On the Effect of Online Formative Assessment on Iranian Lower Intermediate EFL Learners Reading Comprehension

Farideh Peyghambarian ,Hamid Ashraf ,Mohammad Ali Fatemi

doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.4n.2p.189

Abstract

Online Formative Assessment (OFA) improves EFL students' reading comprehension enabling them to have a better performance in reading comprehension tests. To lend support to the above mentioned claim, a quasi-experimental study was conducted in Mashhad, Iran. 48 female lower intermediate EFL students took part in this study. Participants were assigned to control and treatment groups. Participants in both groups received a formative assessment program lasting for 10 sessions. Formative assessment in treatment group was conducted by the site itself, and participants in control group were assessed by the teacher. It was found that participants in treatment group significantly outperformed those in control group. This finding indicated OFA as an effective learning tool in EFL reading comprehension classrooms.

Highlights

English as foreign language (EFL) students need to be assessed so that their teachers can realize their strengths and weaknesses
Given the benefits of OFA, the present study aims at investigating the effect of online formative assessment (OFA) on the development of Iranian lower intermediate EFL learners' reading comprehension
The present study sought mainly to explore the effects of an online formative assessment on Iranian lower-intermediate EFL learners' reading comprehension

Summary

Introduction

English as foreign language (EFL) students need to be assessed so that their teachers can realize their strengths and weaknesses. Summative assessment (SA), known as assessment of learning, requires some form of grading or ranking of students’ abilities or achievements related to goals. Formative assessment (FA), on the other hand, is called assessment for learning; FA is about what teachers and students can do to document the students’ learning so that they can utilize this information to enhance their learning process(Douglas,2010, as cited in Lindqvist & Shuja, 2013). FA is process-based, and is used to assess students’ learning in the classroom usually in order to keep records of their achievement overtime (Harris, 2007). FA occurs when teachers help their students understand their own learning in ways enabling them to learn better, design their learning process by doing something with the information conveyed to them in a comprehensible language (Restrepo, 2012). Given the benefits of OFA, the present study aims at investigating the effect of online formative assessment (OFA) on the development of Iranian lower intermediate EFL learners' reading comprehension

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Methods

Conclusion