Topic 2:

Alternative
Language
Assessment
 Activity 1
School A conducts a writing School B conducts a writing
activity for all Year 6 pupils. activity. Pp write essays
Each week, Pp write using a based on their daily
standardized procedures, activities. They consult their
pre, while, post, drafting etc teachers on which essay to
for 45 minutes choose for assessment.
 Stimuli

Task complexity
Criteria for
Motivation
Authenticity
Conditions

Criteria
 Example: Alternative
Differentiate between an acid and a base
 

• An acid turns red

paper into blue Your mother took
• releases hydroxide Take 2cm3 of each of lime ENO last night
ions in solution
• tastes sour solutions A&B in for acid indigestion,
• feels slippery separate test tubes. Add why? Trace the lime
to each a drop of litmus ENO through her
The correct answer is C solution, write down
  your observation and system describing
  make inferences (WAEC the correct
derived) chemical reactions
 A wide range of alternatives to traditional,
discrete point tests (Fox, 2008)

Alternative Every test score is surrounded by an area of

uncertainty (Heaton, 1988:7)
Assessment
Ongoing process of involving the student and
the teacher in making judgments about the
students progress in language using non
conventional strategies. (Barlow & Coombe,
2001)
 Program based, reflecting the program’s
underlying philosophy of instruction

Learner centered

Principles Done with the learner, not to the learner

of Focuses on learning processes as well as

outcomes
alternative Focus on metacognitive and affective
dimensions
assessment
Involve a variety of procedures

Van Duzer and Berdan, (1999)

 Is an alternative assessment

it integrates the assessment of

Authentic traditional academic content with

the knowledge and skills
important to lifelong learning
Assessment using a variety of techniques,
including "real world" situations.

For an assessment to be
authentic, the context, purpose,
audience and constraints of the
test should connect in some way
to real world situations and
problems.
 Why alternative
assessment?
To capture complex outcomes. Alternative assessment goes beyond the
assessment of knowledge and facts to the more complex goals of
assessing and developing life-long skills of creative thinking, problem
solving, summarizing, synthesizing, and reflecting.

With authentic assessment, products and processes are equally valued.

To address realistic tasks. With authentic and performance-based

assessments, students are involved in tasks, performances,
demonstrations, and interviews reflecting everyday situations within
realistic and meaningful contexts.
 • To include good instructional tools. Assessment and
instruction interact on a continuous basis.
Assessment can be used to adapt instruction and to
provide feedback for monitoring students’ learning.
• Alternative assessment focuses on the students’
strengths, therefore enabling the teacher to get a
more accurate view of students’ achievement, of
what they can do, and of what they are trying to do.
• To communicate what we value. Assessment and

Why AA? instruction need to be aligned. If we value oral

proficiency but only assess through written tests,
students infer that only the written language matters.
• To meet the students’ different learning styles.
Alternative assessment offers a broad spectrum of
assessment possibilities to address the different
learning styles. Some students might choose to
demonstrate understanding by writing about
something while others might prefer to perform, to
display visually, or to create a timeline. O
• To collaborate and interact with students.
 •
Performance- Performance-based assessment is an
alternative assessment, it ‘‘requires
students to construct a response,
based create a product, or demonstrate
application of knowledge’’ in
Assessment authentic context
 In order to understand, analyze and solve
Need for problems some skills in schools require
• memorization
Performance • learning action sequences or procedures
to follow
based Ass. • concepts, rules and generalizations
• Some of these skills are best assessed
with paper and pencil tests
• Others involve independent judgement,
CT and decision making are best assessed
with performance tests
 Use direct measures of Can be used to assess
learning rather than indicators
complex cognitive
that simply suggest cognitive,
affective and psychomotor learning… attitudes,
processes have taken place social skills

Allows teachers to observe

achievements, mental habits,
ways of working and behaviours
of value in the real world that
Performance conventional tests may miss

tests
Performance
tests
 Can be used in and out of lessons

Can function as teaching activity as well as an assessment

Performance
tests Can assess affective and social skills

Can be used to assess: high level cognitive skills

noncognitive outcomes
 Continuum btw
Traditional and AA
One-shot tests…………..Continuous, longitudinal asses
Indirect test……………….….Direct test
Inauthentic tests………….…..Authentic assessment
Individual projects………………………...Group projects
No feedback …………………...Feedback
Speeded exams……………………Untimed exams
Decontextualized test tasks…Contextualized test tasks
Norm-referenced score interpretation………. Criterion-
referenced
Standardized tests………………Classroom-based tests
Tutorial • Refer to the templated in GC

Task