Unit 1: What is Language Assessment?

Introduction

This unit will introduce the concept of language assessment, discuss its place in
teaching and describe some important recent developments in the field.

Assessment and Teaching

Assessment is an essential aspect of teaching and learning. As a student, you would

undoubtedly have experienced some form of assessment and as a teacher you will be
responsible for assessing your students. What however does assessment mean?

 Activity 1.1: Your Experiences with Assessment

To get you thinking about assessment, answer these questions:

What assessments have you experienced as a student?

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If you have teaching experience, what are some of the ways you have assessed your
students?

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How would you define assessment?

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 Key Concept: What is Assessment?

In the context of teaching English as a second or other language, assessment is the

process of gathering information about learners’ language ability (Bailey, 2003). The
kinds of things assessment can tell us include: what learners have learnt, how well
learners have learnt something and what tasks learners are able to perform using
English.

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Assessment can take a number of forms such as classroom participation, essays,
quizzes and examinations. You probably mentioned some of these and others in your
response to the above activity.

Assessment also usually occurs many times during a course. There may for example
be various kinds of assessment at the beginning, middle and end of an English
language course (Brown, 2004). We will discuss this point in more detail later in this
topic but first let’s look at why assessment is important.

 Key Concept: Why is Assessment Important?

The information provided by assessment is vital for learners and teachers alike.
Unfortunately, assessment is often viewed negatively, or even feared. While
assessment can sometimes cause anxiety and stress, Brown and Abeywickrama (2010)
point out that there are some significant benefits of assessment for learners and
teachers:

• Periodic assessments, both formal and informal, can increase motivation by

serving as milestones of student progress
• Appropriate assessments aid in the reinforcement and retention of information
• Assessments can confirm areas of strength and pinpoint areas needing further
work
• Assessments can provide a sense of periodic closure to modules within a
curriculum
• Assessments can promote student autonomy by encouraging students’ self-
evaluation of their progress
• Assessments can spur learners to set goals for themselves
• Assessments can aid in evaluating teaching effectiveness (p. 22)

Many of these points will be expanded on throughout this topic and you should try to
keep them in mind as you learn about language assessment.

Now let’s turn to another term, namely testing.

Assessment and Testing

The terms assessment and testing are sometimes used interchangeably but they
actually have quite different meanings.

 Key Concept: What is a Test?

Brown and Abeywickrama (2010) define a test as “a method of measuring a person’s

ability, knowledge, or performance in a given domain” (p. 3).

From this definition we can see that a test has five important characteristics:

Method: a test is an explicit, structured technique(s) or procedure(s) which requires

the test taker to use language in some way. This may involve reading, writing,

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speaking, listening, answering grammar questions etc. In other words, tests collect
samples of the test taker’s language use.

Measure: a test measures, or gauges, something. A test may measure a test taker’s
general language ability or something specific such as knowledge of a particular
grammar item. The test results, or measurements, may be in the form of a letter grade
(e.g. HD, DN, CR, P, F), a numerical score (e.g. 9/10, 550, 6.5) or a percentage (e.g.
54%).

Individual: tests are taken by people. Just as it is important to take into account
learners’ characteristics in teaching, so too is it important to consider test taker’s
characteristics when testing. Some areas which may need to be considered in test
design and application are the test takers’ level of English, previous experiences and
background.

Performance: as we saw above, during a test the test taker is required to use language
in some way, such as participating in an oral interview, reading a short text or writing
an essay. This is called performance. These samples of language use are then used to
make judgements about a test taker’s overall language ability or competence.

Some tests focus on knowledge about language and may require test takers to define
words or state grammar rules. Here too a sample collected through a test is used to
make judgements about overall knowledge of vocabulary or grammar.

Domain: as mentioned above, tests focus on a particular domain or area. This may be
general language ability, knowledge of a specific grammar item or pronunciation of
certain sounds. Each test will aim to measure a test taker’s ability in a set domain
(Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010).

 Key Concept: Tests as One Aspect of Assessment

Having defined a language test, what can we say about the relationship between tests
and assessment?

Firstly, assessment is a much broader term than testing. As we saw earlier, assessment
can take a variety of forms and occurs on an ongoing basis. Brown and
Abeywickrama (2010) offer a good explanation:

Whenever a student responds to a question, offers a comment, or tries out a

new word or structure, the teacher subconsciously makes an appraisal of the
student’s performance. Written work – from a jotted-down phrase to a formal
essay – is performance that ultimately is “judged” by self, teacher, and
possibly other students. Reading and listening activities usually require some
sort of productive performance that the teacher observes and then implicitly
appraises, however peripheral that appraisal may be. A good teacher never
ceases to assess students, whether those assessments are incidental or intended
(p. 3).

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All of the things mentioned in this quote are ways of assessing language ability, but
not all of them meet the definition of a language test. As Brown (2004) points out,
tests “are only one among many procedures and tasks that teachers can ultimately use
to assess students” (p. 4). We can therefore say that all tests are assessment, but not all
assessments are tests.

 Key Concept: Limitations of Tests

Although tests can be useful, they are also limited in some ways. According to
Bachman (1990), language tests are by nature indirect, incomplete, imprecise and
subjective.

As discussed above, tests are indirect in the sense that they use samples of language
performance to make judgements about language ability or competence. Language
ability is not a tangible object that we can count, weigh or measure directly; we must
base our judgements about it on samples of language use or performance.

