Journal of Education and Training Studies

Vol. 6, No. 9; September 2018

ISSN 2324-805X E-ISSN 2324-8068
Published by Redfame Publishing
URL: http://jets.redfame.com

Importance of Assessment in ELT

Irfan Tosuncuoglu
Correspondence: Irfan Tosuncuoglu, Karabük Üniversity, Turkey.

Received: July 17, 2018 Accepted: August 5, 2018 Online Published: August 15, 2018
doi:10.11114/jets.v6i9.3443 URL: https://doi.org/10.11114/jets.v6i9.3443

Abstract
Assessment has an important role in education and it has a critical role in the teaching process. Through appropriate
assessment, teachers can classify and grade their students, give feedback and structure their teaching accordingly.
Recently, educators and scientists have been becoming more interested in the requirements of assessment procedures in
the scope of foreign language teaching and the learning process, as forms of assessment have been changing. The
assessment procedures relate to authenticity, practicality, reliability, validity and wash back, and are considered the
basic principles of assessment in foreign language teaching and learning. The main value of these aforementioned
principles is to distinguish the effects of assessment and review any classroom based issues between the teacher and the
student. As the assessment process affects both teachers and students, significance and consideration should be given to
assessment procedures in foreign language teaching.
Keywords: assessment, forms, evaluation, testing, feedback
1. Introduction
A learner centric technique supports the perception that students should be active members of a class, and this has been
a new approach to foreign language courses. In this vein, assessment activities in the classroom are used by language
teachers to check student acquisition levels. It can be said that assessment is a long-term procedure and involves
information and data regarding the development of the students.
Assessment has a vital impact in the education process to inform and improve ongoing learning, and plays a significant
role (Cowie & Bell, 1999). According to Pierce, (2002; cited in Kırmızı & Kömeç, 2016), assessment is a crucial part of
any learning and teaching activity. It not only informs instructional decisions made on a day-to-day basis and helps
diagnose student strengths and weaknesses related to classroom instruction, but also provides specific feedback to students
in support of their learning. Assessment also provides immediate feedback for teachers to shape their teaching practices
according to the learning styles of their students. To assess student achievement and determine grades, teachers should use
different tests. Tests, examinations and evaluation models are important tools, utilized as a measure of the learning process.
2. Assessment & Evaluation: Significance
Assessment and evaluation are the main parts of teaching and learning activities. They have very close definitions and they are
very often used interchangeably. However, they do differ from each other to some extent. Assessment is a general item, which
consists of methods and techniques used to gather information about student ability, knowledge understanding and motivation
(Allan, 1999; Ekbatani & Pierson, 2000; Lambert & Lines, 2000). Evaluation is the activity of collecting necessary
information to determine if a program answers its goals. It aims to discover which methods work and which do not (Kaufman,
Guerra, Platt, 2006). As is obviously understood from these definitions, assessment is the method, and evaluation is the
process or activity. It can be inferred from this that one can apply assessment methods in the evaluation process.
Assessment is, on the whole, accepted as one of the very crucial parts of teaching, by this means, educators can
determine the level of skills or knowledge of their students (Taras, 2005). Wojtczak, (2002) argues that it helps teachers
evaluate the strengths and weakness of their students and to motivate them. In addition, assessments also provide
teachers with useful feedback about student learning acquisition (Taras, 2005; Stiggins, 1992). This procedure allows
teachers the opportunity to evaluate learning, and then use that information to improve student knowledge.
Assessments of foreign language teaching and learning are performed for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it reveals how
many students have achieved their learning objectives in a foreign language, who has any difficulties or problems with
their learning, and which techniques are useful in teaching a foreign language. Secondly, the teacher may decide
whether or not to continue the foreign language-teaching program.

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Journal of Education and Training Studies Vol. 6, No. 9; September 2018

