Unit 1 Fundamentals of Assessment

In this unit, we will talk about different terminology associated with assessment. This unit will
set the tone for the rest of the course. Enjoy the unit and develop the necessary competencies
and understanding on how to use assessment correctly to improve the quality of your teaching.

Competencies:

By the end of this Unit, students will be able to:

 Outline what assessment is, its purposes and roles;

 Explain the interconnected nature of teaching, learning and assessment, and the importance of

assessment to support teaching and learning;

 Describe and distinguish among the various roles and functions assessments take;

 Compare and contrast assessment of and for learning, and describe how each leads to a

different vision of assessment;

 Differentiate between pre-assessment, formative and summative assessment, as well as their

purpose and nature in the language classroom; and

 Distinguish between assessment and evaluation.
 Content of the Unit:

1. Introduction
2. Essentials of assessment
3. Assessment: definition and purposes
4. Assessment: roles and functions
5. Teaching, learning and assessment
6. Testing and assessment: main differences/relationship
7. Assessment-related terms: Assessment, measurement, test and evaluation and their
relationship
8. Assessment approaches
a. Assessment of learning (feedback)
b. Assessment for learning
i. Pre-assessment, formative assessment and summative assessment
ii. Assessment and evaluation: Main differences
9. Summary and conclusions
10. Assessment plan
11. References

Estimated Time: 10 hours.

Assessment Plan

In order to successfully complete your work on this Unit you will be asked to do two
assessment tasks:

Unit 1 Final Task; this task represents 5 points of the overall grade. You will
submit this task through the UAS platform.

Unit 1 Discussion FORUM, this forum represents 5 points of the overall grade.
You will complete this forum on the UAS Platform.
1. Introduction

Welcome to the first unit of the Assessment in ELT Course; this is probably the first time you
study about assessment and how it relates to the process of your teaching and the planning of
your lessons. Don´t worry about it and don´t get anxious. We will walk you on the process of
developing the necessary competencies to use it effectively and to diminish the negative
emotions associated with assessing, grading, testing, etc. not only in yourself but on your own
students too.

Reflect on the following list of questions, they will help you get a better idea on why this unit is
important for your professional development:

 If it´s not going to be TESTED, why should you TEACH it? A teacher´s thought!
 If it´s not going to be TESTED, why should I LEARN it? A student´ thought!
 How do you decide if a student is passing your course or not?
 How do you make sure your students are learning?
 How can you decide what your students are missing?
 What evidence do you use to provide students with a grade?
 What evidence do you collect in order to provide feedback to improve students´
performance?

The ones above are just there to help you reflect on the way you have done some of those
things in your current teaching practice. If you are not sure whether the answers you provided
are right or wrong, this unit will help you make more informed decisions next time you decide if
one of your students is passing, failing or getting a 7, 8 or 9 in your course.

Let´s start with the first section of this unit in which we will define what assessment is.

2. Essentials of Assessment
Being able to differentiate between assessment and evaluation is the first step in this journey.
Let´s complete our first task that will help you get a clearer picture of these two terms and set
the tone for this unit.

Task 1)
Step 1) Read the following list of comments:

 I want to know if I pay attention to Ss. If so, in what ways, and how it affects the learning
of the Ss.
 I want to be able to allow Ss to review and to revise what they have worked on so far, and
to have time for remedial measures if necessary.
 I have to make the decision whether the Ss pass or fail a course. I would like to know if my
decision making is fair.
 Ts need evidence on which to base the grades they give to Ss
 Ss improve their learning when they work on developing self-monitoring skills.
 Ss want to know exactly what they are going to be tested on
 It is important for Ss to know how well they are doing in the course.
 Ss can offer suggestions for end-of unit assignments
 Ss can offer opinions. From their point of view, they can help identify if and how the way a
teacher makes use of the blackboard, or of electronic media, has an effect in their learning.
 The school administrators want some kind of evidence which shows teachers are
competent and effective, in what specific areas their performance is better, and why this is
so.
 The school administrators would like to find out if and why students performance in real-
life communication activities is better than before they entered the program. Is it the Ss?
the methods? the materials? the T? or all/any of them combined?

Step 2) Decide if each one refers to evaluation or to assessment.

  When you are sure add it to the right box,
 When in doubt, guess!
 When you are sure you don´t know, leave it where it is.

ASSESSMENT EVALUATION

Go to the key section for the right answers.

This first task probably opened your eyes to a new dimension of your work as a language
teacher; however, you may not be “that sure” about the distinction between assessment and
evaluation. Or maybe you are but let us complete a task that will help you confirm your
thoughts.
3. Assessment: definition.

