ABSTRACT

For me, evaluating my teaching used to be a subjective business. As the children left the room, I would say, “Well, I think that went rather well!” or, “Well, they seemed to enjoy it . . .” If I had taught something, quite well in my opinion, to an apparently interested class, then my assumption was that they had learned it. This is still a common equation: decent teaching plus reasonably co-operative class equals learning. When asking a question such as, “Why are you sure they all understand speech marks?” I frequently receive the answer, “Because we did them last week.”