3. Assessment Selection
Assessment selection is defined as a preference among available alternatives to assess, and the possible realization of
these preferences. It can be said that, according to the teacher and student preferences, assessment type can either
reduce stress and anxiety or increase it.
There are not many studies which directly analyze student choices and assessment formats, and which students will
perform better on preferred formats of assessment (Black & William, 1998; K. H., Wang, T. H. Wang, W. L. Wang, &
Huang, 2006; Watering, Gijbels, Dochy, & Rijt, 2008). Berry (2010) argues that exams, testing and evaluation systems
can evoke negative memories for learners such as being anxious, fearing failure, and worrying about what others may
think of their abilities. These negative perceptions may affect performance to great extent. To this end, it is necessary to
implement alternative ways of assessment, if the applied assessment format is not at the desired level to improve teaching.
All the same, some negative outcomes based on assessment, leave learners less motivated and more psychologically
stressed. This situation may prevent learners being motivated to learn a language.
The provision of ongoing feedback to the student by means of assessment by the teacher can maximize acquisition in the
learning process. To positively address learner anxiety, or concern about assessment, it is vital to use modern testing
practices together with traditional ones. In traditional assessment procedures, the aim is to check the recent performance
or activities of the student or learner through tools such as test questions, alternatives, cloze tests or fill in the blanks.
These performance oriented testing activities may allow learners to be successful in the short term rather than in the long
term. For these reasons, it is necessary to eradicate student anxiety or worry, and teachers should maintain motivation at
the highest level. Essentially, the assessment preference can have a significant impact on foreign language teaching and
learning processes. Scientists define assessment as the process of collecting data with the aim of identifying problems.
Five primary types of decisions that can be made from assessments have been identified. These are decisions about
referral, screening, classification, instructional planning and student progress evaluation. For each of these decisions,
academic, behavioral or physical problems may be the targets of assessment (Shapiro, 1987). During the teaching of
foreign languages, teachers generally evaluate language ability, which they collect by means of tests and exams. Also,
they often prefer ready-made tests for use in their classes.
Comparing traditional forms of assessment of foreign language and using current forms of assessment in teaching
practice, linguists offer the table below, which reflects the changing paradigm in education in general and in second
language teaching in particular.
The table includes comparisons between some issues of the old paradigm and the new one.
Table 1. Old and new paradigm
Old teaching foreign language paradigm New teaching foreign language paradigm
Focus on language Focus on communication
Isolated skills Integrated skills
Teacher-centered Learner-centered
Emphasis on output Emphasis on procedure
Tests only test Tests to teach
4. Alternative Assessments
Today, English language teachers are starting to realize that new alternative assessment strategies need to be developed
to better monitor and serve their students in their learning progress. These new forms of assessment concentrate on
measuring student knowledge to use language spontaneously in real life and are normally realized over a certain period
of time. In addition to this, the more authentic variety of assessments, as projects, performance assignments, concept
maps, self-assessment, peer-assessment, observation, portfolio, drama, diagnostic tree, journals, posters, instructors and
student interviews (Anıl & Acar, 2008; Büyüktokatlı & Bayraktar, 2014) have become increasingly common in the
classroom. The differences between traditional and authentic testing are as in the following.
Table 2. Traditional and Authentic testing
Traditional Authentic
Selecting a Response Performing an assignment
Contrived Real-life
Recall Construction
Teacher-based Student-based
Indirect Direct
http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/whatisit.htm
According to Richards and Renandya, (2002) “alternative assessment has been described as an alternative to standardized
testing and all of the problems found with such testing. There is no single definition of alternative assessment”. Alternative

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Journal of Education and Training Studies Vol. 6, No. 9; September 2018

assessment is different from traditional testing in that it actually asks students to show what they can do.
Students are evaluated on what they integrate and produce rather than on what they are able to recall and reproduce.
Thus, alternative assessment is realized in classroom activities and reflects and suits the requirements for the syllabus.
Moreover, the data collected is based on real life assignments, alternative assessment providing information on the
strengths as well as the weaknesses of a student.
Thanks to alternative assessment, learning becomes more authentic because it helps students improve their
decision-making and problem solving skills (Brualdi, 1996). Teachers are also able to gain insight about their course
effectiveness and make alterations if necessary.
5. The principles of Assessment
Assessment includes information about student awareness, understanding, perception and attitude to learning.
Assessment answers the needs of the student and is central to teacher planning, including testing. In this vein, Brown &
Abeywickrama (2010) and Sarıçoban (2011) argue that standardized tests have been most often associated with the
terms of the following assessment principles: authenticity, reliability, validity, and the washback effect. Here they are
explained in detail.
5.1 Authenticity
Basically, using the principle of authenticity in a test uses the test for performing an assignment in a real life situation.
Thus, in a test, authenticity may be presented in the following ways;
a) includes as much natural language as possible
b) contains components which are contextualized
c) has meaningful, relevant, real life themes
d) provides some thematic organization to items, such as a story line or episode
e) offers assignments that replicate real world assignments (Brown, 2010).
5.2 Reliability
The stability and the consistency of performance reliable test has to be consistent and dependable, (Badjadi, 2013;
Genesee & Upshur, 1999). For instance, if a teacher gives the same test to the same student or matched students on two
different occasions, the test has to show the same results. So the principle of reliability;
a) is consistent in its conditions
b) gives clear directions for evaluation
c) has uniform rubrics for evaluating
d) contains assignments that are unambiguous for the test-taker, (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010).
Richards and Renandya (2002) say that if a procedure is valid, it is reliable and it gives the same conclusions. The
possible realization rate is extremely high, for example if a student’s written story shares the same, or at least highly
similar, characteristics of his/her subsequent writing.
5.3 Validity
“Validity of assessment is perceived when the assessment method is consistent with the material and curriculum being
taught and if the results of the assessment are accurate” (Brown, 2002; Gür, 2013). Supporters of alternative assessment
do not suggest that these criteria be skipped. Concerns with validity and reliability of assessment tools have been
addressed in qualitative research through the use of the term honesty. In other words, it measures what it is supposed to
measure and would the instrument give the same results if it is repeated.
If we show Reliability and Validity in a diagram

