PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

Some people think of testing as an easy and funny activity for professors, but contrast to this, testing is an important tool for assessment and it must be applied effectively. The big question for most of us is: when is a test effective? According to Brown, the only way to recognize this efficacy is "testing a test", which means to analyze the following principles: practicality, reliability, authenticity, validity, and washback.

Practicality conveys that a test has to be functional as for professors as for students. Long tests that require a lot of time to be evaluated are impractical for professors, who most time have to score more than one group of test-takers. It is similar, when a test can only be scored for a machine, what about if this machine got broken?A practical test must not be unreasonable expensive or take so much time, it must be easy to apply and score.

Reliability is another important principle for a test. As humans, we are not exempted from committing errors, so before an exam is applied, it is necessary to check twice and avoid the affections from external factors, to score all tests with the same criteria and well-judgement. On the other hand, validity implies to evaluate what has to be evaluated. For instance, present simple structures are taught in a class lesson, but the professor evaluates simple progressive; obviously, the student would get lost being tested about a topic that have not learnt. 

Two other principles are significantly mentioned by the author as part of a well-done test: authenticity and washback. The first one refers to the real-life contextualization that a test must have, meaning, the test must contain an everyday language, present real situations and be interesting for the student. The second one also called feedback is the ideal finish for each test. Once, the exams have been received, students need to know why they got a good or bad scored, providing this washback, students will have meaningful understanding of their mistakes and can solve final doubts.

All the previous elements need to be incorporated in our tests to diminish our constant waisting of time and provide fair exams to our students. 

Classroom-based evaluation in second language

Classroom-based evaluation in second language

Some English teachers think of evaluation as the simple action of grading academic performance of students in order to make them pass or fail the course. Once the book "Classroom-based evaluation in second language"(Genesee and Upshur) is read, the perspective and idea of what evaluation really is, changes. 

Genesee and Upshur take into account the many decisions that teachers have to make every single day in classrooms and the different roles that as teachers as parents and students play in the process of evaluation. The kind of information evaluated is also important. It is not only academic achievement, but other factors as behavior, attitude,goals and needs, work habits, learning styles and strategies have to be considered when a student is assessed. 

The book proposes different reasons for doing assessment: purpose of evaluating, collecting information, interpreting this information and decision making. Also, some reasons for classroom-based evaluation are considered, such as to make decisions about a successful instruction for an entire class, to ascertain the effectiveness of particular instructional units with the idea of improving them and to encourage student involvement in formulating personal learning objectives.

Finally, a strategy for conducting evaluation is given, starting with determining what information is useful, checking ways of collecting information, making sense of evaluating information and making appropriate decisions.

The first step is done... :)