ROLE AND PURPOSES OF

ASSESSMENT IN
TEACHING AND LEARNING

TOPIC 2

2.0

SYNOPSIS

Topic 2 provides you an insight on the reasons/purposes of assessment. It also

looks at the different types of assessments and the classifications of tests according
to their purpose.

2.1

LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you will be able to:

2.2

1.

explain the reasons/purposes of assessment;

2.

distinguish the differences between assessment of learning and

assessment for learning;

3.

name and differentiate the different test types.

FRAMEWORK OF TOPICS

Role and Purposes of

Assessment in
Teaching and Learning

Reasons / Purposes of
Assessment

Assessment of
Learning / Assessment
for Learning

Types of Tests:
Proficiency,
Achievement,
Diagnostic, Aptitude,
and Placement Tests

CONTENT
SESSION TWO (3 hours)
2.3

Reasons/Purpose of Assessment
Critical to educators is the use of assessment to both inform and guide

instruction. Using a wide variety of assessment tools allows a teacher to determine

which instructional strategies are effective and which need to be modified. In this
way, assessment can be used to improve classroom practice, plan curriculum, and
research one's own teaching practice. Of course, assessment will always be used to
provide information to children, parents, and administrators. In the past, this
information was primarily expressed by a "grade". Increasingly, this information is
being seen as a vehicle to empower students to be self-reflective learners who
monitor and evaluate their own progress as they develop the capacity to be selfdirected learners. In addition to informing instruction and developing learners with the
ability to guide their own instruction, assessment data can be used by a school
district to measure student achievement, examine the opportunity for children to
learn, and provide the basis for the evaluation of the district's language programmes.
Assessment instruments, whether formal tests or informal assessments, serve
multiple purposes. Commercially designed and administered tests may be used for
measuring proficiency, placing students into one of several levels of course, or
diagnosing students strengths and weaknesses according to specific linguistic
categories, among other purposes. Classroom-based teacher-made tests might be
used to diagnose difficulty or measure achievement in a given unit of a course.
Specifying the purpose of an assessment instrument and stating its objectives are an
essential first step in choosing, designing, revising, or adapting the procedure an
educator will finally use.
We need to rethink the role of assessment in effective schools, where
effective means maximising learning for the most students. What uses of
assessment are most likely to maximise student learning and well being? How best
can we use assessment in the service of student learning and wellbeing?
We have a traditional answer to these questions. Our traditional answer says that to
maximise student learning we need to develop rigorous standardised tests given

once a year to all students at approximately the same time. Then, the results are
used for accountability, identifying schools for additional assistance, and certifying the
extent to which individual students are meeting competency.

Let us take a closer look at the two assessments below i.e. Assessment of
Learning and Assessment for Learning.

2.4

Assessment of Learning
Assessment of learning is the use of a task or an activity to measure, record,

and report on a students level of achievement in regards to specific learning

expectations.
This traditional way of using assessment in the service of student learning is
assessment of learning - assessments that take place at a point in time for the
purpose of summarising the current status of student achievement. This type of
assessment is also known as summative assessment.
This summative assessment, the logic goes, will provide the focus to improve
student achievement, give everyone the information they need to improve student
achievement, and apply the pressure needed to motivate teachers to work harder to
teach and learn.

2.5

Assessment for leaning

Now compare this to assessment for learning. Assessment for learning is

roughly equivalent ( the same) to formative assessment - assessment intended to

promote further improvement of student learning during the learning process.
Assessment for learning is more commonly known as formative and diagnostic
assessments. Assessment for learning is the use of a task or an activity for the
purpose of determining student progress during a unit or block of instruction.
Teachers are now afforded the chance to adjust classroom instruction based upon
the needs of the students. Similarly, students are provided valuable feedback on
their own learning.

Formative assessment is not a new idea to us as educators. However, during

the past several years there has been literally an explosion of applications linked to
sound research.In this evolving conception, formative assessment is more than
testing frequently, although frequent information is important. Formative assessment
also involves actually adjusting teaching to take account of these frequent
assessment results. Nonetheless( however), formative assessment is even more
than using information to plan next steps. Formative assessment seems to be most
effective when students are involved in their own assessment and goal setting.

