Question A (Classroom Observation)

I have observed my guidance teacher, Madam Norina Binti Yusof on 11 August

2014. This observation was happened in year 5 Arif which is the first class in Sekolah
Kebangsaan Bukit Guntong.

Type of test that I can identify is formative assessment. What is formative

assessment? Formative assessment is a test or assessment which is applied at the end
of the lesson that they have learnt on that particular day. Basically, it is a test in which
gives the pupils a “warm up” or a practice to be familiar with the lesson. Somehow, it is
also gives the pupils a chance to master the knowledge that have been exposed to them.

The example that I can mention here is the test that was carried out after she has
finished the lesson on that particular day. The questions are all about what they have
learnt on that day.

For this assessment, she focused on the writing skill. One of the objectives of
choosing this kind of assessment is to check the understanding of the pupils about the
lesson.

For me, the test that is carried out is really good for the pupils to assess their
language content. The first strength that I can share is that the clear instruction really make
the pupils understand the questions better. If we want someone to give us an answer,
would we ask him or her with the long questions that will lead them to be confused or just
use the simple questions that is just straight to the main point? Of course, when we use
simple questions, we will get simple answers. That’s it!

Other than that, when talking about the reliability of the test, there are two things
that we have to consider. They are inter rater reliability and intra reliability. Inter reliability
is all about how the examiner gives the marks without being influenced by others or by
others examiner. We can say that it is the ability of the examiner to give the same marks
to the same script of answers.

Inter reliability is the internal factor. For example, if the examiner is tired or busy
with something else. So that, he or she will not really focus on the script rather than other
things that they think are important to them.
 I can say that the test uses is reliability as the questions are not ambiguous to the
pupils and they can answer them easily. As what I can see, this test really produces a
stable and consistent result. For example, most of the pupils score higher in the test and
there are no pupils that having difficulty during the test. The weakness that I can find out
here is that the teacher just discusses the answers straight away after the test. For my
recommendation, she has to make a uniform rubrics for evaluations. So that, the test will
be more reliable.

Apart from that, I can say that this test has its own validity. Why? From Mc Milan
(2001), he mentioned that validity refers to the evidence base that can be provided about
appropriateness of the inferences, uses and consequences that come from assessment.
First of all because the items that are being used are appropriate to them. The content of
the questions really match with their level of thinking. Not only that, the items in the test
are familiar with them. There is a weakness where the information in the text does not
matches with the information in the table. I can see that the pupils a little bit confuse. For
my recommendation, I do suggested that the teacher should double checked the
questions to avoid any errors in the test.

In the other hand, the teacher also considers the practicality before conducting this
test. As a teacher, we should consider how far it is suitable to be implemented. For
example, this class started at 7.45 am to 8.45 am. For me, having this kind of test at this
time really help both; teacher and pupils. For the teacher, it will help them to control the
class as the condition of the pupils are still good. For the pupils, they will easily focus on
that particular lesson. The weakness for this point is that the test item is too short. In a
simple words, the questions is too short. This is not suitable for year 5.

Another thing is that the teacher should make sure that the environment of the test
are appropriate and fair to all the pupils. I can see that the pupils who are far away from
the window do listened to the teacher’s instruction well while the other pupils who sit near
the window have some difficulties in order to understand the instructions. So, my
suggestion is that the teacher should consider the pupils and the items that are being
tested. Apart from that, I do suggested the pupils are given the same chance to have the
test. My suggestion is we can have the test in multimedia room where there is sound proof.
This might help the pupils to pay attention to the test more.
 In term of objectivity, it is something to do with the ability of the examiner to check
the answers script. On that day, she is so busy handling the year 6 pupils. Although she
is tired, she tries to give the best commitment to mark those scripts. After she marks all
the script, she will re-check the script to make sure that she already gives the best mark
based on the answers given. The weakness that I can figure out is on that day, she is too
tired. This will influence her emotions to check and mark the script. For my
recommendation, I suggest that as the examiner, we have to take a rest. Although it just
short rest but it could help us to give the best mark to the pupils.

In a conclusion, I can see that this test is reliable as it measures and produce a
stable and constant result. It also has a validity which focus on what the test is claimed to
be measured.