UNIVERSIDAD CATÓLICA DE LA SANTÍSIMA CONCEPCIÓN

FACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN

ONLINE PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS

Teacher: M. Gabriela Sanhueza

Students: Nidia Gil C

Marcela Gatica

System of the language: Grammar.

Webpage:http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar

Web page description: British council online propose different features of English in its

layout, like grammar, vocabulary, writing, games, IELTS tips and so on. The webpage has

four different sections for its visitors. These sections contain games, exercises, lessons,

short quizzes, grammar, vocabulary, and writing.

The following analysis is based on a specific feature of the website: English grammar.

The webpage presents a variety of aspects of grammar to be assessed. It has eight lessons

about pronouns; determiners and quantifiers; possessives; adjectives; adverbials; nouns;

verbs; clauses and phrases. Concerning the principles of language assessment, in the

following lines we are going to discuss the pros and the cons of this website.

Web page pros for assessing grammar:

The website presents a variety of alternatives to learn and practice English

language, regarding a variety of grammatical features, with exercises of each

section of grammar in addition to games as a rehearsal.

Regarding practicality, British council online is free for everybody who can have an

internet connection. Furthermore, the webpage (grammar section) is easy to use

because it has clear instructions and simple examples, moreover, it is not time

consuming because lessons are not extensive.

In terms of reliability, the web page is reliable on the way that at the moment of

answering the quizzes, answers do not allow deviation, this means that the score

should not be affected.

It can be said that British council online is valid because it measures what has been

previously explained in the lesson. So, test takers are going to be assessed on what

they have been learning and practicing during the lesson.

In terms of washback, the webpage provides feedback in detail, when the learner

press the check button, red and green words appear in order to indicate if he/she got

it right or wrong; moreover, it provides grammar explanations to the students`

mistakes.

Regarding impact, British council online aims to help the learners in the learning

process as an individual; learners can use the webpage when they want,

nevertheless, it does not have an impact on the school community.

Additionally, the principle of security is present on the webpage, because it gives

learners the possibility to create an account with a password, which makes it safe

having a personal profile, although any visitor can enter to the webpage, if you are

not registered, you cannot ask questions or download lessons.

Web page cons for assessing grammar:

The principle of interactiveness, it is not present in the webpage, due to the fact that

the tests are directed to all student by equal, making no distinction among students,

furthermore not considering students’ abilities or strengths.

Regarding authenticity, British council online does not provide very authentic

activities, due to the fact that, most of the exercises are related to multiple choice

questions and completing the sentences. although it shows examples of sentences

used in everyday life situations, it does not contain any kind of task to use in a real

world context, (for example: giving directions or going to the market), it only

provides sentence examples, for this reason the webpage is not authentic

System of the language: Vocabulary

Web page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/

Web page description: The BBC learning English webpage is a website where you

can learn English online. This webpage has 30 units, each unit has 5 sessions and each

session has a number of activities, including videos and quizzes. There is one session a day,

every day from Monday to Friday. In this page you can find different features such as

vocabulary, grammar, listening, videos and so on.

The analysis of this website will be focus on a particular feature, vocabulary. The

BBC learning English website has a wide range of topics to assess vocabulary depending

on the students’ English proficiency that could be lower intermediate, intermediate and

English my way. The vocabulary tests consist in matching, multiple choice and complete

the sentence.

Web page pros for assessing vocabulary

The BBC learning English website offers a wide variety of topics regarding

vocabulary, all of them depending on the students’ English proficiency. In this page

students are able to listen and learn real English in context.

The principle of validity is presented in this webpage because the tests included in

the lessons assess those contents that are taught in the lesson, not in something else.

The principle of practicality is presented since it is free for everyone, this means

that it does not include financial cost. Also, it is not time consuming because the

scores are provided immediately.

In terms of the principle of reliability, the web page can be considered reliable

because the options to answer do not allow deviation, so the score should not be

affected.

In terms of authenticity, this webpage allows students to contextualize real world

activities with learning task experiences, giving learners the opportunity to acquire

knowledge in a meaningful way.

Regarding transparency, there is clear information in terms of instructions and the

users are informed in advance about how they are going to be tested.

Web page cons for assessing vocabulary

● In terms of washback the website does not provide feedback so the students are not

able to understand their mistakes. This is a disadvantage for the users because the webpage

neither provides the correct answer nor the explanation.

● The webpage presents a micro level impact because it impacts students or teachers

individually. This occurs because the aim is focused on helping students to practice and

learn what they have been taught throughout the lesson involving just the test taker.

● Additionally, the principle of interactiveness is not presented since the activities

provided by the web page are directed for all kind of students. This means that the website

makes no distinction between students’ language ability, topical knowledge or affective

schemata.

● Finally, the principle of security is not presented since it is an online page and it is

accessible for everyone. Moreover, the students may be tempted to look for the answers

online.

REFERENCES

Bachman, L. F & Palmer, A. (1996). Language testing in practice: designing and

developing useful language tests. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Brown, H. D. (2004). Language assessment principles and classroom practices. New

York: Pearson Education.

Coombe, C. Folse, K. Hubley, N. (2007). A practical guide to assessing English language

learners. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.