Assessment as a Process

1. THE LANGUAGE
ASSESSMENT
PROCESS
Shohamy & Inbar (2006)

2. Stages in the language assessment
process
◦ Establish the purpose(s)
◦ Define language knowledge (construct)
◦ Select the instruments, procedures or tools
◦ Design items and tasks
◦ Determine ways of administration
◦ Check quality of the language sample
◦ Assess quality of the procedure
◦ Interpret results
◦ Report results

3. 1. Establish the purpose(s)
◦ To predict success
◦ To place students
◦ To accept/reject students
◦ To provide feedback
◦ To follow progress
◦ To motivate students to learn
◦ To discipline learners
◦ To exercise power
◦ To conduct research

4. 2. Define language knowledge
(construct)
◦ Different models of language have been proposed by
authors along the history.
◦ You must know what every single element inside a
particular model means, and which is the best way for
you to assess it.

5. 3. Select the instruments, procedures
or tools
◦ Open informal instruments
◦ Authentic language performance
◦ Projects
◦ Putting on a play
◦ Creating a restaurant menu
◦ Simulating real life situations
◦ Reporting an event
◦ Creating a game or video-clip
◦ Corresponding in writing for various
purposes.
◦ Tests

6. 4. Design items and tasks
Items
◦ Receptive skills
◦ matching
◦ true/false
◦ multiple choice
◦ cloze passages
◦ open-ended questions
Tasks
◦ Productive skills (oral/written)
Interviews
Essay writing

7. 5. Determine ways of administration
◦ One-to-one administration
◦ Paper and pencil format
◦ Audio-taped tests
◦ Visual stimuli and questions
◦ Computer-administered assessment
◦ In-classroom vs. take-home
◦ On site assessment (at the workplace)
◦ Formal and informal administration

8. 6. Check quality of the language
sample
◦ Total score
◦ Standards, benchmarks, competencies, can-dos, band scales
◦ Diagnostic criteria
◦ Holistic rating scales
◦ Analytic rating scales
◦ Rubrics
◦ Guidelines (e.g. ACTFL, ISLPR)
◦ Native / non-native criteria

9. 7. Assess quality of the procedure
◦Different types of item analyses (difficulty,
discrimination, etc.)
◦Different types of reliability and validity

10. 8. Interpret results
◦Context-embedded interpretation
◦Dialoguing with the student (over email, for
example)
◦Holding an assessment conference (with the
student and/or other participants)

11. 9. Report results
◦ As test scores
◦ Proving diagnostic information
◦ Notifying as Pass or Fail
◦ Comparison of grades (to other populations)
◦ Creating learner profiles
◦ Providing verbal descriptions and interpretive summaries
◦ Reporting in form of narratives
◦ Creating progress reports