The question of how educators can foster performance-based learning and assessment in order to prepare learners for the real world has been widely debated in the education field. Performance-based learning aims at representing a set of strategies for the acquisition and application of knowledge, skills, and work habits through the performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging to students.
The possibility of finding a better way to deliver our curriculum brought attention to the relationship between traditional teaching (fact and skill instruction) and performance-based teaching (acquisition and application of these skills). However, these perspectives have not adequately addressed the issue of integrating authenticity by developing tasks based on what already work for our students to implement more authentic and meaningful assignments.
This paper addresses the impact of performance-based learning in the United States and / or Europe with special attention to second language education. The research question I will be discussing and elaborating on will be: How can we make use of our educational objectives in order to better prepare our students for the real world and how can we raise awareness of Higher-Order Thinking Skills?
Specifically, in this project, I will be looking at a revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. I will discuss Anderson and Krathwohl’s model in order to reveal and clarify the connections between performance and the (language) classroom.
I argue that from the first day of the class, performance-based activities should be at the forefront and knowing the information should be blended with using knowledge. My research is being undertaken as an empirical research which concentrates on the classroom applications for teachers in order to help them better implement performance-based learning in their classrooms. My findings will present the current dynamics in the world in order to show the effectiveness of new trends in education. I hope to help educators set educational expectations about the content and the method of performance-based learning and assessment and assist them in creating more effective classrooms.
In conclusion, this presentation, by examining a revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy with current teaching practices sheds new light on the little recognized issue of authenticity in the classroom.