Assessing progress
The students will assess their progress in developing their accuracy and fluency in NZSL.
Give each student a copy of the Scene B transcript. Tell them that they are to role-play the scene in groups and that the focus is now on their signing accuracy and fluency.
Make sure that all the students know who they are to work with and their roles. Ask them to read the transcript so that they understand the content of the scene.
Play Scene B – Meeting the family. You will need to play this scene many times so that they can model their signing and behaviours on the signers in the scene. To encourage the students’ thinking and creativity, tell them to substitute other food items to personalise their role-plays.
This kind of substitution will develop their understanding, knowledge, and use of language patterns and structures.
Performing role-plays
When the students are ready, they perform their role-plays before the class. Since the students have had good models to follow, they should now be confident enough to do this and receive feedback from their peers. Record the performances on video.
Assessing fluency and accuracy
View the video recording with the students afterwards and stimulate a discussion that assesses the fluency and accuracy of each student’s signing.
Ask them how they felt about substituting other foods for those in the scenario. What did they learn as a result?
This discussion will allow you to compare what the students are saying now with what they offered when they first began learning NZSL. It will also help them to monitor their own learning.
Reinforce the importance of feedback with the students. Ask each student to identify two or more aspects of their use of NZSL that they need to improve as a result of the feedback they received on their performance and to note this in their workbooks.
Challenge them to practise their learning in the areas they have identified for themselves as needing improvement. Discuss techniques they might use to effect these improvements, for example, viewing the scene often to increase their reading fluency, modelling their signing on that of the actors, and getting more feedback from their peers.
To complete the assessment process, ask the students to practise their role-plays again, focusing on the areas that they’ve identified as needing improvement.
The students present their role-plays for a second time. Record these on video. Review the recording with the students so that they can assess how well they have improved the selected aspects of their performance. Replay the earlier video recording for comparison.
The two video recordings will provide you with comparative evidence on how well your students are managing their own learning progression when they receive corrective feedback and are provided with opportunities to strive for improvement.