Reading the Texts of Assessment Task Sheets in Two Year 8 English Classrooms

• Published in: Language and education 2003, Vol.17 (1), p.42-58
• Main Authors: Moni, Karen B., van Kraayenoord, Christina E., Baker, Carolyn D.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Australia (Queensland); English (Second Language); Evaluation Criteria; Evaluation Methods; Foreign Countries; High Schools; Literacy Education; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Student Evaluation
• ISSN: 0950-0782; 1747-7581
• DOI: 10.1080/09500780308666837

Task sheets are written texts generated specifically for assessment purposes in high schools in Queensland, Australia. They attempt to make assessment transparent by explaining the criteria used to assess performance. The criteria and statements of standards describe how a grade is awarded and provide evidence of teacher accountability for assessment. In this paper, task sheets from two Year 8 English classes in two such schools are described and analysed to investigate three questions: (1) What do task sheets reveal about practices and relationships operating in classroom-based literacy assessment? (2) How do task sheets document what counts as literacy and performance in literacy at this level of schooling? (3) Can any task sheet be 'transparent' and how much interpretation is required to make sense of it? The analysis was guided by a framework of methods drawn from Fairclough (1992), Gee (1990), and critical linguistic approaches. It found that task sheets are complex texts which communicate dimensions of assessment relating to teachers' and students' roles, the purposes of assessment, and criteria for what counts as performance. It is argued that assessment task sheets are themselves documents of the assessment culture, part of the socialisation of students into assessment practices in the classroom.