Assessment

This document discusses language testing and assessment. It defines assessment as the systematic collection of student information to improve learning. There are four main types of assessment: diagnostic to gauge prior knowledge, formative to monitor progress, interim to compare groups, and summative to evaluate learning at checkpoints. Assessment principles include practicality, reliability, validity, authenticity, and washback effect. The key difference between assessment and testing is that assessment is an ongoing process to enhance instruction while testing is a product to measure knowledge at a point in time.