This is a presentation my friend Katie Bain prepared for our teachers at the Extra-Mural English Courses from Universidad del Atlantico. She also authorized me to share it.

1. ASSESSMENT
&
EVALUATION
Kate Bain
English Language Fellow
ktbain53@gmail.com
www.elfellowkbain.wordpress.com

2. OBJECTIVE
Participants will consider various aspects of
assessment and evaluation and consider how
to use alternative assessment to enhance
instruction and learning results in their
classrooms.

3. Make a list of all the different
types of tests you have
taken or given as a student
or a teacher.

4. FROM YOUR LISTS…
 Write the skill that was tested in each.
 Determine whether it tested knowledge of the
language or use of the language.
 Which of those tests are best for…
 measuring the skill tested?
 achieving the purpose of testing?

5. HOW DO YOUR
STUDENTS FEEL ABOUT TESTS?

6. WHAT IS A “TEST?”
 Webster: “a critical examination, observation, or
evaluation”
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/test
 Longman: “a set of questions, exercises, or
practical activities to measure someone's
skill, ability, or knowledge”
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/test_1
 H. Douglas Brown:
“a method of measuring a person’s
ability, knowledge, or performance in a given
domain.” (Brown, 2004, p. 3)

7. A CLOSER LOOK
“a method of measuring a
person’s ability, knowledge, or
performance in a given
domain.” (Brown, 2004, p. 3)

8. MEASURE
 In order for a test to truly be a test, it must have a
measureable outcome.
 The test-taker and the test-giver must know what
success or failure on the test entails, and the
results must be communicated.
(Brown, 2004)

9. WHAT IS ASSESSMENT?
Assessment is “an ongoing process
that encompasses a much wider
domain [than a test]. Whenever a
student responds to a question, offers
a comment, or tries out a new word or
structure, the teacher subconsciously
makes an assessment of the student’s
performance.”
(Brown, 2004, p. 5)

10. HOW IS “ASSESSMENT” DIFFERENT FROM
“TESTING”?
 Tests are a type of
assessment, but they
should never be the
entire basis for how
you determine a
student’s level or
progress.
 Assessments are
ongoing, daily, subcons
cious or conscious
observations and
records that you make
about student
progress. These
observations should be
constant and should
drive what you do as a
teacher.
(Brown, 2004)

11. INFORMAL AND FORMAL ASSESSMENT
 Unplanned observations and
general feedback
 Good job!
 Did you say “can” or “can’t”?
 
 Planned classroom activities in
which students perform tasks
but do not receive final grades
on performance
 Think-Pair-Share
 Dialogues
 Essay or Journal Writing
 Note-taking
 Group or Partner Work
 Activities in class that you
give to students for which
they receive graded
feedback
 Tests
 Rubric-Scored Assignments
 Writing portfolio
 Presentations
 Journal Entries
 Notes
 Performances
 Projects
 Posters
Informal Assessment Formal Assessment
(Brown, 2004)

12. FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
 Daily classroom assessment used
to plan for, modify, and improve
instruction
 Feedback that helps the teacher
and the student make plans to
improve language competence in
the future
 Informal Assessment should
always be formative, aimed at
improving a student’s competence
and performance
 Measures or summarizes
what a student has
learned over a given
period of time
 Unit Tests
 Midterm Exams
 Final exams
 Entrance Exams
 Professional Language
Tests
Formative Assessment Summative Assessment
(Brown, 2004)

13. NORM-REFERENCED AND CRITERION-REFERENCED TESTS
 Mean
 Median
 Standard Deviation
 Percentile Rank
 SAT/TOEFL
Norm-Referenced Tests Criterion-Referenced Tests
• Graded Feedback
• Meeting of language or course
objectives
• Classroom Tests connected to
a curriculum
(Brown, 2004)

14. CURRENT ISSUES IN CLASSROOM TESTING: TRADITIONAL
AND AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT
 One-shot, Standardized
Exams
 Timed, multiple-choice format
 Decontextualized test items
 Scores are feedback
 Norm-referenced scores
 One correct answer
 Summative
 Oriented to product
 Non-interactive
 Extrinsic motivation
 Continuous long-term
assessment
 Untimed, free-response
 Contextualized
communicative tasks
 Individualized feedback
 Criterion-referenced scores
 Formative
 Oriented to process
 Interactive performance
 Intrinsic motivation
Traditional Assessment Authentic Assessment
(Brown, 2004, p. 13)

16. FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

17. PEER ASSESSMENT

18. PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

19. SELF ASSESSMENT

20. SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

21. CONFERENCES AND INTERVIEWS

22. CRITERIA/GUIDELINES

23. JOURNALS

24. LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

25. LEARNING LOGS

26. PORTFOLIOS

27. VIDEO VIEWING

28. VIEWING QUESTIONS
1. What is the instrument students use
for self-recording? What are they
recording? What other things could
students keep track of through self-
recording?

