Case Study - Using the NRS in an accredited English as A Second Language (ESL) Program

Program tasks and activities	NRS Indicators of Competence	Aspects of Communication
Participate in interview with placement officer	Oral Communication 3.6	Personal Co-operative
Phone employer to arrange an orientation visit	Oral Communication 2.5, 3.6	Procedural Technical Personal Co-operative Systems
Written report	Writing 3.4/4.4 3.5	Personal Cooperative
Prepare Resume	Writing 4.4	Personal Co-operative
Write thankyou letter to employer	Writing 3.4/4.4 and 3.5	Personal Co-operative
Oral Report to class	Oral Communication 3.6/4.6	Personal Public

Sample Proforma 1 Certificates of Spoken and Written English 1V Vocational English

Adopt appropriate assessment strategies

The teacher opts for an informal assessment approach. That is, she utilised the authentic oral language and literacy tasks associated with setting up the Work Experience component and then reporting and reflecting on it as the assessment events during the three weeks covered by this component of the course.

Identify stages in the sequence of learning for reaching expected performance levels

Two weeks preparation was available to rehearse the placement interview, select workplaces and to make the appointment telephone call. Model resumes were provided and assistance given in preparing them. After the two week placement one week was available for developing written reports and making oral presentations about the experience to the class thus sharing the experiences of the group across the varied work contexts.

Develop appropriate assessment tasks to fit the sequences of learning.

The assessment tasks developed were:

An interview with placement officer
Phone employer to arrange an orientation visit
Write a resume
Write thankyou letter to employer
An oral report to class
A written report

These tasks were undertaken during class time with access to the teacher for support and clarification. The number of drafts was limited by the time constraints of making real appointments and doing real placement interviews.

‘Write a resume’ is a fairly common classroom activity and informal assessment task in language and literacy provision. It is an open ended task which can be performed to a variety of standards. The instruction in this case covered Language and Literacy Features and Performance Strategies at levels 3 and 4 of the NRS. The Task Cover Sheet reproduced amplifies the information needed for this assessment to be moderated against the NRS.

Name …… ……………………… Job Seeker ID ………………………				ASSESSMENT TASK COVER SHEET
Performance Outcomes NRS Indicators of Competence		Reading: Writing:, Oral Communication: Learning Strategies: Numeracy	4.4, 4.5
Instructional Context: The class look at a number of models for writing resumes and discussed the structure and suitable vocbulary
TASK CONSTRUCT Activity – write resume to send to work experience employer
PERFORMANCE CONTEXT NRS Conditions of Performance, NRS Aspects of Communication and Workplace and Social Context	Writing Learner can request support from teacher on the drafts of their resume. Discussion in first language might occur with fellow students clarifying meaning. Adapting understandings of resume writing from home country experience to Australian setting
ASSESSMENT CONTEXT Information about the task Formal or informal process Duration or time constraints Assessment approach Individual or group activity NRS Assessment Principles	Informal classroom activity. Many drafts acceptable within the time constraint. Task completed over 20 hour sequence of instruction Authentic writing task to be sent to work experience employer Individual activity
JUDGEMENT SCHEMA Performance Criteria NRS Language Literacy and Numeracy Features and Performance Strategies	Writing LEVEL 4 Language and Literacy Features and Performance Strategies Understands and uses vocab. appropriate to topic Uses simple and complex syntactic structures Uses nominalisation Uses modal verbs Spells accurately Few errors in punctuation Relates pieces of information in the text Uses supporting material effectively Used model resume text and understands the genre Uses a variety of strategies for planing, reviewing and proof reading text. Uses with teachers/peers