Secondly, a language test provides only a small sample of a test taker’s total language
use. It is simply not possible to observe everything a person says, writes, reads or
listens to, and because of this language tests give us an incomplete picture of the test
taker’s use of English.

Language test are also imprecise. Most test have a scoring system or set of criteria for
determining results but these are not always well defined or described, and it can also
be difficult to explain the difference between various results. For example, what does
a score of 8.5/10 mean? What is the difference between 8.5/10 and 9/10?

Finally, language test are subjective. Teachers, researchers and professional test
developers design language tests based on their own opinions, thoughts and
theoretical positions on language ability and testing. In many cases scoring a test also
requires one to make subjective judgements. Test takers too make several subjective
decisions. For example, they may decide which test to take based on their own views
of what test is best for them. Each individual will also approach the test in his or her
own unique way, using different strategies or techniques to complete the test
(Bachman, 1990).

Many of these issues also apply to other forms of assessment and we will discuss
them in more detail later in this topic.

Textbook Reading: now read the introduction to Chapter 1 and sections

Assessment and Testing, Measurement and Evaluation, Assessment and Learning,
Informal and Formal Assessment, Formative and Summative Assessment and Norm-
Referenced and Criterion-Referenced Tests, pp. 1-9 of your textbook. Make sure you
understand the terms assessment and testing and the difference between them then
complete the activity below.

 Activity 1.2: Assessment, Testing, Teaching

Briefly define and describe each of these terms:

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Informal assessment

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Formal assessment

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Formative assessment

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Summative assessment

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Norm referenced tests

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Criterion referenced tests

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 Key Concept: Test Purposes and Types

As we will see later in this topic, identifying the purpose of a test “is an essential first
step in choosing, designing, revising, or adapting the procedure you will finally use”
(Brown & Abeywickrama, 2010, p. 9). With this in mind, we can identify several
purposes of tests in classroom settings, including selecting students, placing students
in a particular course or class, diagnosing students’ strengths and weaknesses and
grading students (Bachman, 1990). Each of these purposes corresponds to a particular
type of test, as you will see in your next textbook reading.

Textbook Reading: now read sections Types and Purposes of Assessment,

Achievement Tests, Diagnostic Tests, Placement Tests, Proficiency Tests and

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Aptitude Tests, pp. 9-12 of your textbook. Once you have finished reading complete
the activity below.

Activity 1.3: Which Test For Which Purpose?

Briefly define each type of test and state its purpose.

Achievement test
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Diagnostic test

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Placement test

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Proficiency test

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Aptitude test

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History of Language Testing

There have been many changes in the techniques used to test language ability and the
underlying approach to testing. These changes have been heavily influenced by
developments in language teaching and related fields (Brown & Abeywickrama,
2010). The next section of your textbook will orient you to these.

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Textbook Reading: now read the section Issues in Language Assessment: Then
and Now, Behavioural Influences on Language Testing, Integrative Approaches,
Communicative Language Testing and Performance-Based Assessment, pp. 12-16 of
your textbook. Once you have finished reading, complete the activity below.

 Activity 1.4: Trends in Language Testing

Briefly define and describe each of these trends in language testing:

Discrete point testing

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Integrative testing

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Communicative language testing

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Performance based assessment

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Current and Future Issues in Language Assessment and Testing

Many new and challenging issues have also emerged in language assessment and
testing. Such issues relate to both the approach to assessment and testing and the
techniques used to conduct them.

Textbook Reading: now read the sections Current “Hot Topics” in Classroom-
Based Assessment, Multiple Intelligences, Traditional and Alternative Assessment,
Computer-Based Testing and Other Current Issues, pp. 16-22 of your textbook. When
you have finished reading, complete the activity below.

 Activity 1.5: New Issues in Language Assessment and Testing

Briefly describe each of these new issues in language assessment and testing:

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Multiple intelligences

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Traditional and alternative assessment

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Computer based testing

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Conclusion and Review

This unit has defined some fundamental concepts in language assessment and
provided a brief overview of the field. It has shown:

 Assessment refers to gathering information about learners’ language ability

 Assessment can take a variety of forms
 Assessment occurs throughout a course
 Assessment is useful for learners and teachers because it:
Increases learner motivation
Encourages reinforcement and retention of information
Identifies learners’ strengths and weaknesses
Summarises and concludes modules or units in a curriculum
Encourages learner autonomy
Encourages learners to set goals
Provides information about the effectiveness of teaching

 Tests are one form of assessment

 A test is an instrument for measuring a learner’s language ability, knowledge
or performance in a particular area
 Tests are limited because they are:
Indirect
Incomplete
Imprecise
Subjective

 Tests are used for a variety of purposes

 Some common types of test are:
Achievement test
Diagnostic test
Placement test

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 Proficiency test
Aptitude test

 Approaches to and techniques for language assessment and testing have

changed over time
 New issues regarding the theory and practice of language assessment and
testing are emerging

References

This is a list of references used in this unit. You might like to follow up on some of
them if you want more information on a particular topic and some of them may be
useful for your assignments.

Bachman, L. F. (1990). Fundamental considerations in language testing. Oxford:

Oxford University Press.

Bailey, K. (2003). Learning about language assessment: Dilemmas, decisions and

directions. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Brown, H. D. (2004). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices.

New York: Pearson Education Inc.

Brown, H. D. & Abeywickrama, P. (2010). Language assessment: Principles and

classroom practices (2nd ed.). New York: Pearson Education Inc.

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