Danaryanti 2 Elli Kusumawati 2
E. Suggestions / Recommendations
Formative Assessment Used By Pre-Service Teachers in Classroom Teaching Practice Through Lesson Study
Rahmawati Upa’
Cokroaminoto Palopo University [email protected]
Abstract
This research aims at exploring the kinds and the techniques of formative assessment used by the pre-service teacher in their teaching process at school which was done thought Lesson Study. This research is qualitative descriptive obtained through observation check list, interview, and video recording. The subjects of this study were three pre-service teachers who did their teaching practice in one of the state school in Palopo. From the data analysis, it was found that from eight formative assessment types proposed in the observation checklist, there were six types used by those three pre-service teachers in their teaching, including observation, giving question, giving test, classroom discussion, giving homework, and peer assessment. No students were found using the summary and portfolio.
From these six formative assessment types, they were done in different techniques.
Observation is done by observing students, coming to students both in groups and individuals, helping students to learn, and examining students’ outcomes while questions are conducted orally. In addition, the provision of tests were also done orally through reading and rearrange random sentences into text in groups. While discussion is done in groups by giving the task of rearranging the sentence into text, assigning homework is done by assigning the students to write a dialogue and peer assessment is done by assessing a friend who is reading aloud text.
Keywords:formative assessment, pre-service teachers, and lesson study
A. Introduction
Assessment is one of the most vital things in the learning process. Through the assessment, a teacher can find out how far the target of teaching and learning can be understood and applied by students. Due to the importance of assessment, current research studies require teachers to have in-depth knowledge of assessments in the learning process including pre-service teachers (Beziat and Coleman, 2015).
Not only know but the teachers are also required to be able to implement the form of assessment in their teaching process. Based on this explanation, the teachers’
knowledge and skills must be prepared earlier in order that they have already known and been able to apply various forms of assessment in their teaching process.
Various efforts are made by the campus specially Faculty of Teacher Training and Education to prepare their students as pre-service teachers so that they can become professional teachers including able to do assessment in learning. Among the things to do is to conduct internshipcourses. This course requares students to directly
practice teaching at school to apply the knowledge and skill they got from the campus.
Abundance of articles related to pre-service teachers’ assessment have been conducted including assessment for learning in preservice teacher aducation (Wei and Pecheone, 2010), assessment method preferred by pre-service teacher (Hamdan, 2013), how pre-service techer think about students’ assessment issue (Simon. at all, 2010), evaluating pre-service techers’ konowledge on classroom assessment (Beziat and Coleman, 2015), but those researches were conducting in abroad. In Indonesia, the researcher found scant specific information on how pre- service teacher do their assessments in their teaching practice especially teaching practice through lesson study. Most of them who studied on the teaching practice of pre-service teacher based Lesson Studyonly focused their researches on how to improve the competence and teaching strategies of pre-service teachers through lesson study (Sujana and Narasintawati, 2012; Anwar and Rahmawati, 2014;
Vitantri dan Asriningsih, 2016; and Rustono, 2008).Therefore it is necessary to conduct this research as an information and input to the campus especially the lecturerof assessment and evaluation.In this research, the researcher will focus on the teaching practice by the pre-service teachers at school which was done through lesson study activities which consist of three phases; plan, do, and see.
Based on this explanation, the purposes of this research are to know the types and techniques of formative assessment used and performed by the pre-service teacher in their practice of teaching in schools which was done through lesson study.
Formative Assessment
Formative assessment is a form of assessment conducted during learning and teaching process to monitor students’ progress, to obtain information and evidence of learning from students as a reference for planning the next instructional activity as well as providing feedback for improvement of learning program, usually in informal and can be in the form ofquiz and question and answer orally in classroom (Arifin, 2009; Black, 2004; Bakula, 2010; and Shute, 2007). The outcomes of formative assessment will be used by teachers and students to improve students’
learning achievement and to make decisions about the steps in learning and teaching to achieve better learning outcomes. According to Hann & Dettmer (2004), the primary focus of formative assessment is to identify areas that may need improvement. This assessment is usually not assessed and as a measuring tool for student learning progress and for knowing the effectiveness of teaching. Related to this research, the formative assessment in question is the appraisal conducted by pre-service teachers in the teaching practice process they undertook in schools to monitor students' learning progress and in an effort to improve their learning process.
According to Black and Wiliam in Carol (2002) formative assessment can be done through: observation, questions, class discussions, tests, homework, summary, and portfolio. Related to questions, they suggest asking a reflective and factual question rather than a simple question, then give the students enough time to respond to the question. While Jones (2005) states that the question is one of the most common methods to know students' understanding. Furthermore, Black and Wiliam in Carol (2002) argue more that a strategy that can be used to involve all students is to invite students to discuss their opinions on a question or topic in pairs or groups and ask representatives to express their opinions in a larger group of so- called thinks Pair share. Give some answers that may be related to the question and ask students to select it, then have students write the answer and read it aloud.
Another way teachers can use is to have students write their knowledge of vocabulary or concepts before or after instruction and ask students to summarize key ideas from lessons, discussions or from reading assignments. In addition, other techniques that can be done are to ask students to complete some of the problems or questions at the end of the lesson, check their answers and interview students individually or in groups regarding to their views when solving problems and provide short writing assignments in the classroom. This activity can be done by giving a "why" question. They also suggested to teachers that a short, frequent test would be better than the other way around. Furthermore, new learning should be tested in the first week of learning and taking into account the quality of test items and discussing them with teachers as well as finding other sources for better information. Related to homework, Falch and Ronning (2012)say that giving homework to all lessons than never increases the student's test score by 3 points, which is about 4 percent of the standard deviation.
Lesson Study
According to Hendayana, et al. (2006), lesson study is a model of professional development of teachers conducted through collaborative learning and continuous learning based on the principles of collegiality and mutual learning as an effort to build a learning community.
Referring to the phases of implementing lesson study, there are some different phases between one another. Among of them are Susilo (2011) who said that the learning cycle that conducted in Indonesia consisting of three phases, namely the planning phase (plan), the implementation phase (do), and the phase of observation and reflection (see). Meanwhile, other says that the phase of implementating of Lesson Study consists of four phases, namely Plan, Do, Check, and Act (PDCA)(Mulyana:2007). But in the implementation of Lesson Study in this study, the phases used by the pre-service teachers were plan (planning), do and see (reflection).
Lesson Study has several advantages including: (1) improving the quality of the lesson plan including all the components in it, such as teaching materials, teaching methods, assessment, etc., (2) increasing teacher’s motivation to be more developed, (3) Strengthening the relationship between the implementation of daily learning with the objectives of long-term learning, (4) Strengthening the relationship of kolegalities between teachers with other observers, (5) Increase teachers' knowledge about how to observe student activities and (6) Increase teacher’s knowledge about teaching and learning materials (Rusman , 2010).
Furthermore, it is said by Dusley (2011) that there are several reasons to use Lesson Study, such as assisting teachers to: (1) see the learning process happening to the students more deeply than usual, (2) to see the gap between what is expected happened when students learn and what actually happens, and (3) knowing how to plan lessons that are more appropriate to the needs of the students. Besides that Chotimah and Anggara (2012), says that Lesson Study makes teachers become more professional in teaching so as to create a conducive learning atmosphere for students.