Reconceptualizing language teaching: an in-service teacher education course in uzbekistan

Assessment of Learning – also known as summative assessment, is 
usually used at the end of a course of study. The intention is to summarize, 
to see if achievements are at the expected level. In this case, further learning 
is usually not considered. Knight and Yorke (2003) note that “because sum-
mative assessments tend to come at the end of learning sequence, it can 
be difficult to use them to give feedback to help learners to do better next 
time” (p. 16). In this case, the challenge for teachers can be developing an 
understanding of students that summative assessments such as midterms 
or final tests are not the end of the road but just the accomplishments of 
a certain phase. Students should be able to look at this assessment as a 
learning opportunity as well. 
Norm-referenced and Criteria-referenced assessment. There are 
two approaches in language assessment. Norm-referenced assessment 
is based on the comparison of all test-takers within a continuum. In other 
words, each test-taker is compared to how well (or poor) other test-takers 
did on the same exam. Oftentimes you will be notified your score is in the 
“X” percentile, or, you have done better than “X” number of test-takers who 
took the same test. The National Entrance Examination in Uzbekistan uses 
this approach for admission to higher educational institutions. The other 
approach – critera-referenced assessment – looks at whether each can-
didate meets the requirements for a certain level or position based on char-
acteristics, i.e. descriptions provided in criteria. An example for this type of 
scoring in Uzbekistan is the PRESETT Exit Test. Another example is more 
widely-known tests such as CEFR level certification, which is created and 
implemented by the National Testing Center. 

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RECONCEPTUALIZING LANGUAGE TEACHING
Key Principles of Assessment: The notion of a “good test” (Madsen, 1993, 
p. 178), implies that an assessment tool provides accurate and reliable in-
formation about learners’ knowledge and skills. To make sure the selected 
or developed assessment tool is fair and successful, it should meet four 
criteria (we have provided guiding questions to define each term): Validity