English for

English for Academics Book 2 Teacher’s Guide
© Cambridge University Press and British Council Russia 2015
www.cambridge.org/elt/english-for-academics
PHOTOCOPIABLE 
44
Lesson 3
Module 3
Lesson 3 Assessment
Time: 90 minutes 
By the end of this lesson, learners will be able to
➡
identify language for describing assessment tasks
➡
write a section about assessment in the syllabus for a 
course they teach 
➡
use classroom English explaining about assessment
Lead-in
1 
Learners’ own answers.
Reading
2 
Answer 
Assessment methods/tasks
3 
Answers 
The problem is to choose a method of assessment that is relevant 
to the learning outcome(s). 
4 
Answers 
an essay, an examination, MCQ (multiple choice questions), short 
answers, a mathematical problem, an annotated bibliography, 
a project, a dissertation, an oral presentation, a discussion, a 
role play, real or simulated professional practice, a lab report, 
computer-based assessment
Listening
5 
Answers
1 Formative assessment refers to what teachers control or 
monitor during the learning process; summative assessment 
occurs at the end of the course.
2 The choice of an assessment task depends on which one will 
give you an evaluation of the achievement of the course goals. 
3 Students should know about the criteria of evaluation.
Audioscript 
36
Professor: When we start speaking about assessment, we 
have to, at first, decide: Are we talking about formative or 
summative assessment? 
1
The first refers to what teachers 
control or monitor during the learning process (like quizzes, 
reflection questions, polls and so on), while summative 
assessment occurs at the end of a course. It evaluates the 
achievement of pre-planned learning outcomes. I hope 
that’s clear? It’s also important to mention that formative 
assessment embraces feedback from teacher to students. And 
it’s targeted at making the experience of assessment part of 
the students’ learning. But … you know, there’s still a trend in 
many cultures to use summative assessment, which is teacher 
controlled. 
That’s why let us first focus only on summative assessment 
today. If you ask me why there are so many assessment tasks 
and formats, and why researchers debate their effectiveness, 
my answer is simply that expected learning outcomes are 
different in each discipline or course. I mean we may assess 
either knowledge (what, when, where), or skills (it’s mainly 
about how) or attitudes and so on. 
It’s obvious that if you aim to measure how a student is 
able to develop arguments or analyse various views on a 
controversial issue, then it requires an extended written 
response, and an essay or a review seems an appropriate 
assessment task. However, if your aim is evaluating 
performance or product, which involves making a judgment 
based on observation, for instance, playing a musical