Post #13: Assessment

            Chapter 23 and 24 in Brown discuss the topic of assessment. We have talked about a lot of the topics in these two chapters this semester in 346. Both chapters explain the differences between norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests. These are two different ways of scoring tests. With criterion-referenced tests, scores are assigned based on the content of the student’s work, if it contains all the required criteria. With this type it is possible that all students in the same class can receive A’s. Norm-referenced tests are scored by comparing the quality of the student’s work to their classmates’. With this type of scoring, not all the students in the class are able to get an A. One of my teachers here at ISU assigned grades on our papers based on the norm-referenced format. This way isn’t used too often in my opinion. It’s probably more common in the college than in a K-12 setting. I’m not a fan of the norm-referenced scoring approach since I don’t think it’s fair to students since they’re always being compared to their peers. It’s also very subjective scoring since it’s the teacher’s opinion as to who they think did the best and worst on the test or assignment.

            Authenticity is described as being a principle of language assessment. This isn’t something we talked a lot about in 346 but I do think it’s important. With language assessment, test items should be contextualized and natural, assessing real-world tasks. I think this is important but I also think that it may also be necessary to give structured tasks to assess students as well since some language skills and concepts may be difficult to determine whether students know them or not when they’re within a context.

            Chapter 24 talks about alternative assessment, another topic we recently covered in 346. Portfolios are an example of alternative assessment. I think portfolios are especially great for ESL classes since teachers are able to see the progress of the students’ L2. They’re also great for the students to see how far they’ve come in the learning of the L2. Performance-based assessment which is discussed in chapter 23 is another example of alternative assessment. I think performance-based assessment is especially important in language classrooms since it’s necessary to see students produce the language. Overall I like the idea of alternative assessment even though the grading is also very subjective. Students who don’t do well on formal tests may also prefer this method. I think it’s a good idea to use both formal and alternative assessment in the classroom.