Assessment to Stand the Test of Time

Assessment is sometimes wrongly equated to testing. Testing (i.e., using tests and quizzes) is part of assessment and measures knowledge and the level test-takers have achieved in a skill or area.

Instead, assessment is a much wider concept since it is a whole process where teachers document progress and level attained, using many different tools with the purpose of providing opportunities for improvement.

Assessment can be divided into two main categories: assessment for summative purposes and assessment for formative purposes. Assessment for summative purposes, or summative assessment for short, is also called assessment of learning and happens at the end of a unit, project, marking period or year. Tests, quizzes and external examinations are all examples of summative assessment.

Assessment for formative purposes, or formative assessment for short, is instead assessment for learning. It takes place before the end of a project, unit or marking period. The main objective of this form of assessment is to give learners opportunities to improve and achieve the learning outcomes. This is why it should happen before the end of a unit, project or marking period, and as often as possible. Integral to the idea of giving learners opportunities to improve is the need for teachers to provide specific, timely, manageable feedback that students can use to revise their work and make necessary adjustments.

In the last few decades, there has been increased interest in the power of assessment for formative purposes. Research strongly suggests that formative assessment has a big impact on students’ improvement and raising standards in education. Yet, many teachers find it hard to implement formative assessment practices due to limited time and resources.

Teachers of English also face the challenge of exam preparation in courses that are structured around external examinations at the end of the year. To be able to embed assessment in the teaching/learning process, teachers can use a wide variety of assessment tools, such as checklists, rubrics, short interviews with individual students, exit tickets, and so forth.

A simple way to start using formative assessment tools is to design a checklist for a specific activity and to share it with students. In this way, they will be able to use it to guide revision and go over individually, in short interviews with the teacher, or in peer-assessment tasks. A checklist is a listing of the set skills that students must show in a project, oral or writing activity. Checklists can also refer to attitudes or behaviours that students are expected to display.

A checklist can be presented as a list of statements or questions about the skills that are being taught, practised or evaluated. The power of using checklists is that learners can use them to revise their work, so they are a very effective way to promote self-assessment. And, as mentioned earlier, they can also be used for peer-assessment.

The time teachers invest in creating checklists pays off since they help teachers and learners save time later, and they foster improvement. They also help teachers identify and share the success criteria before performing a task and monitor progress during the task.

Checklists can be used with learners of all ages and language levels. For very young learners, teachers can use very simple statements or questions supported by visuals and quick graphic responses such as icons that show thumbs up or smiley faces. With older students working at a higher language level, it is ideal to involve the learners in the checklist design.

Checklists are a work in progress, so after using a certain checklist, teachers (and learners, if suitable) can evaluate how effective the checklist was and how it can be improved.

Teacher collaboration is also a fantastic way to design more effective checklists and save time. Although it may be initially time-consuming for teachers to work together to create a checklist, the result will be richer and can become part of a bank of resources. Sharing an effective checklist with colleagues and asking for help when trying to create a checklist are ways to promote a strong community of teachers and life-long learners.

Once checklists are in place in different classes and at different levels, students will become more successful in using them for peer assessment and self-assessment. Therefore, teachers will be more comfortable with this tool, and they can then start thinking about including other formative assessment tools, such as exit tickets, rubrics, feedback comments and anecdotal records.

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