Chapter 24

Assessment and Evaluation in EFL:

Classroom Methods, Standardized
Testing, and Preparing Learners
for High-Stakes Exams

Servet Çelik, Karadeniz Technical University

Sultan Türkan, Educational Testing Service

▶▶ Introduction – Why Assessment and Evaluation are

Important
▶▶ Types of Assessment
▶▶ Classroom Methods and Considerations
▶▶ Preparing Students for Standardized Testing
▶▶ ESL/EFL Certification Tests
▶▶ References
▶▶ Image Credits
▶▶ Author Bios

Assessment and Evaluation in EFL 419

420 Assessment and Evaluation in EFL
 Learning Goals
In this chapter, we will examine the role of evaluation and assessment in English
language teaching and learning. In addition, we will explore the various types
of assessment, including traditional and alternative methods. We will also
describe some of the most commonly used assessment practices and discuss
some issues surrounding high-stakes exams. At the end of this chapter, students
will be able to:

1. Explain the purpose of evaluation and assessment and their importance

in the teaching and learning process;
2. Describe, in general terms, the common types of assessment tools and
activities used in language instruction;
3. Discuss the role that various assessment methods might play in one’s
teaching practice;
4. Talk about the issues involved in high-stakes testing and their potential
impact on foreign language teaching and learning.

Introduction
Think about it …
Up to this point in the text, we have Before reading the chapter, think about
discussed a wide range of language the following questions and record your
teaching methods, as well as many thoughts in the form of a journal entry.
Afterward, discuss your ideas with your
other practical concerns related to
classmates.
foreign language instruction. Now, we • What do the terms “evaluation” and
will take a closer look at another critical “assessment” bring to mind? Give
aspect of language teaching: the issue some examples.
of evaluation and assessment. More • Do you think that assessment and
than just a means for determining evaluation are a necessary aspect
of language instruction? Why or
learner achievement after the fact,
why not?
evaluation and assessment are integral
to the teaching and learning process
• What are some of the challenges
that a teacher might face
as important diagnostic, formative and with respect to evaluation and
summative tools. assessment? How could these
be addressed from a practical
Diagnostic assessment is generally standpoint?
used as a means to determine where
a learner stands in terms of knowledge and ability prior to the onset of instruction;
this type of assessment might be applied on an individual level to determine a
student’s learning needs within a particular course, or on a broader scale as a means
to determine placement of a large group of learners. Diagnostic assessment may be
carried out through summative (see below) tests concerning previously established
knowledge or skills or through a review of a learner’s academic records.
Furthermore, formative assessment is often employed by teachers in their practice
in order to make decisions about the direction of their teaching. By monitoring

Assessment and Evaluation in EFL 421

their students’ understanding of the material, rate of progress, and so on, teachers
can adjust their teaching to suit their learners’ needs while the learning is still
taking place. Therefore, formative assessment is typically embedded within the
instructional process itself. The West Virginia Department of Education (n. d.) offers
numerous examples of formative assessments, including observing and recording
students’ behaviors during activities, class discussions, question-and-answer
sessions, presentation projects, peer-/self-assessment and learning journals.
Summative assessment, as the term denotes,
Can you think of other is applied at the conclusion of instruction in
classroom activities that order to determine whether the learning
teachers might use to monitor objectives have been met. This information
their students’ progress may be used to assign grades to individual
and modify the course of learners; it may also be used as a diagnostic
instruction? tool to determine where an individual learner
needs to go next or whether there are aspects
of a particular syllabus, lesson, or teaching
approach that need to be rectified.
However, before we delve further into the specific types of evaluation and
assessment, it is important to distinguish these terms, as well as the concept of
testing, as these appear to be similar in meaning and are often (although not always
correctly) used interchangeably. In essence, assessment may serve as an umbrella
term for all of these activities, including testing and evaluation; yet teachers should
also be able to articulate the differences.

Testing
A test can be described as a specific evaluative tool that is
used to obtain information about a learner’s achievement
with respect to a given skill or procedure; this information
can be objectively evaluated and scored (American
Educational Research Association, 1999), and the results
can be reasonably compared with those of other learners. In
other words, testing consists of a snapshot, so to speak, of
a learner’s progress or performance at a given moment in
time. Tests may be applied at any of the stages of assessment
(diagnostic, evaluative, or summative) described above.

