ASSESSMENT CONCEPT AND ISSUES Test need not to be degrading and threatening to students. It should be : a.

Able to build students confidence and become a learning experience b. An integral part of students ongoing classroom development c. Able to bring the best out in students What is an assessment ? 1. Assessment is appraising or estimating the level magnitude of a person. 2. An ongoing process that encompassess a wide range of methodological techniques. It could be in form of students responses to a question, comments, effort to try out new wors or structures that the teacher appraised subconciously. Or in form of written form from phrases to essays that is judged by the students themselves , teachers or by the students peers. What is a test ? 1. a subset of assessment, a genre of assessment techiques 2. a method of measuring a persons ability, knowledge or perfoemance in a given domain

A test is an instrument that has a set of techniques, procedures or items and it must measure an ability, knowledge or perfomance of an indidual in a given domain. A well constructed test will provide an accurate measure of test takers ability. The way the result or the measurements are communicated could be varied. Measurement and Evaluation Measurement is a process of quantifying the observed performance of classroom learners. Quantitative description means that it involves assigning numbers ( including rankings or lettter grades) to observed performance. The advantages of quantification : 1. allows to provide exact description of students performance 2. allows to compare one student to another easily. 3. Help to specify students responses explicitly 4. Lead to greater objectivity

Evaluation does not need to involve testing. Evaluation is needed when the results of a test are used for decision making. It involves interpretation of information. Assessment and Learning Does all teaching involves assessment ? Are teacher constantly assessing students ? For optimal learning, students must have the freedom to experiment, to try out their hypotheses abut language without feeling of being judged in the trial and error term. Practise games in language learning give learners those opportunities. Teachers can observe studentsperformances without making the students feel being judged. Informal and Formal Assesment Informal assessment can be in number of forms beginning from the incidental, unplanned comments and response along with coaching and impromtu feedback. It is also embedded in classroom tasks designed to elicit performance without recording result and making fixed connclusion about students competences. It is always nonjudgemental. Formal assessment