https://socialresearchmethods.net/kb/relandval.php

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Journal of Education and Training Studies Vol. 6, No. 9; September 2018

5.4 Washback Effect

The fourth primary principle of foreign language testing is washback effect. According to Brown (2004), and Anderson,
Rourke, Archer, & Garrison (2001), this principle is defined as the effect of testing on teaching and learning a foreign
language. Another point of view on the washback principle is that the washback effect may denote both the promotion
and the self-consciousness of language learning.
This principle reflects how tests influence both teaching and learning. The following issues have to be put into
consideration when using washback;
a) positively influences what and how teachers teach and how students learn
b) suggests students have a chance to prepare
d) gives students feedback data to evaluate language achievement
e) provides conditions for peak performance by the student (Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010).
6. Conclusion
Testing concerning assessments can provide both teachers and students with information about the level of knowledge,
skills, difficulties in foreign language learning and which activities and methods are the most useful. Testing is a means
of evaluation of student activities and can be used for a clear criterion or scale. The word assessment means the
consideration of a person and an evaluation of them, and has a wider rationale than testing (Akpinar & Çakildere, 2013;
Brown, 2004), which can be used with the items, to test, measure and evaluate. In the light of alternative assessments,
teachers may identify what is important in their teaching process and select assessment strategies suitable for the
characteristics of the learners.
Knowing and organizing principles of assessment, develops the planning of assessment of a foreign language. So the
following issues have to be taken into consideration by the teacher, in the planning of teaching foreign languages with
regard to assessment:
1. Instruction and assessment should reflect one another
2. All kinds of assessments are meaningful while using foreign language.
3. Assessment must have a primary place in teaching
4. Assessment principles have to be put into consideration for creating teaching materials by the teachers, for the
students.
5. Negative factors that affect learners such as anxiety and worry, should be the focus of teacher attention.
To sum up, the significance of assessment in the process of language teaching has been known recently. Assessment is
very important for the students to acquire a language. It plays a crucial role in the process of learning, and connects
students to new knowledge using their current abilities.
References
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Productive and Receptive Skills of Academic Personnel. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 9(2), 81-94.
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görüşleri. Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 5(11), 44- 66. DOI: 10.14527/ pegegog.2014.006
Badjadi, N. E. I. (2013). Conceptualizing Essay Tests' Reliability and Validity: From Research to Theory. Online
Submission.
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Notes
Note: A preliminary version of this article was presented orally at the GlobELT Conference held in Belgrade-Serbia on
May 10-13, 2018.

Copyrights
Copyright for this article is retained by the author(s), with first publication rights granted to the journal.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited.

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Testing and assessment
teachingenglish.org.uk/article/testing-assessment

I will always remember the horror of receiving my chemistry result when I was thirteen years
old. I knew it wasn't going to be high, but to come bottom of the class was very upsetting.

It was all made worse by the fact that the chemistry teacher read the results to the whole
class, from first to last place. My humiliation was complete. Students can have very negative
reactions towards tests and it's no surprise when they too may have had experiences like this.

Why testing doesn't work

Reasons for testing

Making testing more productive

Learning from tests

Alternatives to testing

Conclusions

Why testing doesn't work

There are many arguments against using tests as a form of assessment:

Some students become so nervous that they can't perform and don't give a true account
of their knowledge or ability

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 Other students can do well with last-minute cramming despite not having worked
throughout the course

Once the test has finished, students can just forget all that they had learned

Students become focused on passing tests rather than learning to improve their
language skills.