Assessment
On the other hand, assessment refers to an ongoing process of observing, recording
information, testing, scoring and interpreting results, which can be used to make
decisions about the progress of individuals and/or groups of learners. As Angelo and
Cross (1993) explain, teachers use assessment to obtain feedback on “what, how
much and how well their students are learning” and to make decisions about how
to “refocus their teaching to help students make their learning more efficient and

422 Assessment and Evaluation in EFL

more effective” (p. 3). The assessment Reflective Activity
process is a significant aspect of any Consider the impact of assessment/
teacher’s work – in fact, as Stiggins evaluation on each of the following:
(1999) suggests, teachers may be • Teachers;
involved in assessment activities for as • Students;
much as one third to one half of their • Educational institutions;
professional time. • Curriculum designers.
Evaluation • How do you think each of these might
benefit from the process? What are the
Finally, evaluation involves the final potential drawbacks or problems? How
product – what educators actually do have these issues affected you in the
course of your academic career? Talk
with all of the information gathered
over your ideas with a group of peers.
from any assessment procedures
they have employed; essentially, it is
an objective judgment based on all of the evidence that has been assembled. A
language teacher, for instance, might evaluate his or her students at the end of the
semester to determine whether, and to what degree, each one of them has met the
requirements and objectives of the course and then assign a final grade.

Types of Evaluation and Assessment Tools

The range of evaluation and assessment tools used by classroom instructors
is extensive, and a detailed explanation of each of the available tools and its
applications is beyond the scope of this chapter. However, a general description of
some of the most common assessment tools used in language instruction, based in
part on an inventory presented by Scholastic (2000), is provided below.

Assessment Tool Description

Anecdotal record An informal description of classroom behavior based on the
teachers’ observations.

Checklist A listing of skills, behaviors, and/or characteristics used by

teachers, or by students themselves, to record students’
progress toward predetermined objectives.

Conference A meeting between individual learners, the teacher, and in

some cases, family members, which entails a face-to-face
conversation about a student’s progress.

Learning journal A log in which students may record reflections, responses to

lessons, self-assessments of their own learning, and so on.

Midterm/final exam A formal evaluation of students’ mastery of specific skills.

Oral assessment A usually-informal assessment of a student’s reading skills and/

or oral fluency.

Peer assessment An instrument used by students to assess their classmates’

performance and provide constructive feedback.

Assessment and Evaluation in EFL 423

Performance An activity in which learners are asked to carry out a specific
assessment task that requires students to demonstrate what they have
learned (Norris, Brown, Hudson, &Yoshioka, 1998). For instance,
a language learner might be asked to read a newspaper article
in the target language and report on the content.

Portfolio assessment A form of assessment described by Scholastic (2000) as one in

which “students collect samples of their work … to document
their progress over time. Different types of portfolios include:
showcase, which celebrates students’ best work; descriptive,
which demonstrates what students can do; evaluative,which
assesses students’ work against a standard; and progress, which
documents students’ work over time” (p. 2).

Project/ Independent work carried out by either individual learners or in

Demonstration groups and presented to the teacher and class.

Rubric A formal evaluation tool which outlines the specific criteria on

which a student’s performance will be graded.

Self-assessment Students’ monitoring of their own development and forming

judgments about their progress.

Standardized test A formal examination of specific skills that is administered and

scored in a consistent manner for all examinees. This is the
most objective and scientific means of assessment.

Task-based An assessment in which learners are evaluated based on their

assessment ability to carry out a specified task “that involves individuals in
using language for the purpose of achieving a particular goal
or objective in a particular situation” (Bachman, 2002, p. 458).

Considerations in Choosing Assessment Tools

Selecting the tools, materials and activities that are appropriate for assessing
language learners is a complex undertaking. This aspect of instruction involves
multiple factors; the activities and materials that are chosen depend largely on
issues such as:
• the format of the course and the educational setting;
• learners’ needs;
• preferences of the teacher;
• institutional or curricular requirements;
• available resources.
The primary consideration, though, revolves around what, exactly, is being assessed.
Piggin (2012) points out that the overarching concern in language education is
language proficiency; however, as she explains, a precise definition of this concept
has not been established. Numerous scholars have offered models of language
proficiency, including Bachman (1990), Bachman and Palmer (1996), Canale and

424 Assessment and Evaluation in EFL

Swain (1980) and Shohamy (1998). While these models differ in varying respects,
they all encompass the characteristics of communicative competence in and
structural knowledge of the target language.
In order to target the skill areas involving communicative competence, EFL teachers
may incorporate various interpretive, presentational, and interpersonal aspects
of communication in their periodic assessment practices. For instance, they may
include tasks that target assessment of interpretive skills and situate these tasks
within listening and reading exercises or activities. In the same vein, interpersonal
skills could be assessed by designing speaking activities and exercises. Presentational
skills could be targeted for assessment by allowing students to express, explain, and
narrate ideas, information or events in writing or orally.
On the other hand, assessment and evaluation of structural and linguistic knowledge
often involves asking students to read or listen to a text and answer questions about
it or to select the accurate grammatical form or vocabulary item from a list. Cloze
tests, multiple choice tests, short answer tests, and so on are also commonly used
for this purpose.