2.6

Types of tests
The most common use of language tests is to identify strengths and

weaknesses in students abilities. For example, through testing we can discover that
a student has excellent oral abilities but a relatively low level of
reading comprehension. Information gleaned from tests also assists us in deciding
who should be allowed to participate in a particular course or programme area.
Another common use of tests is to provide information about the effectiveness of
programmes of instruction.
Henning (1987) identifies six kinds of information that tests provide about students.
They are:
o Diagnosis and feedback
o Screening and selection
o Placement
o Program evaluation
o Providing research criteria
o Assessment of attitudes and socio-psychological differences
Alderson, Clapham and Wall (1995) have a different classification scheme.
They sort tests into these broad categories: proficiency, achievement, diagnostic,
progress, andplacement. Brown (2010), however, categorised tests according to
their purpose, namely achievement tests, diagnostic tests, placement tests,
proficiency test, and aptitude tests.

Proficiency Tests
Proficiency tests are not based on a particular curriculum or language
programme. They are designed to assess the overall language ability of students at
varying levels. They may also tell us how capable a
person is in a particular language skill area.Their purpose is to describe what
students are capable of doing in a language.
Proficiency tests are usually developed by external bodies such as
examination boards like Educational Testing Services (ETS) or Cambridge ESOL.
Some proficiency tests have been standardised for international use,
such as the American TOEFL test which is used to measure the English language
proficiency of foreign college students who wish to study in NorthAmerican universities or the British-Australian IELTS test designed for those who
wish to study in the United Kingdom or Australia (Davies et al., 1999).
Achievement Tests
Achievement tests are similar to progress tests in that their purpose is to see
what a student has learned with regard to stated course outcomes. However, they
are usually administered at mid-and end- point of the semester or academic year.
The content of achievement tests is generally based on the specific course content or
on the course objectives. Achievement tests are often cumulative, covering material
drawn from an entire course or semester.
Diagnostic Tests
Diagnostic tests seek to identify those language areas in which a student
needs further help. Harris and McCann (1994 p. 29) point out that where other
types of tests are based on success, diagnostic tests are based on failure. The
information gained from diagnostic tests is crucial for further course activities and
providing students with remediation. Because diagnostic tests are difficult to write,
placement tests often serve a dual function of both placement and diagnosis (Harris

& McCann, 1994; Davies et al., 1999).

Aptitude Tests
This type of test no longer enjoys the widespread use it once had. An aptitude
test is designed to measure general ability or capacity to learn a foreign language a
priori (before taking a course) and ultimate predicted success in that undertaking.
Language aptitude tests were seemingly designed to apply to the classroom learning
of any language. In the United States, two common standardised English Language
tests once used were the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT; Carroll & Sapon,
1958) and the Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery (PLAB; Pimsleur, 1966). Since
there is no research to show unequivocally that these kinds of tasks predict
communicative success in a language, apart from untutored language acquisition,
standardised aptitude tests are seldom used today with the exception of identifying
foreign language disability (Stansfield & Reed, 2004).
Progress Tests
These tests measure the progress that students are making towards defined
course or programme goals. They are administered at various stages throughout a
language course to see what the students have learned, perhaps after certain
segments of instruction have been completed. Progress tests are generally teacher
produced and are narrower in focus than achievement tests because they cover a
smaller amount of material and assess fewer objectives.
Placement Tests
These tests, on the other hand, are designed to assess students level of
language ability for placement in an appropriate course or class. This type of test
indicates the level at which a student will learn most effectively. The main aim is to
create groups, which are homogeneous in level. In designing a placement test, the
test developer may choose to base the test content either on a theory of general
language proficiency or on learning objectives of the curriculum. In the former,
institutions may choose to use a well-established proficiency test such as the TOEFL

or IELTS exam and link it to curricular benchmarks. In the latter, tests are based on
aspects of the syllabus taught at the institution concerned.
In some contexts, students are placed according to their overall rank in the
test results. At other institutions, students are placed according to their level in each
individual skill area. Elsewhere, placement test scores are used to determine if a
student needs any further instruction in the language or could matriculate directly into
an academic programme.
Discuss and present the various types of tests and assessment
tasks that students have experienced.
Discuss the extent tests or assessment tasks serve their purpose.