or as a whole class. So he should be a good manager.

Matching tasks and groups – we need to think carefully about activities and topics we are going to take with our Ss. Some Ss are happy to work independently; others need more help and guidance. We should take into consideration Ss’ age, level of their knowledge, their interests and even their mood at that very moment.

Variety – Good teachers vary activities and topics over a period of time. If you just do drills, drilling exercises, Ss fall asleep. Use language games, role plays, pair work, group work, discussions.

The knowl. teach. need to acquire. To teach all students according to today’s standards, teachers need to understand subject matter deeply and flexibly so they can help students create useful cognitive maps, relate one idea to another, and address misconceptions. Teachers need to see how ideas connect across fields and to everyday life. This kind of understanding provides a foundation for pedagogical content knowledge that enables teachers to make ideas accessible to others.

Knowing the subject i.e. the language systems and language skills.

Language systems Language skills

knowing doing

Phonology Productive – speaking, writing

Lexis or vocabulary Receptive – reading, listening

Grammar

Function

Discourse

The next knowledge is Material and resources – When Ss ask some difficult questions good teachers know in what books and websites to find the answer. If you use a course book Ss expect that you know how to work with it.

Managing with classroom equipment – Once upon a time we had only pens, blackboard and chalk. Nowadays we have a great opportunity to use various technical equipments in teaching the subject: video, projector, computers, Internet. And of course a good teacher should know how to use them.

Keeping up-to-date – A good teacher should try to find new ways of doing things, new activities and methods of teaching. A good way to do it is to read modern teachers’ magazines and journals. There is lots of information on the Internet. We can learn a lot attending seminars, teachers’ conferences, observing other teacher’s lessons.

To teach is to first understand purposes, subject matter structures, and ideas within and outside the discipline. Teachers need to understand what they teach and, when possible, to understand it in several ways. Comprehension of purpose is very important. We engage in teaching to achieve the following educational purposes:

To help students gain literacy

To enable students to use and enjoy their learning experiences

To enhance students’ responsibility to become caring people

To teach students to believe and respect others, to contribute to the well-being of their community

To give students the opportunity to learn how to inquire and discover new information

To help students develop broader understandings of new information

To help students develop the skills and values they will need to function in a free and just society