High-stakes Testing and its Implications for Language Instruction

Now we turn to a final issue that has significant implications in many educational
systems where English is taught as a foreign language, particularly those in which
proficiency in the structural aspects of English language is viewed as an important
outcome of EFL instruction and in which proficiency is measured through mandatory
testing. When standardized language tests are administered to a large number of
students and have educational and social consequences in students’ lives (e.g.,
as a requirement of university admission or a condition of employment), they are
viewed as high stakes exams. Educational researchers have extensively addressed
the issues of high-stakes testing in relation to its impact on students’ language
learning experiences. For instance, Alderson and Wall (1993) laid out the wash-back
effect of language tests as influencing not only the “degree and depth of teaching,”
but also “attitudes to[ward] the content, method, etc. of teaching and learning” (p.
120–121).
In such circumstances, the ability of individual institutions or language teachers
to determine the forms of instruction and assessment used in the language
classroom are often restricted, as central bodies such as departments or ministries
of education are generally in control of both curriculum development and nationally
administered standardized tests. In these systems, the tests often play a powerful
role in the development of language learning policies and goals. While considerable
attention has been focused on addressing this problem, high-stakes testing remains
an issue in many parts of the world. As a result, it is often left to individual classroom
teachers to tailor their approach to instruction both to prepare students for success
on the test, as well as promoting practical communicative skills.

Assessment and Evaluation in EFL 425

Research Project
I. Using the Internet, research one of the following standardized English proficiency
exams:

▶▶ Cambridge ESOL Preliminary English Test (PET);

▶▶ Cambridge ESOL Business English Certificate Preliminary (BEC Prelim);
▶▶ International English Language Testing System (IELTS);
▶▶ Pearson Test of English (PTE);
▶▶ Test of English as a Foreign Language computer-based exam (TOEFL iBT);
▶▶ Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC).
II. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation or poster that includes the following
information:

 Brief background information about the testing service;

 The purpose of the exam; e.g., university admission, employment, general,
etc.;
 The proficiency levels and types of skills that are tested;
 Prerequisites for taking the exam;
 Requirements for passing the exam;
 Types of questions presented on the exam;
 Resources for exam preparation; e.g., prep manuals, online courses, practice
tests, etc.
III. Prepare a series of “practice” exam questions based on the types of items
found on the test. Your practice test should include at least 5 questions that are
representative of the typical question formats and topics.

426 Assessment and Evaluation in EFL

REFERENCES
Alderson, J. C., & Wall, D. (1993). Does washback exist? Applied Linguistics, 14, 115-129.
American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, & National
Council on Measurement in Education (1999). Standards for educational and psychological testing.
Washington, D.C.: AERA.
Angelo, T. A., & Cross, P. (1993). Classroom assessment techniques: A handbook for college teachers.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Bachman, L. F. (1990). Fundamental considerations in language testing. New York, NY: Oxford
University Press.
Bachman, L. F. (2002). Some reflections on task-based language performance assessment. Language
Testing, 19, 453-476.
Bachman, L. F., & Palmer, A. S. (1996). Language testing in practice. New York, NY: Oxford University
Press.
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language
teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 1-47.
Norris, J. M., Brown, J. D., Hudson, T., &Yoshioka, J. (1998). Designing second language performance
assessments. (Technical Report #18). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii at Manoa, Second
Language Teaching and Curriculum Center.
Piggin, G. (2012). What are our tools really made out of? A critical assessment of recent models of
language proficiency. Polyglossia, 12, 79-87.
Scholastic (Ed.). (2000). Scholastic literacy place, Assessment handbook, Grades 3-5. New York, NY:
Author.
Shohamy, E. (1998) Critical language testing and beyond. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 24(4),
331-345.
Stiggins, R. J. (1999). Evaluating classroom assessment training in teacher education programs.
Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice,18(1), 23-27.
West Virginia Department of Education. (n. d.). Examples of formative assessment [Online teaching
resource]. Retrieved from http://wvde.state.wv.us/teach21/ExamplesofFormativeAssessment.
html

Image Credits
1. Test. Courtesy of office.microsoft.com clipart.

Assessment and Evaluation in EFL 427

Author Bios
Servet ÇELİK is an assistant professor assistant professor in the Department of
Foreign Language Education at Karadeniz Technical University, Turkey. He also
serves as a senior researcher for the Scientific and Technological Research Council
of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). Dr. Çelik holds a bachelor’s degree in ELT from Gazi University,
Turkey; a master’s of education degree in TESOL from the University of Pennsylvania,
USA, and a doctoral degree in Literacy, Culture, and Language Education from Indiana
University-Bloomington, USA. Some of Dr. Çelik’s professional interests include
language teacher education, teaching of culture and intercultural competence,
narrative inquiry and qualitative research.

Sultan TÜRKAN is an associate research scientist at the Educational Testing Service

Center for Foundational and Validity Research. She received her PhD in teaching
and teacher education with a focus on English language teaching and testing from
the University of Arizona. She has researched and published in the areas of test
fairness and valid accommodations for linguistically and culturally diverse learners,
as well as measurement of effective content teaching to English language learners.
Dr. Türkan has experience in teaching English as a second language and diversity
classes to pre-service content teachers in the United States.

428 Assessment and Evaluation in EFL