Development of the Cadets’ Regulative Skills at Practical English Classes by a Means of Formative Assessment Technology

Abstract

The new paradigm of education requires teaching stuff to search for efficient ways of forming of the key competences integral to personal and professional development of future officers of the Russian Army. Due to this reason, the search for the brand new assessment methods and technologies used in measuring cadets’ personal achievements in a military college is a challenging problem of foreign language learning theory and practice. The implementation of the modern assessment techniques involves the development of students’ regulative skills at foreign language classes and meets the requirements of the new federal educational standard to the teaching process in a higher educational institution, provides the sustained personal growth conditions and encourages cadets to conscious learning activities. The present article is devoted to the analysis of the formative assessment didactic potential relating to the field of foreign language teaching. The author proves the effectiveness of its use at the English classes as a means of improving cadets’ monitoring, evaluation and reflexive skills. Formative assessment is considered as a learning technology necessary for cadets’ personal development and improving the quality of foreign language learning through providing the feedback from all the parties involved in the educational process organization. The advantages of formative assessment in comparison with traditional methods of assessment are given. The cadets’ regulative skills developed by means of this technology at the English classes are also listed. The author provides the examples of the main formative assessment techniques implementation (criteria-based assessment, self-report, survey, etc.) at the English practical classes. The article contains the figures and tables which demonstrate the implementation of formative assessment.