The Common European Framework in its political and educational context What is the Common European Framework?

5
Formative assessment
Summative assessment
6
Direct assessment
Indirect assessment
7
Performance assessment
Knowledge assessment
8
Subjective assessment
Objective assessment
9
Checklist rating
Performance rating
10
Impression
Guided judgement
11
Holistic assessment
Analytic assessment
12
Series assessment
Category assessment
13
Assessment by others 
Self-assessment
9.3.1
Achievement assessment/proficiency assessment 
Achievement assessment is the assessment of the achievement of specific objectives – assess-
ment of what has been taught. It therefore relates to the week’s/term’s work, the course
book, the syllabus. Achievement assessment is oriented to the course. It represents an
internal perspective.
Proficiency assessment on the other hand is assessment of what someone can do/knows
in relation to the application of the subject in the real world. It represents an external
perspective.
Teachers have a natural tendency to be more interested in achievement assessment in
order to get feedback for teaching. Employers, educational administrators and adult
learners tend to be more interested in proficiency assessment: assessment of outcomes,
what the person can now do. The advantage of an achievement approach is that it is close
Assessment
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to the learner’s experience. The advantage of a proficiency approach is that it helps every-
one to see where they stand; results are transparent.
In communicative testing in a needs-oriented teaching and learning context one can
argue that the distinction between achievement (oriented to the content of the course)
and proficiency (oriented to the continuum of real world ability) should ideally be small.
To the extent that an achievement assessment tests practical language use in relevant sit-
uations and aims to offer a balanced picture of emerging competence, it has a proficiency
angle. To the extent that a proficiency assessment consists of language and communica-
tive tasks based on a transparent relevant syllabus, giving the learner the opportunity to
show what they have achieved, that test has an achievement element.
The scales of illustrative descriptors relate to proficiency assessment: the continuum
of real world ability. The importance of achievement testing as a reinforcement to learn-
ing is discussed in Chapter 6. 
9.3.2
Norm-referencing (NR)/criterion-referencing (CR)
Norm-referencing is the placement of learners in rank order, their assessment and ranking
in relation to their peers.
Criterion-referencing is a reaction against norm-referencing in which the learner is
assessed purely in terms of his/her ability in the subject, irrespective of the ability of
his/her peers.
Norm-referencing can be undertaken in relation to the class (you are 18th) or the demo-
graphic cohort (you are 21,567th; you are in the top 14%) or the group of learners taking
a test. In the latter case, raw test scores may be adjusted to give a ‘fair’ result by plotting
the distribution curve of the test results onto the curve from previous years in order to
maintain a standard and ensure that the same percentage of learners are given ‘A’ grades
every year, irrespective of the difficulty of the test or the ability of the pupils. A common
use of norm-referenced assessment is in placement tests to form classes. 
Criterion-referencing implies the mapping of the continuum of proficiency (vertical)
and range of relevant domains (horizontal) so that individual results on a test can be sit-
uated in relation to the total criterion space. This involves (a) the definition of the rele-
vant domain(s) covered by the particular test/module, and (b) the identification of ‘cut-off
points’: the score(s) on the test deemed necessary to meet the proficiency standard set.
The scales of illustrative descriptors are made up of criterion statements for categories
in the descriptive scheme. The Common Reference Levels present a set of common stan-
dards.