LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

AoL and AfL

PPT 5.1.2
Make as many words as you can with
the letters of the word

Assessment

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 RE-VISIONING ASSESSMENT

To assess

Comes from the Latin verb ‘assidere’ meaning ‘to sit with’. In
assessment one is supposed to sit with the learner.

This implies it is something we do with and for students and

not to students. (Green, 1998)

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 Two ways of looking at assessment

Assessment FOR
Assessment OF Learning
Learning
(Summative (Formative
Assessment) Assessment)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns0gkx0UTxY
In what way is practice like teaching and tournament
matches like assessment? 5
“When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative assessment.
When the customer tastes the soup, that’s summative
assessment.” (Paul Black)
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 Assessment of Learning
(Summative Assessment)
Summative assessment is used … at the end of the semester or
year* in order to measure what has been achieved both by groups
and by individuals.
Source: Hughes, A (2003) Testing for Language Teachers, 2nd edition, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, p. 5

*Could also be at the end of a unit of work

The goal of summative assessment is to measure the level of

success or proficiency that has been obtained at the end […] by
comparing it against some standard or benchmark

http://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/howto/basics/formative-summative.html
 FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
(Assessment for Learning)
Assessment is formative when
teachers use it to check on the
progress of their students, to see
how far they have mastered what
they should have learned, and
then use this information to
modify their future teaching
plans. Such assessment can also
be the basis for feedback to
the students.
 AfL Activities
Informal tests or quizzes may have a
part to play in formative assessment
but so will simple observation (of
performance on learning tasks, for
example) and the study of portfolios
that students have made of their word.
Students themselves may be
encourages to carry out self-
assessment in order to monitor their
progress, and then modify their own
learning objectives.
Shirley Clarke (Unlocking Formative
Assessment, 2001):

“…if we think of our

children as plants …
summative Source: guardian.co.uk

assessment … is
the process of simply
measuring them
Formative assessment … is the …
equivalent of feeding and watering plants
… directly affecting their growth.”
(helping them to grow)

Source: gardeningunlimited.com
The Two Faces of Assessment: AoL and AfL

As teachers, we must
be able to see the
two “faces” of
assessment.

AoL and AfL are both

important and
necessary in
improving learning.

Source: macrimon.wordpress.com
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 Comparing & Contrasting AoL and AfL
Assessment Focus Assessment for Learning Assessment of Learning
(Formative) (Summative)

Reason for assessment? Progress check Measuring

Feedback for teachers and achievement/proficiency
students
Modify teaching process
To Inform who? Students Parents
Teachers School
Stakeholders
Students
Teachers

Focus on what? Process Product

Giving feedback
Specific objectives

Teacher’s Role? Facilitator Evaluator

Monitor/Mentor Tester
Administrator??? Administrator
Researcher Judge
Student’s Role? Learners Test taker 13
Mentees
 Comparing & Contrasting AoL and AfL
Assessment Focus Assessment for Learning
(Formative)
Reason for assessment? To improve learning
To Inform who? Students (feedback)
Teachers (evaluation)
Focus on what? Learning objectives
Teacher’s Role? Set and share learning targets,
Design tasks/activities, provide
feedback, engage and involve
students in learning
Student’s Role? Meet target,
use feedback to improve
learning, reflect on how to
improve
Assessment of Learning
(Summative)
To measure learning
Parents & other stakeholders
(summative)
Learning standards in
curriculum (external
benchmarks)
Develop classroom tests,
administer assessment,
assign grades or scores,
inform students of grades
Meet standard,
get a high score, avoid failure

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Tasks for formative assessment are different from regular classroom tasks in
these ways:

• Aims – intended to check student learning

• Measurable results – produce “measurable evidence”

• Assessment criteria – task must have set of assessment criteria

• Learner’s predisposition – if learners know the tasks are assessed they may try
harder

• Timing – usually set at specific times during the learning process (e.g. end of
theme or unit)

• Participation – all learners must take part

• Record keeping/learner profiling – performance is recorded and kept on file

(Source: Ioannou-Georgiou and Pavlou 2003, pp. 13-14)

 Integrating Formative Assessment into a Lesson

Peer
assessment

Source: http://www.ncca.ie/uploadedfiles/publications/assess%20%20guide.pdf
Make a poster showing the
RELATIONSHIP between formative
assessment (AfL) and summative
assessment (AoL)

1. Give your poster a catchy title.

2. Make the poster attractive.
3. Include accurate information from
our lesson.
4. You have 20 minutes to complete
the poster.
5. We will vote for the BEST poster
based on the above criteria. There
will be a prize for the best poster.

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 Voting for the Winner
1. You have two votes
each.  

2. You may NOT vote for

your own group.

3. Make your vote

according to the
criteria.

4. The poster with the

most votes is the
winner.

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 K-W-L: What we Learnt
• We learnt that…
• We realise that…
• We now know that…
• We didn’t know … but now …
• We are still confused about …
• We wonder about…

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Common Misconceptions about AfL and AoL
Misunderstanding 1:
(1) Classroom-based assessment or CBA,
(2) School-based assessment or SBA,
(3) Ongoing assessment, and
(4) Continuous assessment
… are the same as AfL or formative assessment.

Clarification:
These may be for formative or summative purposes depending
on how it is used.
The above assessment types relate to who administers the
assessment (1 & 2) and when it occurs during the learning
period (3 & 4)
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Misunderstanding 2:
Summative assessment happens only at the end
of the term or school year.

Clarification:
Summative assessment can take place at the
end of a unit of work, a chapter in a textbook, or
a topic - if the purpose is to measure how much
the students have learnt and if there is no
feedback to improve learning.
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Constructive Alignment Outcomes and
objectives can be
found in syllabus
or curriculum
documents
… is concerned with the
alignment of learning outcomes
… student learning required to
achieve these [teaching method],
and assessment of the student
activities to demonstrate the
degree to which the outcomes
have been achieved (Biggs 2011)

Source: labspace.open.ac.uk
23
Final exam does not have to cover
all LOs 24
Alignment of assessment with learning (from Katz, 2012, p. 71) in
The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Assessment

Learning objective Classroom activity Assessment tool

Student will be able to Students will create flash Two parts:

develop and maintain a cards from their own A. Students will race against
“lexical” vocabulary notebooks using lexical clock to see how many
notebook chunks. On one side is the cards they can name in a
chunk, on the other is a minute. Every week,
picture or mnemonic they will measure against
device. their previous score and
the score of their peers.
B. Students will fill in a self-
assessment form.
 Assessment Literacy
The typical teacher spends a third to half of his/her professional time
(Herman and Dorr-Bremme, 1982; Stiggins and Conklin, 1992; Cheng
2001)

Only half of teacher education programs include a course on

assessment skills and the 50 percent that do include any assessment
don’t cover the skills completely (Schafer 1993).

Teachers’ assessment and evaluation practices as largely incongruent

with recommended best practice (Galluzzo 2005).

Source: The Cambridge Guide to Second Language Assessment, p. 20 27