Assessment types and activities

Word association

• Assessment

• a process in which you make a judgment about a person or situation, or the judgment you make

• Evaluation

• a judgment about how good, useful, or successful something is

Assessment word association

• Types of assessment

• Types of tasks used in assessment

• Vocabulary associated with assessment

Types of assessment

• Continuous assessment• Formal /Informal assessment • Portfolio assessment • Subjective/Objective assessment• Placement test • Diagnostic test• Achievement test• Proficiency test• Progress test• Formative/summative assessment

Types of tasks used in assessment

• Multiple choice

• Gap-fill tasks

• Matching tasks

• Sentence transformation

• Sentence completion

• Cloze tasks

• Open comprehension questions etc

Vocabulary associated with assessment

• Finding out about learning• Progress Performance• Marking• Grades Examinations• Feedback • Accuracy• Evaluation • Fluency • Reliability • Test items• Validity• Criteria

Why assess ?

Why assess?• to provide feedback to learners on their progress (e.g. what they

have done well and what they need to improve)• to provide feedback to learners on their achievement (ie how much

they have learned at a particular point in time)• to get information about learners' ability to understand or use target

language structures or с vocabulary help teachers know how to help their learners

• to get information about learners' skills development• to find out whether learners like or dislike specific classroom

activities (you could collect this information by asking and by observing)

• For diagnostic purposes: to use information about learners' strengths and weaknesses to provide information which can feed in to planning

• to let learners know what standards they need to reach• to see whether learning objectives are being achieved• to provide records for schools• to provide information to parents

Testing and assessment

Testing and assessment

• What different kinds of tests have you taken?

• What were the reasons for taking these tests?

Types of tests

Types of tests• Achievement test - measure what learners have learnt on a

language course - usually given at the end of the course• Diagnostic test - identify learners' strengths and weaknesses.

Helps teachers to make decisions on what needs to be taught• Objective test - scored according to 'right' or 'wrong' answers,

i.e., non-judgmental on part of examiners• Placement test - used before the beginning of courses, to

determine learners' language levels' and based on this information 'place' them in the classes most appropriate for them

• Oral test - measures learners' speaking abilities• Proficiency test - measures language ability and based on

what is needed for a particular purpose, e.g., English for secretaries, English for car mechanics etc

• Progress test - measure learners' progress during a language course

• Subjective test - compared to objective tests, the examiner judges learners' answers

• Summative test - end of year/end of course test measuring learners' overall achievement of course objectives

Assessment types and definitions

Assessment task types: what can you assess?

Which assessment activity?

Formal vs

informal assessment

Formal vs informal assessment• Likely to be formal• Standardized• Certificates• Objective

• Likely to be informal• • Self-assessment informal

- Subjective informal

• Could be both• • Score usually formal, but may be used in informal assessment

depending on the task type• Projects usually associated with informal, but learners in some countries can

be formallyassessed on project work

• Portfolio same case as for projects• Report usually associated with formai assessment, but reports can

sometimes accompanyinformal assessments

• Grade formal associations but may also be given by some teachers in informal assessment

Why use informal and formal assessment activities?

Reflection