Bloom's taxonomy for assessing language skills Content introduction main body

1.2. Selection of basic bloom's taxonomy
for improving language skills
The significance of Bloom's taxonomy is ingrained in developing assessments that measure higher and lower level cognitive skills. Since it is important to assess how well students master the information within the levels of the taxonomy, in this study, the higher and lower levels of Bloom's taxonomy are presented and whether the exam questions of General English courses are based on both higher and lower order thinking levels is detected.
Benjamin Bloom and his colleagues produced a cognitive model for classifying educational objectives. This model has not been properly utilized by teachers and university instructors in their teaching settings. This cognitive model covers six main levels as knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation which, after knowledge, were displayed as skills and abilities, with the fact that knowledge was the essential prerequisite for putting these skills and abilities into practice. In the taxonomy, each category bears a continuum from concrete to abstract and simple to complex. In 2001, a group of cognitive psychologist revisited and modernized Bloom’s Taxonomy for teaching, learning, and assessment. Accordingly, the revised Bloom’s taxonomy drew attention away from the partially passive image of educational objectives and hints on a more active conception of categorization. The revised taxonomy employs verbs and gerunds to refer to cognitive levels unlike the nouns employed in the original taxonomy. The dynamic words in the revised taxonomy define the cognitive processes through which thinkers confront and work with knowledge. The learning goals are significant to form a pedagogical interchange in order that learners and instructors perceive the aim of that interchange. Having and classifying objectives support teachers in planning and supplying quality education, forming proper assessment tasks, and ensuring teaching to go parallel with the objectives. Hence, this research paper hints on investigating to what extent the revised Bloom’s taxonomy is employed in the reading comprehension questions of an EFL reading textbook. Thus, two research questions were developed to find out the state of cognitive skills stated in the revised taxonomy, the first question aiming at evaluating the lower level while the second one involving the higher cognition level. The investigated EFL reading textbook was analyzed through descriptive content analysis. The findings of the study showed that the examined textbook lacked the higher level cognitive skills highlighted in the revised version of the taxonomy. Related assumptions have been accordingly provided to recommend how the reading textbooks which are being written or will be written should be integrated with the revised Bloom’s taxonomy when assessing reading skills.⁴
“Bloom’s Taxonomy” is a popular educational model.
Before we discuss the purpose of Bloom’s Taxonomy, let us talk about the conventional educational system which was unlike the modern system. The traditional educational setup lacked a lot of things when it comes to providing the best teaching-learning provisions to students but, the goal of achieving–
“Bloom’s Taxonomy” is a popular educational model. Be it the time when students used to study in “Gurukuls” or the recent times using “edTech”, the purpose is to make students life-long learners & inculcate good values & skills in them. Bloom’s Taxonomy can be understood as one such attempt to revive the educational practices with the best teaching methodologies & the way of student performance evaluation.
“Best student learning outcomes + skill development” remains the same.
Let’s begin with understanding what is Bloom’s Taxonomy?
What is Bloom’s Taxonomy?
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a categorization that defines different levels of intelligence including thinking, learning, and understanding. Institutes make use of bloom’s taxonomy to improve curriculum, assessments, and teaching methods.
Originally introduced in 1956, Bloom’s Taxonomy was a concept created by Mr. Benjamin Bloom along with Mr. Edward Furst, Mr. Max Englehart, Mr. David Krathwohl & Mr. Walter Hill. The concept or rather the educational model has categorized the levels of education as well as the skills that need to be imparted whenever a teacher teaches something.
Three Domains of Bloom's Taxonomy
I) Cognitive Domain
In the cognitive domain of Bloom’s taxonomy, the major focus is given to the development of knowledge and intellectual skills. As per the complexity, there are six sub-heads of the cognitive domain.
1. Knowledge
Gaining knowledge about facts, figures, and basic concepts.
2. Comprehension
Understanding the facts gathered during the knowledge stage .
3. Application
Applying the knowledge and the concepts in the best way possible.
4. Analysis
Analyzing the application, making conclusions, and understanding relationships between the different aspects of the application.
5. Evaluation
Judging and defending conclusions about the information generated from the application.
6. Creation
Creating new results by planning, designing, developing the actual application.
II)Affective Domain
This domain of Bloom's taxonomy deals with the feelings and the emotions associated with the passage. It contains complex ideas and conscience, phenomena, and characters. The main aspects of the affective domain are as follows.