Reasons for testing

Testing is certainly not the only way to assess students, but there are many good reasons for
including a test in your language course.

A test can give the teacher valuable information about where the students are in their
learning and can affect what the teacher will cover next. They will help a teacher to
decide if her teaching has been effective and help to highlight what needs to be
reviewed. Testing can be as much an assessment of the teaching as the learning

Tests can give students a sense of accomplishment as well as information about what
they know and what they need to review.
In the 1970s students in an intensive EFL program were taught in an
unstructured conversation course. They complained that even though they had a
lot of time to practise communicating, they felt as if they hadn't learned anything.
Not long afterwards a testing system was introduced and helped to give them a
sense of satisfaction that they were accomplishing things. Tests can be extremely
motivating and give students a sense of progress. They can highlight areas for
students to work on and tell them what has and hasn't been effective in their
learning.

Tests can also have a positive effect in that they encourage students to review material
covered on the course.
At university I experienced this first hand, I always learned the most before an
exam. Tests can encourage students to consolidate and extend their knowledge.

Tests are also a learning opportunity after they have been taken. The feedback after a
test can be invaluable in helping a student to understand something she couldn't do
during the test. Thus the test is a review in itself.

Making testing more productive

Despite all of these strong arguments for testing, it is very important to bear in mind the
negative aspects we looked at first and to try and minimise the effects.

Try to make the test a less intimidating experience by explaining to the students the
purpose for the test and stress the positive effects it will have. Many may have very
negative feelings left over from previous bad experiences.

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 Give the students plenty of notice and teach some revision classes beforehand.

Tell the students that you will take into account their work on the course as well as the
test result.

Be sensitive when you hand out the results. I usually go through the answers fairly
quickly, highlight any specific areas of difficulty and give the students their results on
slips of paper.

Emphasise that an individual should compare their results with their own previous
scores not with others in the class.

Learning from tests

Finally, it is very important to remember that tests also give teachers valuable information on
how to improve the process of evaluation. Questions such as:

"Were the instructions clear?"

"Are the test results consistent with the work that the students have done on the course.
Why/why not?"

"Did I manage to create a non-threatening atmosphere?"

All of this will help the teacher to improve the evaluative process for next time.

Alternatives to testing
Using only tests as a basis for assessment has obvious drawbacks. They are 'one-off' events
that do not necessarily give an entirely fair account of a student's proficiency. As we have
already mentioned, some people are more suited to them than others. There are other
alternatives that can be used instead of or alongside tests.

Continuous assessment
Teachers give grades for a number of assignments over a period of time. A final grade is
decided on a combination of assignments.

Portfolio
A student collects a number of assignments and projects and presents them in a file.
The file is then used as a basis for evaluation.

Self-assessment
The students evaluate themselves. The criteria must be carefully decided upon
beforehand.

Teacher's assessment
The teacher gives an assessment of the learner for work done throughout the course
including classroom contributions.

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Conclusions
Overall, I think that all the above methods have strengths and limitations and that tests have
an important function for both students and teachers. By trying to limit the negative effects
of tests we can try to ensure that they are as effective as possible. I don't think that tests
should be the only criteria for assessment, but that they are one of many tools that we can
use. I feel that choosing a combination of methods of assessment is the fairest and most
logical approach.

Richard Frost, British Council, Turkey

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Assessment for Learning
teachingenglish.org.uk/article/assessment-learning

Although Assessment for learning, or AfL, is nothing new to mainstream education in the
UK, in the world of ELT it remains a less familiar and practised approach.

Author:

Deborah Bullock

So, what is AfL and why is it important? Can it improve students’ results? What does it
involve?

What is AfL?

To understand what AfL is, it is useful to start with what it is not. Traditional approaches to
assessment are generally based on assessment of learning. Assessment of learning is
generally carried out by the teacher to collect information about attainment. It is usually
done at the end of a course or school year and takes the form of an exam or test which is used
to assign grades and report achievement or failure.

Assessment for learning, on the other hand, occurs at all stages of the learning process.
Students are encouraged to take an active role, become self-regulated learners and leave
school able and confident to continue learning throughout their lives. Assessment for
learning is also referred to as formative assessment, i.e. the process of collecting and
interpreting evidence for use by teachers and learners to decide where they are in

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their learning, where they need to go, and how best to get there (Assessment Reform Group,
2002). It is a process by which assessment information is used by teachers to adjust their
teaching strategies and by students to adjust their learning strategies. AfL encourages
learning and promotes motivation by emphasising progress and achievement rather than
failure.

