Name : Ilham Gumelar Azis NPM : 17510018
Course : Language Assessment
Concepts and Issues
1. Assessment and Testing
Definition of Assessment and Testing
Assessment is identifying or evaluating the current condition or current progress of something. It is a kind of snapshot on the ability or condition of a language learner, an assessment can be either formative or summative. Formative being it’s a snapshot it’s an assessment that’s not yet completed it’s in the forming stages because it’s an ongoing thing.
A summative assessment is something that is generally at the end of a course where you are trying to sum up what the person’s abilities or progress is up to that particular point.
Testing is a type of assessment that typically uses an instrument that measure a specific 4skill, a database or a content domain, can test performance and competence.
Testing is a lot smaller than assessment.
Measurement and Evaluation
Measurement is actually trying to quantify some observed performance. Two different ways that we can do that.
1. Quantitative data is typically found on teste, rubrics, and checklists and this is actual numbers stuff.
2. Qualitative data is including description of observed performance, it is looking more at narrative type of a description, the data includes a description of the observed performance and trying to rate it / number and use a rubric to do this.
Two different ways of doing measurements, both of these can involve numbers quantity, quantitative will absolutely involve numbers. Qualitative can be primarily a descriptive but can also include numbers.
Assessment and Learning
Assessment includes opportunities for students and teachers to hypothesize and evaluate learning, teaching activities, test, and teaching.
Assessment Characteristics
1. Informal : Unplanned observations of student activity that is recorded and or shared with the learner.
2. Formal : Systematic planned snapshot of student activities and learning
3. Formative : A tentative evaluation of student learning to provide a snapshot of current learning and distance to determine the goals.
4. Summative : End of course measurement to determine whether learners have accomplish the course objectives
5. Norm-Referenced : Test takers are evaluated against the group where the mean/median/standard deviation/percentile rank are identified.
6. Criterion-Referenced : Test takers are evaluated on specific information typically presented in a course, it has specific criteria like information that’s being tested for that particular test.
2. Types of Assessment
1. Achievement Test, this is where you measure the knowledge, skills, abilities of the material directly taught in the course.
2. Diagnostic Test, basically trying to find out within the material, to identify strengths, weaknesses and language level.
3. Placement test, it’s where basically it’s a type of a proficiency. So, that measures proficiency for placement in the program. Oftentimes placement tests need to be done quickly and not as deep, and as robust.
4. Proficiency Test, measure the knowledge, skills and abilities compared to other second language learners and native speakers
5. Aptitude Test, which are kind of a test that measure the likelihood of language learning success.
Issues in Language Assessment Behavioral and Integrative Influences
1. Behavioral and psychological language related studies focused on specific segments of language (the four skills, the two database). Assessment centered on valid, reliable, objective proficiency type test. \
2. Integrative approaches focused on whole language in context types of measurement.
Integrative approaches are thought to be a better measure of overall language knowledge skills and abilities. Integrative approach is going to look at the whole spectrum they are going to look at all four skills and both database to see how this person’s language is it’s going to be a better type of assessment to understand whole language.
Communicative Language Testing
In addition, there is a variety of competencies that language users or language learners need to understand and master. There are organizational competencies:
Organizational Competence:
1. Grammatical Competence
Vocabulary
Syntax
Phonology 2. Textual Competence
Cohesion
Rhetorical Organization
These type of grammatical competence are going to need to have no textual competencies/
need to understand things like cohesion/ rhetorical organization those things are more seen in reading, writing, possibly speaking but it’s a competence that have to need understand because cultures and languages organize data differently some are more direct, sone are less direct, some are more nuanced.
Pragmatic competence:
1. Illocutionary competence
Ideational Functions
Manipulative Functions
Imaginative Functions 2. Sociolinguistic Competence
Dialects Sensitivity
Register Sensitivity
Naturalness Sensitivity
Cultural References
Depending on the culture, those are different. All of these in sociolinguistic competence, need to be understood, be taught and somehow should be assessed as learning language. Most of these things are not put into a text book, even a curriculum, but these things that student will need to learn if they are going to master language.
Performance-Based Assessment
Unlike the more traditional paper-based assessments, performance-based assessments designed opportunities to demonstrate language proficiency in some performed activity like a paper, oral presentation, mock interview, impact to conversation. A performance-based assessment is not necessarily looking at the paper based, it’s more looking at how it’s used in real life.
Those types of performance-based assessments can be used to assess the student of the learners language ability. It is not number based but it is more qualitatively based.
Task-based assessment, it measures language knowledge, skills and abilities of language but the focus of the task is not language, the focus of the task is some other tasks and task-based
assessments have come more popular in the 15 years, because of task based language teaching.
There is similarity between performance based and task-based assessment.
Important Topics
Computer-based Language Learning, Computer assisted language learning (CALL), Content-based instruction (CBI), or Computer adaptive testing corpus linguistics all of these are related to the fact that technology is now playing a very important role in assessment. Almost anywhere but also in language especially of certain areas like writing, vocabulary and grammar.
Computer-based language learning teaching is becoming an important topics and in some circles the assessment process will require that student understand and know how to use technology even before they do the assessments because the assessments require the technology, there is also a whole realm of assessment that’s being done in the world of corpus linguistics.
Points to Remember Use Assessments:
1. As guideposts and diagnostics 2. To increase motivation
3. To develop autonomous learners
4. To assess language teaching effectiveness 5. To encourage language acquisition
Some points to remember when developing or using assessments remember that assessment is only a guidepost and it is not the end all and be all. So, use it as guidepost use it as a diagnostic use it as a means to try help students know what their weekend so they can become stronger use it as a way to motivative them.
3. Classroom Based Assessment 4. Current Issues in Assessment
