Theme: assessing progress and achievement in language classroom

Conclusion
The current review revealed that the theses and dissertations written between 2011 and 2016 focused on the assessment in tertiary contexts, assessment of young learners, assessing speaking and writing, developing assessment tools, and evaluation of EFL exams. The studies under these categories revealed the trend of language assessment in Turkey and the underlying factors influencing this trend between 2011 and 2016. The changes in the educational policy of Turkey such as the frequent changes in the curriculum and in the high-stakes exams are definitely the main factors affecting the language assessment, and these changes are going to start new and different trends in language assessment. Based on the studies reviewed, it is apparent that several other skills and language components such as listening, speaking, reading, grammar, and vocabulary have not received much attention and been little concern to graduate research. This might be attributed to the frequent changes introduced to the curricula as well as the high-stakes exams, which do not assess several of these skills. Developing and improving the current and/or new assessment tools in assessing these skills might be the focus of further research. Assessing speaking and listening, especially in the classes of young learners, surely must be given importance as it is believed that the early exposure to the target language and the input provided during the early years play an important role in the future success and motivation of the learners. The students in Turkey take multiple-choice format exams based on their reading and vocabulary knowledge, and further research can focus on assessing reading and vocabulary through alternative and other types of assessment such as various forms of formative and summative assessment.

References

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2. 
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