Handbook of Second Language Assessment


Book Description

Second language assessment is ubiquitous. It has found its way from education into questions about access to professions and migration. This volume focuses on the main debates and research advances in second language assessment in the last fifty years or so, showing the influence of linguistics, politics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, and psychometrics. There are four parts which, when taken together, address the principles and practices of second language assessment while considering its impact on society. Read separately, each part addresses a different aspect of the field. Part I deals with the conceptual foundations of second language assessment with chapters on the purposes of assessment, and standards and frameworks, as well as matters of scoring, quality assurance, and test validation. Part II addresses the theory and practice of assessing different second language skills including aspects like intercultural competence and fluency. Part III examines the challenges and opportunities of second language assessment in a range of contexts. In addition to chapters on second language assessment on a national scale, there are chapters on learning-oriented assessment, as well as the uses of second language assessment in the workplace and for migration. Part IV examines a selection of important issues in the field that deserve attention. These include the alignment of language examinations to external frameworks, the increasing use of technology to both deliver and score second language tests, the responsibilities associated with assessing test takers with special needs, the concept of 'voice' in second language assessment, and assessment literacy for teachers and other test and score users.




Learning Oriented Assessment


Book Description

This volume outlines the general principles of Learning Oriented Assessment (LOA), placing it in the context of European language learning policy. The authors pose three key questions central to LOA: 'What is learning?' , 'What is to be learned?' and 'What is to be assessed?'. It focuses on the use of evidence, and how it can be collected and used to feed back into learning, overviews large-scale assessment as practised by Cambridge English and learning-oriented classroom assessment practices, and concludes with a look at implementing LOA in practice. With fresh insights into the role of assessment in supporting learning, this volume will be of considerable interest to assessment practitioners, teachers and academics, educational policy-makers and examination board personnel.




Excellence in University Assessment


Book Description

Assessment in higher education is an area of intense current interest, not least due to its central role in student learning processes. Excellence in University Assessment is a pioneering text which contributes to the theory and practice of assessment through detailed discussion and analysis of award-winning teaching across multiple disciplines. It provides inspiration and strategies for higher education practitioners to improve their understanding and practice of assessment. The book uses an innovative model of learning-oriented assessment to analyze the practice of university teachers who have been recipients of teaching awards for excellence. It critically scrutinizes their methods in context in order to develop key insights into effective teaching, learning and assessment processes. Pivotal topics include: Competing priorities in assessment and ways of tackling them; The nature of quality assessment task design; The student experience of assessment; Promoting student engagement with feedback. An indispensable contribution to assessment in higher education, Excellence in University Assessment is a valuable guide for university leaders, middle managers, staff developers, teachers and researchers interested in the crucial topic of assessment.




Self-directed Learning Oriented Assessments in the Asia-Pacific


Book Description

The Asia-Pacific region needs to maximize the benefits of education to enable it to compete in an economic future dominated by innovation, in which assessing student progress must be an empowering rather than delimiting factor. This detailed exposition of the theoretical basis and application tools of self-directed learning-oriented assessment (SLOA) reflects the very latest research championed by the Assessment Research Centre at The Hong Kong Institute of Education. Featuring a range of relevant case studies, it explores the varied theoretical issues related to SLOA and offers an integrated view of the system fully in line with the constructivist paradigm of learning which advocates formative rather than summative assessment. Many of the initiatives outlined here are firsts in the region. SLOA is already being applied in many schools with links to the ARC. It is an approach to assessment that acknowledges the centrality of self-directed learning and which positions assessment as a tool to enable and enhance self-directed learning. It draws on several theories of learning and assessment, including the constructivist notion that learning is best achieved when students take ownership of their educational process, setting their own goals and monitoring their own progress towards those goals. SLOA has been the research and service approach of the ARC since 2005. In the intervening years the centre has developed a number of tools to facilitate SLOA learning and assessment, including vertical ability scales, teacher-friendly computer software and packages for self-directed learning.




