Assessment class

Next Class on 29-8-2014

Assessment                                                                         

Assessment refers to the general process of monitoring or keeping track of the learners’ progress           ( Hedge, 2008)

• Assessment provides students with a tool to be more involved in their learning, and give them a better sense of control for their own learning. (Richards, 2002)

• it is the concern with measuring significant learning. Or, the act of judging or forming an opinion about something / somebody.(Saphier, 1997)

• Functions of assessment

Evaluate students’ overall level.

Evaluate students’ progress.

Evaluate how well students have learnt specific material during a course.

Evaluate students’ strengths and weaknesses. (Ur, 2012)

• Purposes of assessment•

 Formative assessment One purpose is pedagogically motivated, i.e. formative assessment, where the teacher will use information gained from assessments about learners progress as the basis for further classroom work. (Hedge, 2008)

•   Formative assessment happens in the middle of a period of learning rather than at the end, provides clear feedback in the form of error correction and suggestion for improvement. (Ur, 2012)

• • Summative assessment the second purpose for assessment is to measure learner achievement. This is referred to as summative assessment. (Hedge, 2008) They provide only a grade, often expressed as a percentage, offer no specific feedback on aspects of performance, and are designed to summarize or conclude a period of learning. Summative assessment may be used as final school grades, or for acceptance into further education.

 (Ur, 2012)

• Alternative assessment 

Teacher assessment. 

Continuous assessment.

 Self-assessment.(Ur, 2012)

•  Alternative assessment procedureThe main goal of alternative assessment is to “ gatherevidence about how students areapproaching, processing, and completing ‘real-life’tasks in a particular domain.(Richards, 2002)

•  Alternative assessment is different fromtraditional testing. Does not include on intrude on regular classroom activities.

• Reflects the curriculum that is actually being implemented in the classroom.

• Provides information on the strengths and weaknesses of each individual student.

• Provides multiple indices that can be used to gauge student progress.

• Is more multiculturally sensitive and free of norm, linguistic, and cultural biases found in traditional testing. (Richards, 2002)

• Nontraditional or alternative forms of assessment of classroom based writing Portfolio assessment Protocol analysis learning logs Journal entries Dialogue journals (Richards, 2002)

• Assessment should- remain an essential and integral part of teaching and learning. - Involve sharing learning goals with students. - help students to know and recognize the standards they are aiming for. - involve students in peer and self-assessment.- provide feedback which leads to students recognizing their next steps and how to make them.- involve both teacher and students in reviewing and reflection assessment data.(Saphier, 1997)

• Assessment and testing Assessment 

• Assessment refers to the general process of monitoring or keepingtrack of the learners’ progress.Assessment is a boarder concept, itis a part of the whole educationalprocess of teaching and learning.TestingTesting is one kind of assessment, one which is typically used at the end of a stage of instruction of measure studentachievement.Testing is a term that is not always used precisely, here, it refers to the specific procedure that teachers and examiners employ to try to measurability in the language.

• What is testing?

Testing is by far the most common basis for assessment. The criterion for success is a fixed level which the student is expected to reach; and the result is usually expressed as a percentage. Tests are relatively easy to design and check, take place at pre-test times and places, give clear-cut results, and are in general accepted as reliable bases for course grades.( Ur, 2012)

•  Principle of administrating tests

Inform your students about the test well in advance. Allot some class time to preparation. Provide, or review, essential information about the test as you present it.

Help students with instructions.

 Check and return tests as soon as you can. ( Ur, 2012)

Preparing the testing environment.

 This involve arranging the place of testing, materials and equipment, personal, time of testing, and physical conditions under which the test is administered.( Bachman & Palmer, 1996)

•  Functions of the test

• Act as ‘station’, marking off the ends of units

• Encourage students to review material.

• Motived students give a sense of achievement and progress.

• Provide learning or review. (Ur, 2012)

• Problems of tests

they are not always valid.

They may not be reliable.

They are a one-off event which might not give a fair representation of the student’s overall ability.

They discriminate against students with test anxiety that perform badly under test conditions. (Ur, 2012)

• four major types of tests

 Proficiency tests 

Aptitude tests 

Diagnostic tests

 Achievement tests (Hughes, 1998)

• Features of good tests

Accuracy

Objectivity

Reliability

Validity

Score ability (Hughes, 1996)

• Other types of test

 Standardized and non-standardized tests

 External and internal tests.

 Oral and written tests.

 Objective and subjective tests.

• Standardized and non-standardized tests• Standardized tests usually includes tests prepared by teams of specialists. Standardized test are used widely in some educational settings for both first and second language assessment. • Teacher-made school test is non-standardized because it may be applied once and then forgotten. ( Genesee, 1996)

• Standardized tests have the following qualities

 They provide a "systematic procedure for describing behaviors, whether in terms of numbers or categories."

 They include specified procedures for administration and scoring.

 The test items are derived from experience, either by experiment or observation, rather than theory.

 They have an established format and set of materials.

 They present the same tasks and require the same response modes formal test takers. They provide tables of norms to which the scores of test takers can be compared in order to ascertain their relative standing. ( Genesee, 1996)

• Performance Evaluation a performance evaluation is a dynamic tool by the help of which the performance of an individual could be measured by the concern authority. For example, such document is presented to the school and college students for gauging the status of the institute.Bartolomei, Kyra (2010)

•  References 

Bachman, L. F. & Palmer, A. S. (1996). Language testing in practice. New York:Oxford.Bartolomei, Kyra . (2010). what is performance evaluation? January 14, 2013.1956635www.answerbag.com/view/http://fromRetrievedDavies, A. & et al. (2006). Dictionary of language testing. Studies in language testing.(7th ed.). UK: Cambridge University Press.Genesee, F. & Upshur, J.A. (1996). Classroom-based evaluation in second language education. UK: Cambridge University Press. Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and learning in the language classroom. New York:Oxford.Hughes, Ar. (1996). Testing for language teachers. Great Britain: Cambridge.McNamara, T. (2000). Language testing. New York: Oxford.Saphier, J. & Gower, R. (1997). The skillful teacher. (5th ed.). USA: RBT.Ur, P. (2012). A course in English language teaching. Great Britain: Cambridge.