Alternative Assessment

Alternative assessment gives students the opportunity to show their learning process without the pressure of traditional tests. It is seen constantly, cases in which although students make a great effort studying, once they take the exam, results are not the best because of  being nervous. This way of assessment is not always graded which gives a starting point to make students do not feel afraid of being wrong and show how much they have learnt.

More advantages include the fact that language is used for real purposes, which shows the students the use of the language in real contexts, the increase of motivation and the possibility to show student's progress to the school community and parents. Showing students that language is important for real life situations makes them see how practical and important this is for life.

As teachers, it is necessary to take advantage of these alternative ways of assessment considering all the advantages they provide to students and teachers. Among all the choices: portfolios, conferences and interviews, self- and peer-assessment, observations and journals, teachers can apply one or more strategies in classes. 

Sometimes, time and low practicality avoid the use of these techniques in classes, even though is good idea to consider using them more often.