Today we will discuss about CLassroom Based Assessment and the use of the VOICES Model. 

Key concepts: CBA and VOICES Model

CBA stands for Classroom Based Assessment and it consists of all methods teachers have to assess students’ learning process and learning outcomes in order to have a record and use it for future planning of lessons. Moreover this would help students improve their outcomes in the course.

The VOICES model consists of six key issues that teachers should have in mind when implementing CBA. The model is called Voices because it is a mnemonic, in other words, each letter of the word “voices” corresponds to one issue. 

V stands for varied, this means that our assessments should vary in the way we assess, in the content that we assess and taking into account the different learning styles of the students.

O stands for ongoing, this means that we should have one formative assessment per lesson in order to have a real record of the students’ performance throughout the course.

I stands for integrated, this means that we should integrate the CBA in our syllabus and not only in one or two lessons.

C stands for collaborative, this means that we should include students, other teachers, and/or parents during the implementation of the CBA in the classroom.

E stands for evidenced, this means that we should have a record of students’ results and communicate them to students, in this way students have knowledge of their process.

S stands for systematic, this means that we should implement the CBA in an organised way.

How can we implement VOICES model in the classroom?
It is important to have in mind the VOICES model every time we make an assessment even when it is formative. In our personal experience, we tried to vary the kinds of assessments we did, like presentations, exit tickets, traffic light activity, formal tests, dialogs. The idea was to assess students in different ways in every lesson, and not only have summative assessments throughout the course, but also formative to have a record and evidence of students' progress. We also wanted to have in mind what students enjoyed doing and what were their preferences so that we could integrate them into the lessons' activities and evaluations. 

Now we want to talk more about this, you can comment any doubts that you have regarding this topic. If you have more ideas about how to implement it in your lessons please be free to write a comment below.
We will read all your comments and answer your questions.

Thank you for reading, we hope you liked it. :)

The following video gives a clear example on how to give effective feedback. We can see that the teacher starts giving positive feedback to the student, highlighting his strengths, this is helpful for him in the sense that it can motivate him to keep working on, and he realizes his progress learning the lesson. Moreover, the teacher points him out the sentences that need correction without telling him what to correct exactly, but asking him open-ended questions with a swift tone of voice (What might you do differently if you did this again?), which enables the student realizes where the mistakes are and correct them. 

This video can serve as a model for you as a teacher to put into practice effective feedback. It’s better to give personal feedback to students even though this could take more time, but it’s worth it, since you and the student can see his/her progress throughout the course.

Maybe, the only thing that I could do differently here is the speed of the speech. I would slow down a bit the speech in this way students can understand better the feedback, especially if we are working in a TEFL classroom.

I hope this information helps you to deliver effective feedback to your students and improve your students’ learning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=137&v=tTNKWbhQKYQ&feature=emb_logo