Task 2. Definition of Assessment

Step 1) based on your understanding from the previous task define assessment in the space below:

Step 2) Read the following definitions, highlight key words and write them in the spaces provided
after each definition:

Assessment involves the use of empirical data on student learning to refine programs and
improve student learning. (Assessing Academic Programs in Higher Education by Allen 2004)

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

Assessment is the process of gathering and discussing information from multiple and diverse
sources in order to develop a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can
do with their knowledge as a result of their educational experiences; the process culminates
when assessment results are used to improve subsequent learning. (Learner-Centered
Assessment on College Campuses: shifting the focus from teaching to learning by Huba and
Freed 2000)

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

Assessment is the systematic basis for making inferences about the learning and development
of students. It is the process of defining, selecting, designing, collecting, analyzing,
interpreting, and using information to increase students' learning and development. (Assessing
Student Learning and Development: A Guide to the Principles, Goals, and Methods of
Determining College Outcomes by Erwin 1991)

_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

Assessment is the systematic collection, review, and use of information about educational
programs undertaken for the purpose of improving student learning and development.
(Assessment Essentials: planning, implementing, and improving assessment in higher
education by Palomba and Banta 1999)

 _______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
Assessment is the process of gathering data. More specifically, assessment is the ways
instructors gather data about their teaching and their students’ learning (Hanna & Dettmer,
2004)

 _______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

After reading all the definitions you probably concluded that: Assessment is a systematic
process of gathering information (evidence of) about:
 What students know
 What students are able to do,
 What students are learning.

Assessment provides you with the foundation for decision-making and planning for instruction
and learning. Assessment is what we as teachers do to know and to let ss know what it is that
they have learnt. We collect evidence that best give us information so that we can assess:

 If learning has taken place,

 What aspects / how much experience of the learning actually occurred?

The selection of assessment strategies should allow us to measure the knowledge, skills and
attitudes Ss have obtained or developed as a result of their learning (and our teaching, we
would like to believe). But, what do we do after we gathered all the date we need?

Let´s complete a task!

Task 3) Answer the following question by choosing A, B, C, D or E:

What do you do after you have gathered enough evidence of how much students´ learnt or
didn´t learn about a topic with the use of tests, quizzes, etc.?

a) I give students a grade and continue to the next topic. They got what they deserve.

b) Based on unsatisfactory results, I decide to conduct a feedback session to help students

grown the topic.

c) If results are not satisfactory, I decide not to consider the grades they got and teach the
topic again (the same way I previously did) to see if they improve and then I apply the quiz one
more time.

d) based on unsatisfactory results, the first thing I do is to evaluate what I did wrong and
consider things/actions I can do to improve the way I taught the topic. I teach it again and test
students again.

e) a different option: write it in a piece of paper and compare it with the ones above.

Depending on your answer to the previous task, we can determine the PURPOSE you give to
assessment. The purpose of assessment could be FORMATIVE or SUMMATIVE.

4. The purpose of assessment.

Let´s start this section with an introductory task.

Task 4)
Step 1) read the following quote:

“When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative. When the guests taste the soup,
that’s summative.”
Robert E. Stake, Professor Emeritus of Education at the University of Illinois

Step 2) Write your definition of summative and formative assessment based on your understanding
of the quote:

 SUMMATIVE

Summative assessment takes place after learning has been completed and provides you
with information and feedback that summarizes the teaching and learning process.

As a T you give Ss tests or tasks to gather evidence to support decisions for grading
them. The information resulting from achievement assessment is used as proof of what
Ss have learnt in a course or program and, –based on the evidence, Ss are given a mark
or a grade, in a report card.
 Grades are usually an outcome of summative assessment: they indicate whether the
student has an acceptable level of knowledge-gain—is the student able to effectively
progress to the next part of the class? To the next course in the curriculum? To the next
level of academic standing? See the section “Grading” for further information on
grading and its effect on student achievement.

Some examples of summative assessment are:

 Examinations
 Final examination
 Term papers
 Projects
 Portfolios
 Performances

Ultimately, summative assessment means to give Ss a grade, mark, or a pass/fail. It is a

report on the learners´ achievement.

 FORMATIVE

Formative assessment is intended to provide feedback to Ss, so that it helps Ss in their

learning efforts. Based on this assessment, Ss and Ts work on identifying strengths and
weaknesses, what has already been learnt, and what they still need to work on. T offers
pointers for improvement. The belief here is that assessment is part of the learning, that
there should be some room for assessment tasks which allow for learners to confirm or
revise their learning, while they are still in the learning situation.
 As a teacher you set assessment tasks at a point in your course (after each lesson, or unit),
and based on what Ss know and can do, you decide on whether or not objectives have
been accomplished and you move on to the following, or what you and the Ss will work on
next.

