ASSESSMENT AND TESTING

It is not easy to assess learning of a language. The teacher has to decide the best option considering the students he has. There is not only one way or a better way to do it.

It can be distinguished 3 types of evaluation:

1. Formative process: Focused on the process
2. Summative process: Centered on final outcomes

• Quantitative: presents results numerically
• Qualitative: describes the phenomena observed

In the formative process teachers modify learning activities to improve the students attainment. It is focused more on facilitating guiding to the students than on measuring how much had been learned. Summative evaluation can be done at the end of a specific period ( 1, 2, 3 units..) It is used to measure the degree of success of the students in a period of time.

Informal assessment

A way of collecting information about students´ perfomances in normal classroom conditions.  We know how our students are because of the way they speak, read and write. We do not need to do any test, only observing the students and take notes.

Tests

An objective kind of evaluation. They are used to measure capacities and skills in a formal way. We need to know that the same test cannot be suitable in all situations. We need to know our students and their capacities and necessities and give them the right test.

We must establish a clear criteria of assessment. The students have to know it from the beginning of the course. It is highly important to link the informal assessment we have done with the formal assessment ( tests) so we will have a better knowledge of our students.

Language aptitude tests

Predict who will be a good language learner. It measures the capacities of the students in the process of acquiring a second language.

Placement tests

The type of text used to put in homogeneous groups the students depending on their capacities and knowledge of the language.

Diagnostic tests

Determine areas of strength and weakness in the students in order to determine which activities are more suitable for them.

Progress tests

It give us information about the effectiveness of the learning process. It give us feedback in order to make modifications into the programme if it is necessary.

Desirable test characteristics

A good test gives us a lot of feedback to continue with the planning of the rest of the course. We need to know which specific areas of study we need to work more once the test is done by the learners. If we only notice that the students did it badly in general we will not know what to improve. 

A test must be reliable, the grades of the learners must represent their real academic situation.