This document discusses key concepts in language assessment including terminology, different types of assessment, and principles of effective assessment. It defines assessment as a series of actions taken by teachers to evaluate student performance and behavior. Assessment can be formal or informal, formative or summative. Key principles for effective assessment discussed are practicality, reliability, and validity. Reliability ensures consistency in results, while validity ensures a test measures what it is intended to measure. The document also discusses different types of validity including content, criterion, and construct validity. Authenticity and washback effect are also addressed.

1. Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE
Unidad de Educación a Distancia
Nombres: Heydi Lizeth
Apellidos: Quishpe
Imbaquingo
Materia: ASSESSMENT
AND EVALUATION
Docente: Carlos Marcelo
Espín Ortega

2. Principles of language
assessment
 Assessment terminology
 The practice of assessing learners has
traditionally brought feelings of excitement
and nervousness.
 Apart from that it includes contents and
vocabulary that you definitely don’t know.
 This is just to exemplify the terrible feeling
that a student may experience when test-time
is coming.
 Assessment and Testing
 At the same time, teachers appraise and
judge their performance.
 In other words, assessment is a series of
actions taken by the teacher to measure
students’ responses, actions, performance
and behavior.
 The test is a method: it is a useful tool for
teachers who have to consider that being the
test a method
 The test must measure: valuable information
about the test-taker’s performance can be
taken after the application of a test.
 Measurement and Evaluation
 Measurement and evaluation are usually
confused or considered as synonyms.
However, these processes are different.
 Evaluation is sometimes confused with testing
but, they are not the same, they have different
connotations and uses.
 Formal and Informal Assessment.
 Informal assessment
 Formal assessment
 Formative and Summative Assessment
 Formative assessment helps teachers to
identify weaknesses and
 strengths.
 Summative assessment: evaluates formally
student’s learning, knowledge

3. Types and purposes of assessment
• Achievement tests.
• Diagnostic tests.
• Placement test.
• Proficiency tests
• Aptitude tests .
• Principles of language assessment .
• Practicality: According to Brown and Douglas practicality deals with the administrative
process involved in assessing an instrument. It includes making, giving, and scoring a test.
It does not surpass the budget limits
• It is taken within the given time
• It has clear instructions
• It used human and material resources appropriately
Reliability
Reliability is a term that deals with the consistency of test results. For instance, same test,
same students on two different dates, the results should be the same.
Learner-Related reliability
It occurs when the test-taker suffers from physical or psychological factors like illness or
anxiety. These factors interfere on the final test results
•

4.  Inter-rater reliability
 It happens when two or more scorers
agree on the test results. In other words,
the scores provided by the examiners do
not change.
 Test administration reliability
 It deals with the conditions of test
administration. For example, the quality of
the exam photocopy, the light in the
classroom
 Test reliability
 Brown and Douglas say that test reliability
occurs when the test cause measurement
errors. Subjective tests tend to be less
reliable than objective tests due to its
nature
 Validity
 Validity tests what is proposed to be
measured. In other words, validity involves
measure what is supposed to be
measured.
 Content-related validity
 Content validity refers to the measurement
of all important sections of the subject or
content. A test must evaluate most of the
content covered in the course.
 Criterion-related validity
 It is the relationship between a measure
and a standard (an external criterion). The
measure must agree with the standard

5.  Construct-related validity
 Construct validity determines if a test
assesses what it is supposed to. The test
has to be constructed to measure the
content of a course.
 Autheticity
 A test or assignment is said to have
authenticity when it is designed to apply
knowledge in new situations.
 Problem solving exercises are examples of
authentic evaluation. In these exercises
students need to justify their responses.
 For example, in an oral production lesson
a teacher demands students to role play a
situation.
 Washback effect
 The washback effect exists when a test
has great influence on the way a professor
teaches.