29. VIEWING QUESTIONS
What example of assignment guidelines did you see?
For what kind of assignment were the criteria written?
Think of a typical task in your own classroom. Try to
list the criteria you might give the students to help
them complete the task successfully.

30. VIEWING QUESTIONS
How was the class in Video segment #2
organized? Why do you think it was
organized this way? What can peers
offer each other in this situation?

31. VIEWING QUESTIONS
What language skill were students focusing
on? What skills were they using as they
worked together? Is this a form of
assessment? If so, what kind of assessment
was it, formative or summative?

32. VIEWING QUESTIONS
What was the teacher’s job, or role,
during this activity?
What was the students’ responsibility?

33. SEGMENT 3: PORTFOLIOS

34. VIEWING QUESTIONS
In what form are the portfolios kept and what
age level uses each form? Where are they
kept? Do you think students take them
home? What might be some physical
considerations related to using portfolios in
your classroom?

35. VIEWING QUESTIONS
Working in a small group, make a list of criteria or
guidelines you might use for evaluating portfolios in
your class.

36. SEGMENT 4: PERFORMANCE
ASSESSMENT

37. VIEWING QUESTIONS
List the 2 types of performance you see
and the language skills that are used in
each.

38. VIEWING QUESTIONS
What was the purpose for each performance?
Do you think the performance was
well done or not?

39. WORK IN PAIRS
 Decide on a type of alternative assessment that you
could use in your classroom.
 Give the assessment a title.
 Write down the assessment …
 Purpose
 Instructions
 Criteria (Rubric)
 Share with the group!

40. THANK YOU!
Katie Bain
ktbain53@gmail.com
www.elfellowkbain.wordpress.com
www.americanenglish.state.gov

41. GROUP WORK EXERCISES!
testingassessmentteaching
• Do you agree with
this depiction? Why
or why not?
• Where do these fit?
• choral drill
• pair
pronunciation
• reading aloud
• singing songs
• writing a
description of
the weekend
(Brown, 2004)

42. SORT ACTIVITIES INTO A CATEGORY
Formative Summative
Informal
Formal
 placement tests
 diagnostic tests
 periodic achievement tests
 short pop quizzes
 final exams
 portfolios
 journals
 speeches
 oral presentations
 impromptu student responses
 student-written response
 drafting and revising
 final essays
 whole class discussion
 observing as students work in
groups or pairs
(Brown, 2004)

43. GARDNER’S EIGHT INTELLIGENCES
 Choose one or two
 Brainstorm teaching
activities for each
 Brainstorm assessment
activities for each
 Share with the group
(Brown, 2004)

44. BRAINSTORM ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF EACH
AND SHARE WITH THE CLASS
 One-shot, Standardized
Exams
 Timed, multiple-choice format
 decontextualized test items
 Scores are feedback
 Norm-referenced scores
 One correct answer
 Summative
 Oriented to product
 Non-interactive
 Extrinsic motivation
 Continuous long-term
assessment
 Untimed, free-response
 Contextualized
communicative tasks
 Individualized feedback
 Criterion-referenced scores
 Formative
 Oriented to process
 Interactive performance
 Intrinsic motivation
Traditional Assessment Authentic Assessment
(Brown, 2004, p. 13)

45. SOURCES
 Brown, H.D. (2004). Language assessment:
Principles and classroom practices. White
Plains, NY: Pearson Education, Inc.
 Gottleib, M. H. (2006). Assessing English Language
Learners: Bridges from language proficiency to
academic achievement. Thousand Oaks, California:
Corwin Press.

46. THANK YOU!
Katie Bain
ktbain53@gmail.com
www.elfellowkbain.wordpress.com
www.americanenglish.state.gov