THE ALTERNATIVES IN LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

Article by James D Brown and Thom Hudson

Presentation by Alex Thomas

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENTS

Checklists Peer Assessments

Journals Logs

Blogs Audio Tapes

Videos Teacher

Observation

Portfolios Self-Assessment

Conferences Diaries

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENTS

Require problem solving and higher level thinking

Use real-world contexts or simulations

Encourage public disclosure of standards and

criteria

Require students to perform, create, produce or do

something

Multicultural sensitive when properly administered

IN LANGUAGE TESTING

New Innovative Types of Tests:

* Cloze Tests, c-tests, cloze elides, dictations,

reduced-forms dictations, oral proficiency interviews, role-

play tests, group tests, portfolios, conferences, diaries

and self-assessments.

We should view it as Alternatives in Assessment

All different types of tests are important to keep in mind

because they all have their own strengths and weaknesses

THREE BASIC ASSESSMENT TYPES

1. Selected Response – True/False, Matching,

Multiple Choice

2. Constructed Response – Fill in, short-answer,

performance assessments

3. Personal-Response – conference, portfolio,

and self and peer assessments

SELECTED -RESPONSE ASSESSMENTS

Students do not create language here

Most appropriate for measuring reading and

listening skills

Quick to administer and score

Disadvantages- Maybe be difficult for the test

writer to construct and it doesn’t require the test

taker to use any productive language.

CONSTRUCTED -RESPONSE ASSESSMENTS

Most appropriate for measuring speaking and

writing skills

Guessing Factor is lessened

If short answer questions are not carefully made,

students may produce a variety of different

responses

PERSONAL-RESPONSE ASSESSMENTS

Requires students to produce language and responses will all be

different

Personal and individualized assessment

Can assess learning processes throughout the term of instruction

Conferences can be with teacher one on one. Students can

reflect on learning processes and skills. Disadvantage- very time

consuming

Portfolios help motivate. Interesting and cause collaboration.

Disadvantages- how to grade portfolios and time consuming.

WASHBACK

“Washback is the effect of testing and assessment

on the language teaching curriculum that is related

to it. It is also called backwash, test impact,

measurement-driven instruction, curriculum

alignment, and test feedback.” (667)

WASHBACK

A negative Washback- if the assessment

procedures in a curriculum do not correspond to a

curriculum’s goals and objectives

A positive Washback- when the assessment

procedures correspond to the course goals and

objectives.

CONCLUSION

Many different types of assessments, all with

advantages and disadvantages

We should view all types of assessments as

alternatives and choose them wisely

Giving students feedback is very important

QUESTIONS

What is one example of an alternative in

assessment that you have seen or administered that

worked really well in a classroom? What made it so

successful?

What are your thoughts on Selected Response

assessments when it comes to language learning?