Reading skill

Motivating Students by Modifying Evaluation Methods

          A foreign language learner’s motivation can be influenced by many factors: social, psychological education, and economical. Teachers can do a lot to motivate their students by being observant, understanding, informed, and tactful.

          In the Chinese, this Confucian model has exerted a great influence on foreign language. Teacher is very demanding, responsible. The students are compared with each other. The sad thing from this model is that a teacher’s good will and extra effort frequently bring and negative and harmful effects on the students.

          When evaluating students’ performance, instead of looking at it with the critical eye of an authoritarian, the teacher should examine the way students have been successful. The brainstorming activity would be ruined and the benefits of focusing on success and achievements are manifold.

          Norm-referenced evaluation is like athletic competition in the prize winners are scare. Criterion-referenced evaluation measures a student’s performance by comparing it to a defined of knowledge or skills <Bachman 1990: 74-76>. The students are evaluated according to standards, not each other. Objectives-referenced evaluation works well with essays and should be an integral part of the everyday teaching process. Teachers should not unrealistic demands or judgment criteria for their students, but rather depend on objectives referencing to evaluate both their students’ performance and their own teaching. When teachers evaluate students’ performance, it should be done as one of several means to help students succeed in learning. Analytic assessment point out specific aspects of a students’ performance.

          Students have different tolerance because they differ from other students in such diverse aspects as their family, educational history, learning strategies, and attitude for foreign language learning <Eillis 1994>. These are 3 techniques for improving how we evaluate our students’ work:

1.     Diachronic evaluation.

2.     Split method.

3.     Dynamic view.

Learning a foreign language is a long and complex task. Students should encourage their selves  to learn. These are many methods to motivate them to learn well like focus on success and achievement, use objectives-referenced testing. I think it is useful for teachers to choose these methods to motivate students.

Vocabulary	Pronunciation	Meaning		Sentence
		Thai	English
tactful < adj.>	/ ˈtæktfl /	ระวังคำพูดไม่ให้กระทบผู้อื่น	careful not to say or do anything that will annoy or upset other people	That wasn't a very tactful thing to say! I tried to find a tactful way of telling her the truth.
prevail <v.>	/ prɪˈveɪl /	แพร่หลาย	to exist or be very common at a particular time or in a particular place	We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons.
begrudge<v.>	/ bɪˈɡrʌdʒ /	อิจฉา	to feel unhappy that sb has sth because you do not think that they deserve it	You surely don't begrudge him his happiness.
conceit < n.>	/ kənˈsiːt /		an artistic effect or device, especially one that is very clever or tries to be very clever but does not succeed	The ill-advised conceit of the guardian angel dooms the film from the start.
sluggish < adj.>	/ ˈslʌɡɪʃ /		moving, reacting or working more slowly than normal and in a way that seems lazy	He felt very heavy and sluggish after the meal.