SECOND LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT BY: ABIR ABOUTAHA

WHAT IS ASSESSMENT?

"Assessment is the systematic measurement of educational progress over time, including the progress of individual students and groups of students, as well as the effectiveness of instructional program" (O'Malley & Valdez Pierce, 1996)

Assessment Tools are Classified into Two Key Groups

• Interpretable in terms of clearly defined learning tasks Criterion-

Referenced Test

• Interpretable in terms of individual’s rank or standing in some known groupNorm-

Referenced Test

Before or during instruction

Formative Assessment

After instruction and learning

Summative Assessment

Types of Assessment Use

Traditional VS. Alternative/ Authentic SL Assessment

1. Traditional SL assessment or standardized assessment

•Includes a wide variety of tests such as true/false , matching, and multiple choice.

•Examines facts and memorized information.

• Lacks the full range of higher critical thinking skills

•Lacks the representations of classroom activities and tasks

Examples of Traditional SL Assessment

Proficiency Tests

Diagnostic Tests

Placement Tests

Achievement Tests

Aptitude Tests

Validity

Standardization

Prediction Objectivity

Reliability

Traditional Tests should meet the following essential criteria:

2. Alternative/ Authentic Assessment

•Reflects students' leaning, achievement, motivation and attitudes on classroom activities.

•Represents real-life contexts

•Utilizes higher order -thinking skills

•Meets the needs of diverse learners

•Allows teachers to chose an appropriate tool for students with different learning styles or learning disabilities.

Authentic SL Assessment Tools and

Procedures

Portfolio assessment

Journals/blogs

Teacher's observationConference

and interviews

Self and peer-assessment

Performance-based assessment

Characteristics of Authentic

Assessment

Encourages Transfer of Learning

Emphasizes Problem Solving

Integration Of Knowledge &

Skills

Constructing Knowledge

Higher Order Thinking

Positive Interaction

Student –Selected Tasks

Meaningful / Real World Tasks

Characteristics of Performance-Based Assessment

•Engages student in higher order-thinking with open-ended tasks

•Enables students to explain, justify, criticise, and defend their opinions

•Applies different measuring criteria and rubric

•Involves activities that have no single correct answer.

•Integrates the four language skills in meaningful and authentic tasks.

It is a purposeful

collection of student

work that exhibits the students'

efforts and progress

It develops students' social and interactive

skills.

It shows growth and development over

time.

It is a form of

assessment that

students do together with their teacher

Features of Portfolio

Assessment

Observation

•An effective teacher is engaged in observing and following up her students' performance.

•It can be systematic and planned procedures for students' interaction with classmates, responses, and verbal and nonverbal behavior (Brown, 2007).

Self and Peer-Assessment

Self and peer-assessment is a process where students or their peers grade tasks or tests based on a teacher's rubric

Journals and Blogs

Language Learning Logs

Re

flectio

ns

Ab

ou

t O

ne

self

Re

spo

nse

s to

rea

din

g

texts

Gram

mar

Discussion

Questions

1. What are the defining attributes of traditional and authentic assessments?

2. Why use authentic assessment?

3. What are the characteristics of authentic tasks? Give examples of authentic tasks

4. What is the difference between testing and assessment?

References

Alberta. Alberta Education. (2007). English as a Second Language. Guide to Implementation: Kindergarten to Grade 9. Retrieved from http://education.alberta.ca/media/653515/esl_shgi.pdf

Brown, H.D. (2007). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (3th ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education Inc.

Harmer, J. (2007). How to teach English. Edinburgh Gate: Pearson/Longman.

O'Malley, J.M. & L. Valdez Pierce. (1996). Authentic assessment for English language learners: Practical approaches for teachers. USA: Longman.

Mueller, J. (2006). Authentic assessment toolbox. Retrieved from http://jonathan.mueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/

Susan, D. L, Fabiola, E, Mayra, C., & Xiaoqin, S. (2006). Assessing English-language learners mainstream classroom. International Reading Association, 60(1), 24-34. doi: 10.1598/RT.60.1.3