Communication and Collaboration During Learning Essay

Hypothetical Study Proposal

Language literacy assessment is undergoing certain changes throughout the decades. The changes occur due to the shifts in the way literacy is defined and understood (Leu et al. 1). In addition to the skills that are seen as conventional (alphabetic recognition, reading skills, and comprehension skills), new competencies gain more attention (Nusche 839). These novel competencies include “ways of thinking” (innovation, metacognition, and learning to learn), “ways of working” (collaboration), “tools for working” (ICT literacy), and “living in the world” (citizenship and social responsibility) (Nusche 839).

Students are taught to be fully integrated into society and employ all the instruments and opportunities the world has to offer. Therefore, it is critical to include these aspects in the assessment of children’s learning as this will enhance their further academic experience. The present study will concentrate on the benefits of integration of visual codes and collaborative work to reading and comprehension skills assessment. The primary focus will be on learners’ ability to communicate and collaborate while performing tasks.

The questions guiding this study can be formulated as follows:

1. Does the use of visual clues enhance students’ comprehension and collaboration?
2. How effectively does collaboration enhance students’ comprehension skills and overall learning experience?
3. How do collaborative activities affect students’ motivation?

Main body

The subjects of this study will be second graders, and their reading and comprehension skills will be assessed. The assessment will consist of two phases, individual and collaborative. During the individual phase, learners will receive a passage and a set of visuals depicting the events described in the text. The students will place the visuals in order and cross out an odd picture. As soon as a child is ready, they submit their papers and receive another task (not related to the assessment).

When all students have completed individual tasks, that are timed, the collaborative phase starts. The teacher divides students into groups depending on the pace at which they have worked and its correctness. Students complete a similar task they performed individually. Learners receive a text they should read, and they are also given several pictures they should put into the correct order. Students collaborate when placing pictures, and there are some odd cards they need to exclude.

The teacher may ask explicit and inferential questions to help students to cope with the task (Dubeck and Gove 320). Lookbacks (looking for some clues in the text) should be encouraged. The students then present their text and retell the story. They are instructed to tell the story together instead of delegating one member of the group to do it.

Conclusion

This assessment will reveal learners’ reading and comprehension skills, as well as their ability to collaborate. In order to improve the performance of the students, an intervention similar to the one described above will be developed. Learners will receive passages and sets of visuals with two odd pictures. The increased number of misleading visuals will enhance students’ collaborative efforts. Another type of work that can be beneficial is the involvement of parents. Learners will be given similar tasks to complete at home with their parents, which will positively affect the development of the necessary skills and improve parental engagement.

Works Cited

Dubeck, Margaret M., and Amber Gove. “The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA): Its Theoretical Foundation, Purpose, and Limitations.” International Journal of Educational Development, vol. 40, 2015, pp. 315-322.

Leu, Donald J., et al. “New Literacies: A Dual-Level Theory of the Changing Nature of Literacy, Instruction, and Assessment”. Journal of Education, vol. 197, no. 2, 2017, pp. 1-18.

Nusche, Deborah. “Student Assessment and Its Relationship with Curriculum, Teaching and Learning in the Twenty-First Century.” Cultural Theory: An Anthology, edited by Dominic Wyse et al., SAGE, 2015, pp. 838-852.