• 
  Reception
  
• 
  Response
  
• 
  Values
  
• 
  Organization
  
• 
  Characterization
  
• 
  Psychomotor Domain
  

The psychomotor domain of bloom’s taxonomy deals with coordination, sensory organ movement, and the physical movement of the body of a student. A great practice is required to be good at these skills. The physical act of driving, playing the keyboard, guitar, are major examples of the psychomotor domain.
Applications of Bloom’s Taxonomy
Finding meanings of words, phrases, idioms that are used in the paragraph using application and understanding. Concluding the passage and its points using evaluation and analysis. Gaining details and remembering them using understanding and remembering. Understanding the author’s tone by using the concept of evaluation. Give a proper title for the passage using the concept of evaluation and understanding. Improve your Institute’s Management along with Teaching- Learning Methods with MasterSoft!
Example of Bloom’s Taxonomy
Imagine that an essay has to be written by a college student to analyze their communication skills. To complete the given assignment, the student must be able to use the levels of Bloom’s taxonomy as given below
1. Remember:
Make use of previous knowledge and different types of communication techniques required in regular life
2. Understand:
Analyze how all these different types of communication techniques will help them write the assignment
3. Apply:
Make use of an academically credible communication theory and make sure it applies to their personal communication style.
4. Analyze:
Analyze how different types of communications are required based on the situations, audiences, and intentions
5. Evaluate:
Assess the communication process from a macro-perspective and see the contemporary challenges
6. Create:
Create an original framework that uniquely describes one’s communication style. Six Levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy & Its Importance. Wondering what do the above-mentioned levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy indicate?
Remember - it indicates the learning of students in the classroom.
Whatever a student has learned theoretically or practically, both are considered as knowledgeable aspects. Just like any other aspect of education, knowledge, though basic, but is one of the most important.
A student’s knowledge level acts as a “catalyst” in unlocking the other levels.
If a student has good knowledge, he/she can implement it in a way that no one could imagine.So, this level could be considered as the pillar of the educational model.
Comprehension indicates the level of understanding.
For instance, no matter how much a student scores in the exam & know about a concept, but the value of education would be when he/she truly understands it.
Understanding a concept to the core can be a game-changer for students who want to have a successful career ahead.
Therefore, students must focus on understanding the teachings to their depth and not take them lightly.
The third most level of Bloom’s Taxonomy is application.As the name indicates, the application refers to the way a student learns, understands, and then applies the concept in real life.For instance, a student learns how to write in the “English” language.He understands it well and has a good aptitude. However, if there comes a time where his parents need to write a letter in English for urgent work then, he should be able to write the letter.This is where he would apply his knowledge in real life.So, if you doubt- “Is Bloom's taxonomy a learning theory?”
I hope the query has been resolved! Analyzing anything is quite an imperative task.
Just because someone says something, the students must not accept the same.
They must develop an analysis power that could differentiate between what is authentic & what’s not.It would help the students deal with any situation in their career.Synthesis can be understood as gathering everything that is learned and then creating something new out of it. As easy as it may sound, but to reach this level, the student needs to be well prepared & has gained knowledge in depth.The student must be at a stage to become an avid learner.Evaluation simply refers to a skill that enables students to judge anything in terms of whether it’s true or not along with giving strong reasoning.The students can reach this stage only when all other stages are cleared. It won’t happen overnight, the entire process takes a good amount of time.However, teachers need to encourage a student to clear all the stages & develop skills that would help them fulfill their dreams.Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy Model in 2001 indicates the highest level to be - creation.Creation indicates that the student must be able to create something out of the teaching-learning process. It can be understood as a student writes a book on something or he creates a device that would help society in some way.Creation in itself is a great achievement. It aims toward the welfare of the society – which is one of the main purposes of Bloom’s Taxonomy.Bloom’s taxonomy helps the teachers to think and analyze their teaching and student’s learning. The framework is used to state clear objectives which can help the teachers to plan lessons accordingly. Moreover, it can provide a framework for cognitive behaviors which can be applied to understand the difficulty of tasks, conduct an assessment, and simplify or complicate the activities.Bloom’s Taxonomy helps the teachers to understand the objectives of classroom teaching. It guides them to change the complexity of the questions and helps students to achieve higher levels of hierarchy. Further, it helps to develop critical thinking among teachers.As a faculty, you have certain restrictions while managing the classes online. Unlike the physical classroom, you don’t get to know whether the students are understanding the topic or just attending classes for namesake.MasterSoft understands your challenges very well.To help you make a mark in the digital space, Team MasterSoft offers you a learning management system (LMS) developed on the basis of all the aspects mentioned in Bloom’s Taxonomy.The online assessment module in the learning management software would help you evaluate the levels of students’ learning.For instance-Understanding Level - You can add some questions that would help you analyze the understanding level of students.Application Level - You may also ask them to work on a project that would comprise the application level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.Online assessment tools offered by MasterSoft are the best way to help students grow & enhance their skills in the long run.For more assistance on MasterSoft’s online assessment tools & educational ERP software, do get in touch with the team today.We are happy to help you transform your institution!
Mapping skills acquisition into six levels, Bloom’s Taxonomy is a favorite tool among trainers to help them design their learning programs. L&D managers and instructional designers use Bloom’s Taxonomy to measure skills acquisition and tailor the learning targets of their programs to learners’ needs. We’ve already looked at the first four levels (knowledge and comprehension, and application and analysis). We’re now going to tackle the final two levels of the learning process according to Benjamin Bloom: synthesis and evaluation.
Bloom’s Taxonomy: what does it involve?
Synthesis, the fifth level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, occurs when learners go beyond what they’ve learned, understood, applied, and analyzed, to create a product or develop a new method. Building, developing, formulating, and inventing plans and ideas are all part of the process.
The final level in the hierarchy of learning objectives is evaluation. This sixth level involves assessing and criticizing a concept or creation according to individually defined criteria. It entails judging, setting out arguments, criticizing, and justifying a position.
These skills apply to training sessions for trainers or managers who can clearly sum up a situation, take a decision on it, and make that decision known. The final two levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy rely on soft skills, prompting a behavioral change in learners. This learning process engages subcortical brain structures and stimulates dopaminergic pathways.
The human dimension is critical when it comes to learning cross-disciplinary soft skills. Managers must support team members during the learning experience and encourage them to invest in and engage with their training. Learner data supplied or collected by learning platforms (habits, personality, etc.) are also key to customizing training courses. Using data, you can ensure than learners stay “switched on” throughout the course.⁵
These components are designed to be combined to create endless “Lesson Plans for Life” purposed to grow and evolve what we feel will be the most comprehensive, effective, and diversely applicable free-education program and resource archive in the world. The One Community Foundations of Teaching, Leadership, and Communicating, combined with a collaborative Evaluation and Evolution Component (Portfolio Creation and Maintenance), help us to further grow and adapt both the program and as individuals.
If you have ideas you’d like to add to this developing Bloom’s Taxonomy revised approach resource guide, please use our Education for Life Collaborative Input Page. Our research thus far has focused on the Bloom’s Taxonomy of education objectives, Bloom’s Taxonomy Chart, and Bloom’s Taxonomy Wheel. Our goal is to list here what we feel are the best, simplest, and most usable tools from this philosophy and approach with application and benefit for all ages.