Handbook of Formative Assessment Practices

Within the project which was supported by Hornby Trust and British Council, the Handbook of Formative Assessment Practices was developed. This Handbook of formative assessment practices will introduce five main strategies of formative assessment suggested by scholars and help teachers to know how to integrate formative assessment in their classroom processes. These strategies, if used, have the potential to improve the learning processes of students, leading to quality education.

This Handbook consists of two parts: Training materials and Articles. The first part of the book is a collection of (self) training materials produced by local experienced teachers and teacher educators E. Menglieva, G. Niyazova, and G. Tojieva. The second part of the Handbook is an edited collection of research articles written by teachers and teacher educators working at local and international universities in Uzbekistan. The units and research articles were reviewed and edited by Elyanora Meglieva, the Project Lead, Nilufar Begibaeva, Republican research centre for the development of innovative methods in teaching foreign languages, Uzbekistan and Inomiddin Imomov, Inservice and retraining institute of managers and specialist personnel of public education system named after A.Avloniy.

The main reason for publishing this Handbook is to offer English language teachers to explore formative assessment practices, implement some of the outlined strategies in their teaching context and reflect on their formative assessment experience. The first part of the Handbook with training materials can be completed individually or in groups with colleagues. This Handbook can be used informally for your own reflections on your formative assessment practices, for teacher training workshops organised in your educational institutions, etc. Besides, the research articles selected for this publication offer some useful insights into the assessment practices in the context of Uzbekistan.

 To download the Handbook, go to this link: 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ke12QbLncimOHVSBXkzz0JSUqJ-JnWbI?usp=sharing

Teacher Training on Formative Assessment Practices: Special Guest Speakers

The NETRUZ has started its teacher training course on Formative Assessment Practices. This training has been organised with the support of Hornby Trust and the British Council. There are ... guest speakers who will be presenting in this training. The NETRUZ is grateful to our guest speakers for their kind help and support.

Guest speaker Day 1: Dr. Bahia Diefenbach, USA

Dr. Bahia Diefenbach, an Instructional Design and Assessment expert, has extensive experience in teaching as well as in designing, developing, and implementing EFL/ESL training materials and curricula. She has strong leadership skills and a proven record to initiate, design, and implement innovative ideas while supporting and inspiring team members she works with. She has the ability to foster growth and interest, and to promote success. Dr. Bahia Diefenbach’s work experience in diverse cultural environments makes her adaptable to frequent changes. She has a positive attitude and effective communication skills. She is very approachable, easy to work with, and has already been proven to be a great asset to teachers and colleagues in Uzbekistan. 

  

Guest speaker Day 3: Khanh-Duc Kuttig, Germany

Khanh-Duc has an MA in TESOL from Canterbury Christ Church University (UK) and has been teaching English since 1995. Currently in the Department of English as the University of Siegen, she teaches a range of language courses on the teaching degree. She is Events Coordinator for her local teaching association as well as IATEFL’s Teacher Training and Education SIG. She is also newsletter co-editor for the TESOL Teacher Education Interest Section and is TESOL/NGL 2021 Teacher of the Year.

Guest speaker Day 4: Charlotte Benham, USA

Charlotte Benham is from Massachusetts and completed her BA in History in 2007 and her CELTA in Montréal, Canada. She started her teaching career as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Nepal in 2009. Since then, Charlotte has worked as a teacher and administrator for ESL programs in the United States, Nepal, Bangladesh, and the United Arab Emirates. Ms. Benham has extensive experience in working with students transitioning from high school to university. Her interests lie in developing students’ critical thinking skills and the relationship between reading comprehension and academic writing. Now, she is working as an EAP teacher at British Management University in Tashkent.


Guest speaker Day 6: Prof. Lic. Andres Villalba, Argentina

Andrés Villalba is an EFL teacher with a BA in Applied Linguistics from Universidad Nacional del Litoral de Santa Fe, Argentina, and a specialization from Ohio University in USA. Andrés delivers conferences about education for universities, ministries of education and teachers’ associations in Argentina and abroad. This year he has received the Tesol International Association Award for International Participation.

Guest speaker Day 7: Kari Miller, Ecuador

Kari Miller has been a teacher and teacher educator since 1995. She has taught and trained teachers around Ecuador, working closely with various universities in Quito and Guayaquil to design and write professional development courses for secondary and higher education professors. In addition to giving courses to university professors in Quito, Guayaquil, and Ibarra, she has also participated in various writing projects, including co-authoring the Uncover for Ecuador series (Cambridge University Press), and The Academic Books 1, 2, 3, and 4. She co-authored the National EFL curriculum implemented by the Ministry of Education in 2016. Her work has been presented in several international conventions. Her latest research work was presented at TESOL 2021.