Some examples of formative assessment are the following:

 Observation during in-class activities.
 Homework exercises as review for exams,
 Reflections journals that are checked by the tutor periodically.
 Q & A sessions.

Task 5)

Step 1) After you read about formative and summative assessment answer the following based on
your own experience:

My assessment practice, is it ( ) check:

( ) only summative? ( ) only formative? ( ) a combination of both?

Although this is a very personal answer, we would like to suggest that you combine both and
provide students with the opportunity to not only receiving a mark or a grade, but to receive
feedback on areas where they can improve and grow as language users.

5. Assessment: roles and functions

Assessment is often used for more than one function. There are 4 basic functions 1) selection of
placement, 2) accountability, 3) diagnosis and 4) support of learning. The following chart
explains them in detail.

Assessment Function Description

Test or examination is used to determine who will be selected to

Selection and placement university or is used to place students into school bands.

Assessments are used to determine if students have achieved

learning outcomes appropriate for their grade level, and are used
Accountability to judge the effectiveness of teachers, schools, etc. in helping
learners achieve the intended learning outcomes.
Diagnosis Assessment is used to identify underlying sources of learning
difficulties
Assessment (especially at the classroom level) are used to monitor
the progress of learning; to provide learners with feedback on their
Support of learning learning to help them improve; to assist teachers in identifying
changes to be made in their teaching; to enhance student
motivation and confidence by demonstrating progress.

As you have seen these 4 main functions are closely related to the summative and formative
assessment described in the previous section. We encourage you to reflect on this question:

Task 6) What´s the function that you have given to assessment in your language
classroom?
Now, it´s time to look at the connection among teaching, learning and assessment. Let´s start a
new section.

6. Teaching, learning and assessment.

Every time that we talk about learning we have to talk about teaching as it always proceeds
teaching. Then, immediately, assessment appear at some point.

We can easily realize that teaching and learning go side by side. In today´s methodology we can
find that teaching should be learner center. No matter how good you think your teaching was,
it will always be judged at the light of how much learning happened in the class.

Having said this, let us ask you two questions:

Task 7) Answer the following questions:

 How do you find out how fruitful your teaching is?

 Is there a way to measure it?
The only way to measure if your teaching was fruitful is by measuring how much your students
learnt in that particular class; in the absence of that evidence, then the effectiveness of your
teaching is unknown. This is the moment where assessment plays one of the key roles.
Assessment will help you gather that evidence.

When we talk about gathering that evidence, most teachers think of “testing their students”
(did you think of testing as well?) as they only way to measure students´ learning. There is no
doubt, that testing is a much more common term.

The term “test” seems to be simple and understandable for almost everyone involved in
teaching and learning. Assessment is a less frequently used word, however, is a broader and
more comprehensive than test. Assessment goes hand by hand with teaching including testing.
Assessment can include observing students, applying quizzes or questionnaires, completing a
task or activity, etc. Test, on the other hand, is a very specific assessment or a particular form of
assessment (Hughes, 2003).

There are other terms that it is important to differentiate before we visit the rest of the units of
the course. Those terms are: measurement, test and evaluation, as you will read them very
often during this course.

7. Assessment, measurement, test and evaluation.

There are diverse views on the interpretation of assessment terminology in the literature, and
this may cause confusion. Very often, terms such as “measurement”, “assessment”,
“evaluation”, and “test” have been used interchangeably. The confusion could result from the
fact that they are interrelated. A test often results in numbers (measurement), although not
always. Assessment can include a variety of strategies, including tests, as sources of information
about student learning. Evaluation is the value interpretation and judgement of outcomes of
the data collection process in a decision-making context. It is based on information that may be
the result of assessment, including tests

We have used some of these terms in unit 1, but it is until this section where we will provide you
with a definition that will help you make more sense of what you have read and what you will
read.
 Test: A method to determine a student's ability to complete certain tasks or
demonstrate mastery of a skill or knowledge of content. Some types would be multiple-
choice tests, or a weekly spelling test.  While it is commonly used interchangeably with
assessment, or even evaluation, it can be distinguished by the fact that a test is one
form of an assessment.
 Assessment: The process of gathering information to monitor progress and make
educational decisions if necessary. As noted in the definition of test, an assessment
may include a test, but also includes methods such as observations, interviews,
behavior monitoring, etc.

 Evaluation: Procedures used to determine whether the subject (i.e. student) meets a
preset criterion, such as qualifying for special education services. This uses assessment
(remember that an assessment may be a test) to make a determination of qualification
in accordance with a predetermined criteria.
  Measurement, beyond its general definition, refers to the set of procedures and the
principles for how to use the procedures in educational tests and assessments.  Some
of the basic principles of measurement in educational evaluations would be raw scores,
percentile ranks, derived scores, standard scores, etc.

