Microsoft Word Lecture 11. docx

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LECTURE 11: ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION OF LEARNING 
ACHIEVEMENTS 
 
Plan: 
1. What is assessment in teaching English. 
2. Characteristics of good assessment. 
3. Testing writing. 
1. What is assessment in teaching English,  
Assessment may be defined as “any method used to better understand the current 
knowledge that a student possesses.” This implies that assessment can be as 
simple as a teacher's subjective judgement based on a single observation of 
student performance, or as complex as a five-hour standardized test. The idea of 
current knowledge implies that what a student knows is always changing and that 
we can make judgements about student achievement through comparisons over a 
period of time. Assessment may affect decisions about grades, advancement, 
placement, instructional needs, and curriculum.
Assessment is the process of gathering information about a student in order to 
make decisions about this or her education. One kind of assessment procedure is 
testing. In elementary and secondary schools, tests are given routinely to measure 
the extent to which we profit from instruction. We may have taken intelligence, 
aptitude, interest, personality tests or any number of other kinds of tests. Testing 
means presenting a person with a set of questions or tasks in order to obtain a 
measure of performance often represented by a score. The score is in tended to 
help answer questions and produce information about the person tested.
Increasingly, educators are finding new ways to evaluate students' school 
performances using informal rather than formal, or standardized, assessment 
procedures. Collection of information by means of observation is often thought 
of as informal assessment, as is information gathered from interviews with 
parents or past teachers and by using teacher-constructed tests.
Since the influence of testing on curriculum and instruction is now widely 
acknowledged, educators, policymakers, and others are turning to alternative 
assessment methods as a tool for educational reform. The movement away from 
traditional, multiple-choice tests to alternative assessments - variously called 
authentic assessment or performance assessment - has included a wide variety of 
strategies such as open-ended questions, exhibits, demonstrations, hands-on 
execution of experiments, computer simulations, writing in many disciplines, and 
portfolios of student work over time. These terms and assessment strategies have 
led the quest for more meaningful assessments which better capture the signifi-

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cant outcomes we want students to achieve and better match the kinds of tasks 
which they will need to accomplish in order to assure their future success.
Teachers as decision makers strive to make a close match between curriculum 
objectives, instructional methods, and assessment techniques. The evaluation 
process carried out parallel to instruction is a cyclical one that involves four 
phases: preparation, assessment, evaluation, and reflection.
In the preparation phase, teachers decide what is to be evaluated, the type of 
evaluation to be used (diagnostic, formative, or summative), the criteria upon 
which student learning outcomes will be judged, and the most appropriate 
assessment techniques for gathering information on student progress. Teachers 
may make these decisions in collaboration with students.
During the assessment phase, teachers select appropriate tools and techniques, 
then collect and collate information on student progress. Teachers must determine 
where, when, and how assessments will be conducted, and students must be 
consulted and informed.
During the evaluation phase, teachers interpret the assessment information and 
make judgements about student progress. These judgements (or evaluation) 
provide information upon which teachers base decisions about student learning 
and report progress to students and parents/guardians. Students are encouraged to 
monitor their own learning by evaluating their achievements on a regular basis. 
Encouraging students to participate in evaluation nurtures gradual acceptance of 
responsibility for their own progress and helps them understand and appreciate 
their growth.
The reflection phase allows teachers to consider the extent to which the previous 
phases in the evaluation process have been successful. Specifically, teachers 
evaluate the utility, equity, and appropriateness of the assessment techniques 
used. Such reflection assists teachers in making decisions concerning 
improvements or adaptations to subsequent instruction and evaluation.