Where did AfL come from and why is it important?

AfL originates in the research of UK professors, Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam. Black and
Wiliam recognised that what teachers and learners do in the classroom is complicated and
little is understood about what happens. They likened the classroom to a black box (an object
which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs without any knowledge of its internal
workings) and set out to investigate what was happening inside. What they discovered was
that students who learn in a formative way achieve much more and obtain better results than
other students. In 1998, they published their findings in an important booklet for
practitioners Inside The Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment and
in it they showed that:

formative assessment is at the heart of effective teaching

formative assessment has a strong positive effect on achievement
improving formative assessment raises standards.

As a result of these and other research findings, AfL is now established as one of the most
powerful ways of improving learning and raising standards and current research is adding
further evidence in support of this claim.

What are the key principles of AfL?

The key underlying principles of AfL which are used to guide classroom practice are as
follows:

Communicate confidence that every learner can improve

Above all, AfL must be underpinned by the utmost confidence that every student can
improve. We can help learners believe they can improve by giving specific feedback on what
they need to do to and how they can do it.

Empower learners to take an active part in their own learning

The AfL process can unlock the approaches used by students and help them to become more
aware of what they are learning and how they are learning it. This empowers students to take
control of their own learning by developing their skills of self-regulation. As they begin to
assess their own work and set goals, they also become more independent.

Develop learners’ confidence in peer and self-assessment

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These are skills that learners need time and practice in. The more they do it, the more
confident and accurate they will be in their assessment.

What does this mean for teaching and learning?

As teachers we can:

Collect information about individual learners to better understand their needs

We can do this in a variety of ways such as finding out what they already know, noticing who
answers questions, circulating and observing learners during activities, taking feedback on
how interesting or difficult they found the topic or tasks, etc.

Adjust our teaching in response to our observations or assessment results

A central part of teaching and learning is reflecting on how successful the lesson and learning
was and judging whether the topic needs to be reviewed, or re-taught using a different
approach or activity. As teachers we are constantly making judgements and decisions in
response to our learners’ needs.

Share learning objectives with learners

Learners need to know the lesson objectives. We can write these on the board at the start of a
lesson and check our learners understand them. We can then create links between these and
previous objectives and refer to them during the lesson and again at the end. We can also
discuss with learners why they are studying what they are studying.

Share success criteria with learners

Learners need to know what is ‘good’ work and how to achieve it. Sharing or negotiating the
criteria with learners helps them know what they need to do and gives them confidence in
their work.

Use questioning

Questioning helps us identify and correct misunderstandings and gaps in knowledge. It gives
us information about what learners know, understand and can do. We use this information to
plan lessons and activities that move students from where they are to where they need to go.

Give specific and useful feedback

Learners need specific feedback in the form of comments rather than grades if they are to
improve. Feedback should inform learners about gaps in their knowledge, understanding or
skills, and how to close those gaps.

Introduce peer feedback

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Students learn how to give each other advice about their work using success criteria. They
can discuss what has been done well, what still needs to be done, and give advice on how to
achieve that improvement.

Introduce self-assessment

Learner self-assessment encourages learners to take responsibility for their own learning.
Learners use success criteria to identify what they have done well and what they need to
focus on next. They can then set personal goals.

If you would like to try some AfL activities with your learners, you can find
suggestions on collecting information, strategic use of questioning, giving
feedback, and introducing peer and self-assessment here.

Further reading

Black, P and Wiliam, D (2006) Inside The Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom
Assessment, Granada Learning

Hargreaves, E. (2005) Assessment for learning? Thinking outside the (black) box, Cambridge
Journal of Education, vol 35, issue 2.

Assessment Reform Group (2002), Research-based principles to guide classroom practice,

available at:
www.hkeaa.edu.hk/DocLibrary/SBA/HKDSE/Eng_DVD/doc/Afl_principles.pdf

National Council for Curriculum and Assessment website:

https://www.ncca.ie/en

Dylan Wiliam & The 5 Formative Assessment Strategies to Improve Student Learning:
www.nwea.org/blog/2012/dylan-wiliam-the-5-formative-assessment-strategies-to-improve-
student-learning/#sthash.KRTC7rMK.dpuf

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