Let´s now jump to the last section of this study unit. Let´s talk about assessment FOR learning
and assessment OF learning.

8. Assessment approaches.

Task 8)

Step 1) Complete the following two-column chart with key information as you read this
section on assessment OF and FOR learning.

FOR learning OF Learning

Assessment OF learning are those assessment that happen AFTER learning is supposed to have
occurred to determine if it did. They are use make statements of students learning status at a
point in time to those outside the classroom, as when making students referrals or making
decisions about programs. We use assessment OF learning when we gather evidence to
determine a student´s report card grade. Unit final exams and important projects or final
assignments often serve this purpose.
Assessment FOR learning happens while learning is still underway. These are the assessments
that we conduct throughout teaching and learning to diagnose student needs, plan our next
steps in instructions, provide students with feedback they can use to improve the quality of
their work.

The following chart summarizes the purposes for (users and uses of) Assessment.

Assessment Assessment FOR learning Assessment OF learning

User
Student Am I improving over time? Am I succeeding at the
Do I know what it means to succeed? levels that I should be?
What should I do next?
What help do I need?
Teachers What does this student need? What grade do I put on
What do these students need? my report card?
What are students strengthen or build on?
What do these students´ need?
Parents What can we do at home to support learning? Is my child keeping up?
Is this teacher doing a
good job?
Principal Is instruction producing
results?
Are our students ready
for the workplace?

Source Adapted from student-involved for the level 1 o 2.

9. Summary and Conclusions

This unit was mainly theoretical; however, it provided you with the foundation to understand
what assessment is and what it entails. In the process of gathering the evidence of our students
´ learning, we will have to make decisions on what to do with that information and depending
on the use we give to it our teaching practice will be affected.

We encourage you to use this assessment course as an opportunity for you to try new things
and to integrate the best practices to your own assessment method.

Let us now complete the end of unit task in which you will answer some reflective questions.

10. Assessment Plan

Welcome to the end of unit task. In this task I would like to read the product of your reflections
as a result of completing the different tasks in this study material.

What to do?

Step 1) Answer the following questions based on your teaching practice + context:

 How do you commonly assess your students? 

 Is your assessment mainly summative or formative? 

 Do you use assessment OF learning or assessment FOR learning? 

 What´s the role of assessment in your language classroom?
 Have you used the results of a test to change the way you taught a topic? 
 What reflections can you draw based on your reading of Unit 1? 
Step 2) Write a 300 - 400 words reflection using the questions above. Do not forget to include
some useful information regarding the context of your teaching (years of experience, students´
level, etc.)

Step 3) Create a word document to write your reflection.

Step 4) Submit your reflection before Sunday at 10:00pm

Your tutor,

Heidy Paredes

Discussion FORUM

Welcome to the first discussion forum in the assessment in ELT course. In this forum, you will be
asked to share the product of your reflections after completing your end of unit task. The purpose of
this forum is to set a common ground and to explore how we all have experienced the issues of
assessment in our language classrooms.

Step 1) Copy and paste your reflection from the end of unit task.

Step 2) Post them in the forum. Due date Tuesday.

Step 3) Read your partner´s post looking for similar experiences, try to find something you agree or
disagree and reply to your partners. Due date Thursday.

Step 4) Answer the replies you received by providing more details on your position. Due date
Saturday before 10:00pm.

Step 5) Come back to the forum and read the summary of the forum posted by your tutor and react
to the comments made. Due: Monday.

Your tutor,

Heidy Paredes

11. Key Section

Task 1)

ASSESSMENT EVALUATION
The school administrators want some kind of

Ts need evidence on which to base the grades evidence which shows teachers are

they give to Ss competent and effective, in what specific

areas their performance is better, and why

I want to be able to allow Ss to review and to this is so.

revise what they have worked on so far; id what, The school administrators would like to find

if anything is problematic for them, and to have out if and why students performance in real-

time for remedial measures if necessary. life communication activities is better than

Ss improve their learning when they work on before they entered the program. Is it the

developing self-monitoring skills Ss?, the methods?, the materials?, or the T?,
or all/any of them combined?
I have to make the decision whether the Ss
Ss want to know exactly what they are going to
pass or fail a course. I would like to know if
be tested on
my decision making is fair.
I want to know if I pay attention to Ss. If so,
It is important for Ss to know how well they are
in what ways, and how it affects the learning
doing in the course.
of the Ss.
Ss can offer opinions. From their point of
Ss can offer suggestions for end-of unit
view, they can help identify if and how the
assignments
way a teacher makes use of the blackboard,
or of electronic media, has an effect in their
learning.