How Assessment Supports Learning


Book Description

How Assessment Supports Learning: Learning-oriented Assessment in Action invites teachers in higher education to rethink the purposes of assessment and to revise their assessment practices in the interests of improved student learning. It combines practice, theory, research and extensive examples of assessment techniques to support academics in this vital part of their multi-faceted role. This book presents 39 innovative assessment practices from a range of disciplines and located in a clearly articulated theoretical framework. This framework is congruent with outcomes-based approaches, currently being implemented in universities in Hong Kong and elsewhere. The practices, which can be modified for use in a wide range of contexts, illustrate how assessment can be used to engage students in productive learning, provide genuinely helpful feedback efficiently, and help students learn to evaluate and improve the quality of their own work. The book concludes with suggestions for responding to challenges at the interface between assessment and learning.




Learning and Performance Assessment: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications


Book Description

As teaching strategies continue to change and evolve, and technology use in classrooms continues to increase, it is imperative that their impact on student learning is monitored and assessed. New practices are being developed to enhance students’ participation, especially in their own assessment, be it through peer-review, reflective assessment, the introduction of new technologies, or other novel solutions. Educators must remain up-to-date on the latest methods of evaluation and performance measurement techniques to ensure that their students excel. Learning and Performance Assessment: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a vital reference source that examines emerging perspectives on the theoretical and practical aspects of learning and performance-based assessment techniques and applications within educational settings. Highlighting a range of topics such as learning outcomes, assessment design, and peer assessment, this multi-volume book is ideally designed for educators, administrative officials, principals, deans, instructional designers, school boards, academicians, researchers, and education students seeking coverage on an educator’s role in evaluation design and analyses of evaluation methods and outcomes.




Developing Outcomes-based Assessment for Learner-centered Education


Book Description

Describes the move to outcomes-based assessment at California State University Monterey Bay. Discusses the faculty's experience with the transition and features an anecdote at the start of each chapter.




Assessment as Learning


Book Description

This is a book for teachers and school leaders on formative assessment i.e., assessment as learning where assessment occurs throughout the learning process to inform learning as opposed to assessment that occurs at the end of a learning unit to measure what students have learned (summative assessment). Formative assessment emphasizes the role of the student, not only as a contributor to the assessment and learning process, but the critical connector between them. It defines assessment of learning, assessment for learning and assessment as learning, making a case for assessment as learning. It addresses assessment in the context of what learning is. It shows how to use formative assessment to motivate student learning, help students make connections so that they move from emergent to proficient, extend their learning and to help them become reflective self-regulators of their own learning. It explores how teachers can make the shift to formative assessment by engaging in conceptual change.




Classroom Writing Assessment and Feedback in L2 School Contexts


Book Description

While assessment and feedback tend to be treated separately in the L2 writing literature, this book brings together these two essential topics and examines how effective classroom assessment and feedback can provide a solid foundation for the successful teaching and learning of writing. Drawing upon current educational and L2 writing theories and research, the book is the first to address writing assessment and feedback in L2 primary and secondary classrooms, providing a comprehensive, up-to-date review of key issues, such as assessment for learning, assessment as learning, teacher feedback, peer feedback, portfolio assessment, and technology enhanced classroom writing assessment and feedback. The book concludes with a chapter on classroom assessment literacy for L2 writing teachers, outlines its critical components and underscores the importance of teachers undertaking continuing professional development to enhance their classroom assessment literacy. Written in an accessible style, the book provides a practical and valuable resource for L2 writing teachers to promote student writing, and for teacher educators to deliver effective classroom writing assessment and feedback training. Though the target audience is school teachers, L2 writing instructors in any context will benefit from the thorough and useful treatment of classroom assessment and feedback in the book.




Toward a Reconceptualization of Second Language Classroom Assessment


Book Description

This book responds to the call for praxis in L2 education by documenting recent and ongoing projects around the world that see partnership with classroom teachers as the essential driver for continuing to develop both classroom assessment practice and conceptual frameworks of assessment in support of teaching and learning. Taken together, these partnerships shape the language assessment literacy, the knowledge and skills required for theorizing and conducting assessment activities, of both practitioners and researchers. While united by their orientation to praxis, the chapters offer considerable diversity with regard to languages taught, learner populations included (varying in age and proficiency level), specific innovations covered, research methods employed, and countries in which the work was conducted. As a whole, the book presents a way of engaging in research with practitioners that is likely to stimulate interest among not only language assessment scholars but also those studying second language education and language teacher education as well as language teaching professionals themselves.