Guest speaker Day 7: Dr. Laura Loder Buechel, Switzerland

Laura Loder Buechel (https://phzh.ch/personen/laura.loder) is a teacher trainer at Zurich University of Teacher Education and an editor of the Swiss journal of language education, Babylonia (https://babylonia.online/ ). She did her undergraduate work at La Salle University (Philadelphia, USA), her graduate work at Northern Arizona University and her doctorate at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

Guest speaker Day 8: Dr. Lena Barrantes, Costa Rica

Dr. Lena Barrantes holds a Ph.D. from the University of Calgary in Canada. She started her career by completing an English Teaching Major. Then, she completed a Licentiate’s program in Applied Linguistics with an emphasis on English as a Foreign Language, a master's degree in Second Languages and Cultures and a master's degree in Educational Management with an Emphasis in Leadership. She has been an EFL instructor and teacher trainer for 20 years in Costa Rica, at Universidad Nacional, Sede Regional Brunca. She also worked for the Ministry of Public Education teaching young learners for 8 years. She has shared her research and practice contributions in national and international conferences, and published in journals in the area in Canada, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Costa Rica, and Peru.

Teacher Training on Formative Assessment Practices for School Teachers

Dear English language teachers of schools,

The NETRUZ is organising a teacher training course on Formative Assessment Practices during July 6 - 15. The main aim of this project is to increase school teachers’ awareness of alternative assessment practices, encourage teachers to reflect on classroom assessment practices, equip teachers with practical formative assessment tools.

The training is organised by local teachers, teacher educators, and teacher trainers working at educational institutions of Uzbekistan and the world. Our guest speakers are from countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Argentina, the USA, etc.

• If you are an English language teacher working at schools of Uzbekistan (public, presidential, private, etc.),
• If you are interested in learning more about formative assessment practices,
• If you are interested in improving your students' learning with the help of formative assessment,
• If you want to learn more about the NETRUZ project, APPLY for this training.

Register in advance for the training via the following link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIkdemrrDopHt2V_j3aoi7INH34UNXJmSDW 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the sessions.

Please note that the number of places is limited, so apply as early as possible.

  

Meet Your Prospective Mentor: Feruza Erkulova!

Meet your mentor who is happy and ready to help you become a teacher-researcher!

Hello fellow teachers! My name is Feruza Erkulova. I received my bachelor and master’s degrees from Namangan State University. Currently, I am teaching at Namangan State University.

My ambitions:
One of my ambitions is to become a great MENTOR and set a good example for my Mentees. Knowing that I am responsible for providing appropriate and accurate guidance to them motivates me to work harder. My role as a mentor can contribute to the success of my entire educational system where I will be the most helpful mentor and a perfect facilitator.

The research interests that I would like to help my mentees with lie in online teaching, particularly digital learning technologies, online feedback, teacher preparation to teach online, online data analysis, and surveys through digital tools. So, I would love to help you explore your virtual teaching practices and make them more effective.

Message to my mentees about the training:

For potential mentees, this is a great opportunity for you to connect with a mentor who can offer you insight, advice, opportunity – and help you navigate the next stage/s of your classroom-based research to improve your teaching practices.

Meet Your Prospective Mentor: Khallyeva Dildora!

Meet your mentor who is happy and ready to help you become a teacher-researcher!

Hello fellow teachers! My name is Khallyeva Dildora Ilkhamovna. I received my Bachelor’s in English philology and Master’s degrees in Linguistics and English literature from the Uzbek State World Languages University. I am an English language teacher at the University of World Economy and Diplomacy.

My research interests that I would like to help my mentees with: The improvement of digital learning, critical thinking in adult students; promoting positive interactions and motivation among students; collaborative learning; creativity in education.

My ambitions:

As any conscientious educator, I’m determined to improve my students, make them a little stronger, help them believe in themselves and facilitate them. Studying and improving my knowledge, I set myself such an ambitious goal as infecting as many students as possible with positive experience who can learn new skills and bring something from themselves and further promote them among their friends and loved ones.

Message to my mentees about the training:

Every student is unique with inimitable knowledge and a non-standard viewpoint. For me, there are no unfit students, I believe in each of them. I am convinced that together with you, my dear mentor, we will help our learners achieve higher learning results, empower them to do everything and overcome learning difficulties. I am always happy to support you and tell you the right way in your endeavours. Let's enjoy this journey together!