Assessing Research Projects
Foreign language classes provide a lot of opportunities for the usage of the project method. But the success of research work in foreign languages depends on the right organization of such work. One of the most important stages of the research is the presentation. Lately, school conferences and contests of projects have become popular. This fact makes the task of developing an objective criteria for assessing them urgent.
The aim of our research was to analyze the existing system of assessing projects. To achieve this aim, we have analyzed the criteria used during the following events: the first contest of projects on linguistics and cross-cultural communication “Breakthrough”, the contest for the grant of the Prefect of the Central Administrative District of Moscow, the conference “Lingua”, and the conference held by school No. 1200.
According to our analyses, one can single out 5 blocks of criteria.
The first block includes the criteria that reflect the contents of the project: its correspondence to the topic, the quality and the correctness of the analyses, the knowledge of the subject matter, and the independence of the research. Such criteria are used at all the four events mentioned which indicates their importance.
The second block includes the criteria connected with the scientific character of the project. Here belongs the urgency of the project, the correct setting of the aims and objectives, and the novelty of the principal idea. These criteria are also used at all the contests.
The third block includes the criteria reflecting presentation skills, including language skills. Attention is also paid to the logic of presentation, sticking to the time limit, and the ability to answer questions. Presentation skills are assessed at all the conferences.
The fourth block can be called formatting. It includes aesthetics, the culture of formatting and abiding by the general standards. The contests “Lingua”, “Breakthrough” and the contest for the grant of the Prefect of the Central Administrative District of Moscow apply such criteria.
The fifth block assesses the technical aspect of the project: the usage of tables, schemes, multimedia, the complexity as well as the technical mastery of the multimedia presentation.
It is also important to mention that during the conference “Lingua” and the conference at school No. 1200, students can score extra points based on the special evaluation of the audience and the jury.
To sum it all up, one can come to the conclusion that some characteristics of a project are essential. On the other hand, some characteristics can be added in accordance with the aims, objectives and the conditions of the research.
Bibliography:
1. Воробьева Е.В. Проектная методика обучения иностранным языкам в контексте современных педагогических технологий // Проблемы подготовки современного учителя иностранного языка. – М., 2007.
2. Новые педагогические и информационные технологии в системе образования / Под ред. Е.С. Полат. – М., 1999.