DIMENSIONS OF LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT
E. FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT
The term formative, as opposed to summative, can be briefly defined on the basis of its purposes. Therefore, formative assessment is intended to assess two main constructs namely students’ ongoing understanding of subject matter as well as teaching effectiveness. The purpose of such assessment is to improve learning, provide feedback to
59 Ibid.
Student Engagemen t/agency
Teacher Directedness
60 Language Learning Assessment: Linking Theory to Practice
teachers, and make an adjustment to teaching according to the information gathered from the assessment.
Normally, formative assessment is not graded and not incorporated in the decision of the final score. Typical examples of this kind of assessment are question and answer sessions, homework, observation, and self-evaluations. Due to its ongoing nature, formative assessment may take the form of impromptu and planned assessment.
Impromptu refers to a set of assessments that are carried out without any plan prior to the administration. This may be undertaken when discussion or question and answer sessions occur between teachers and students at any time during the lesson. For instance, the teacher's attempt to elicit information on students’ prior understanding as a warming up might be attributed to formative assessment. Another impromptu formative assessment technique might be the teacher’s attention to classroom circumstances in which the students’ do not feel engaged in a classroom or indicate misunderstanding due to confusion about the material the teacher may do an intervention to overcome such a situation.
Table 8: Main Differences between Summative and Formative Assessment
Formative Summative
Used throughout learning process
Provides iterative feedback
Dialogue based, may be ungraded
Identifies gaps and misunderstandings in the learning process
Demonstrates evolving understanding of a topic
More valid than conventional tests, especially for higher
Used at the end of a learning process
Evaluates learning against a benchmark or standard
Provides a numeric grade that summarizes how much a student has learned
Efficient to grade No feedback on the learning process itself
Typically high stakes, making up a significant
Kasyfur Rahman, M.Pd. 61 order thinking skills
More interesting to students and thus more motivating
Can assess more clearly what students have and haven’t learned
Process can be costly in terms of time, effort, equipment, materials, facilities, or funds.
Rating process is sometimes more subjective than traditional exams
portion of the grade
Information from summative assessments can be used formatively as well, in that both students and faculty can use it to guide their efforts moving forward
Summative assessment aims to measure the cumulative learning the students had undergone over a time period in order to assess learning quality and judge it based on predetermined standards. In addition, summative assessment may further be used to determine whether one can advance to the next level of education, make a decision on awards, or provide career support. Typical examples of summative assessment are national examinations, papers, projects, portfolios, and so forth.
Dixon and Worrell point out that the best form of summative assessment is performance-based assessment in which the teachers provide an opportunity for the students to demonstrate what they have learned that may be further be categorized into product, performance, and process assessment.60
The essential purpose of formative assessments is to move students’
learning forward while their learning is still in the process of developing. It operates as a feedback loop in which both teachers and students can play active roles in enabling learning by consistently working to build and consolidate student understating and skills during the course of a lesson.
60 Dante D. Dixson and Frank C. Worrell, “Formative and Summative Assessment in the Classroom,” Theory Into Practice 55, no. 2 (2016): 153–159.
62 Language Learning Assessment: Linking Theory to Practice
Summative assessments are used to evaluate student learning, skill acquisition, and academic achievement at the conclusion of a defined instructional period. Generally speaking, summative assessments are defined by three major criteria:
The tests, assignments, or projects are used to determine whether students have learned what they were expected to learn.
They are given at the conclusion of a specific instructional period, and therefore they are generally evaluative, rather than diagnostic.
Summative assessment results are often recorded as scores or grades that are then factored into a student’s permanent academic record.
The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning.
In contrast, the goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.
Table 9: Summative Vs Formative Assessment61 Characteristics Formative
Assessment
Summative Assessment
Purpose To improve teaching
and learning
To diagnose students’
difficulties
Evaluation of learning outcomes
Placement, promotion decisions
Formality Usually informal Usually formal
Timing of
administration
Ongoing, before and during instruction
Cumulative, after instruction
Developers Classroom teachers to test publishers
Classroom teachers to test publishers
61 Ibid.
Kasyfur Rahman, M.Pd. 63
Level of stakes Low-stakes High-stakes
Psychometric rigor Low to high Moderate to high Types of questions
asked
What is working?
What needs to improve?
How can it be improved?
Does student
understand the material?
Is the student prepared for the next level of activity?
Examples Observations
Homework Q & A session Self-evaluation
Reflection on
performance Curriculum-based measures
Projects Performance assessment Portfolios Papers
In-class examination State and national tests
Formative assessments help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work. They also help faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately. On the other hand, information from summative assessments can be used formatively when students or faculty use it to guide their efforts and activities in subsequent courses.