Chapter 2: The purpose of assessment

THE PURPOSE OF ASSESSMENT

The purposes of  assessment vary from situation to situation.  It differs according to who is conducting or using the assessment.

• School administrators use assessment as benchmarks for instruction, placement, or exemption in course levels and certification.
• Teachers use assessments as diagnostic tools and feedback for guiding instruction, evidence of progress, and evaluation of teaching or curriculum.
• Researchers use assessment to gather data on knowledge about language learning and language use, and for evaluation or experimentation of programs.

The primary purpose of assessment is to improve students’ learning and teachers’ teaching as both respond to the information it provides. Assessment for learning is an ongoing process that arises out of the interaction between teaching and learning.

Assessment should provide multiple measures and opportunities for students to create and demonstrate what they can do with a language. To provide a comprehensive picture of a student’s language ability, the teacher should strive to create a balance between formative assessment and summative assessment.

The teacher and language learner need to identify goals, objectives, and expected results before beginning to plan a lesson or activity. In other words, it is essential to determine what the learner should know, understand, and be able to do. According to Terry Crooks is his article about classroom evaluation, classroom assessment “guides students’ judgment of what is important to learn, affects their motivation and self-perceptions of competence, structures their approaches to and timing of personal study… and consolidates learning and affects the development of enduring learning strategies and skills.”

Once learning goals and objectives are set, the teacher and language learner must determine what type of evidence will show how well those goals have been met. The assessments should reflect student progress and should move from simple to more complex tasks.

After the objectives and the type of evidence to document success are determined, then the teacher and language learner can begin to develop activities that will guide and prepare the learner with the knowledge and skills to master those objectives.

Often teachers, administrators, and parents want to know information about specific skills students should be developing, such as reading ability or cultural knowledge.  It is important to choose a test that focuses on the skill you want to know about.  For example, if you want to find out about students’ communicative language ability, a test of only reading and writing may not be enough. 

Matching your purposes for testing with a test’s intended purposes is an important aspect of validity.  You can find information about a test’s intended purpose by checking information from the test developer or publisher.  Once you find out this information, you can decide if a test is valid for your purposes.

Assessment can do more than simply diagnose and identify students’ learning needs; it can be used to assist improvements across the education system in a cycle of continuous improvement:

• Students and teachers can use the information gained from  assessment  to determine their next teaching and learning steps.
• Parents and families  can be kept informed of next plans for teaching and learning and the progress being made, so they can play an active role in their children’s learning.
• School leaders can use the information for school-wide planning, to support their teachers and determine professional development needs.
• Communities and Boards of Trustees can use assessment information to assist their governance role and their decisions about staffing and resourcing.
• The Education Review Office can use assessment information to inform their advice for school improvement.
• The Ministry of Education can use assessment information to undertake policy review and development at a national level, so that government funding and policy intervention is targeted appropriately to support improved student outcomes.