>> Make an update of 300 words or more: Select a literacies assessment method or technology. Identify how your selected method or technology works – what are its strengths and weaknesses?

Make an update of 300 words or more:

A literacies assessment method tat has proved efficient for my pupils, has been a formative assessment method that I like to call a 'reverse-engineered' marking scheme checklist. This checklist is created by taking the marking scheme for a specific question (this method is most efficient for essays or creative writing pieces) and turning the criteria into questions that can be included in a checklist format. The learner is then encouraged to print this out and use it to check their own work - very often as they are in the process of writing, but also at the end. The idea is that they start tikcing off items from the bottom of the checklist and then moving up, and hopefully they can thus reach the highest band of marks. This can be considered a formative-style assessment, as the pupil uses it in the duration of the planning and the writing, but also at the end, to check their own work. 

Its key strength is that it can be very efficient in guaranteeing top marks if the pupil applies the above principle as described. It also allows them to engage with their own work at a deeper level, and become more responsible about their own writing. It also shows them exactly what examiners expect to see in their work, and shows them the qualitative differences between bands of marks. 

Som weaknesses of this method include the fact that it is difficult for the learner himself/herself to crate the checklist - tutors and teachers have the knowledge required to know how to phrase the criteria into questions, what aspects of the marking scheme to include and to remove. Another weakness is that this method will only work if the pupil uses it as described (ticking items off from the lower band of marks and moving to the higher ones) and that it therefore requires  work ethic and patience from the side of the pupil.