Abstract
Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning in educational organizations that requires teachers to prepare tests in order to evaluate their learners’ performance. In language teaching contexts, traditional assessment often evaluates learners’ knowledge of previously learned language items. It is a mandatory process that determines the progress of language learners and the effectiveness of teaching/learning materials. This theoretical article reviews the literature on the notion of traditional assessment or static assessment which has certain shortcomings. Owing to the various drawbacks of static assessment, the review of related literature on the topic highlights and proposes alternative assessment methods, such as authentic assessment, dynamic assessment, peer assessment, and self-assessment. In contrast to traditional assessment, these different forms of alternative assessment share a common purpose that is to provide language learners with an opportunity to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses and set their future learning goals. The most common of the assessment methods that encourage learners' reflection were peer assessment and self-assessment which involve learners to assess their own progress as well as engage with peers in classrooms to give each other feedback on their language learning tasks assigned by teachers. The studies reviewed in this article illustrate that alternative assessment methods in the form of peer and self-assessment have a positive influence on the language learners' performance and their learning outcomes.
Highlights
Teachers around the world find it a challenging task to assess their learners in a classroom environment
The studies reviewed in this article illustrate that alternative assessment methods in the form of peer and self-assessment have a positive influence on the language learners' performance and their learning outcomes
The reviewed literature argues that traditional assessment cannot help students realize their learning goals and teachers need to adopt alternative assessment tools in order to optimize their learning goals
Summary
Teachers around the world find it a challenging task to assess their learners in a classroom environment. 1992, p: 3), and we evaluate and assess our daily actions and day-to-day activities to understand how we can improve ourselves This can be applied to the context of language teaching and learning as well. In most cases, teachers have an exam-oriented and teacher-oriented culture in which students are often ignored and learners are tested to determine their level This is perceived as a traditional way of assessing language learners who do not achieve the full potential of the learners. Traditional assessment is usually considered a mandatory tool of evaluation that is imposed on teachers and learners to follow a certain set of procedures. This sort of evaluation often lacks learners' and teachers' voice in the procedure which leads to inappropriate and unsuitable forms of evaluation (Mastuno, 2009). This paper reviews the literature on the significance of alternative assessment tools in the field of English language teaching (ELT) and in English as a foreign language (EFL) context
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