Choosing Assessment Activities
Assessment is any way of finding out what learners know or can do; a test is one formal instrument. Questions ask you to match a purpose to an activity, so learn the categories precisely.
Purposes
- Placement: decides which class or level a learner joins.
- Diagnostic: identifies strengths and gaps to inform teaching.
- Achievement/progress: measures learning against the course content just taught.
- Proficiency: measures general ability, independent of any course.
- Formative (assessment for learning): ongoing, used to adjust teaching.
- Summative: end-of-course judgement of achievement.
Informal and formal
Informal assessment happens inside lessons: monitoring pair work, checking answers, concept-check questions (CCQs), instruction-check questions (ICQs), thumbs up/down, self- and peer-assessment, error correction in feedback. Formal assessment uses marked tests, portfolios or coursework with criteria. Continuous assessment combines work over time.
Choosing an activity
Match the activity to the aim and to the learners' age and level: a five-item CCQ set to check understanding of used to; a short quiz to check homework; a role-play with a checklist for speaking; a portfolio for writing over a term.
Traps: mixing placement with diagnostic; treating an achievement test as proficiency; assuming checking understanding mid-lesson is summative; forgetting that self- and peer-assessment are valid assessment activities; ignoring assessment criteria when the task is productive skills.
Worked example
"On day one the teacher gives a 30-minute test and uses the scores to form three groups for the term." Purpose: placement (not diagnostic - it sorts learners rather than planning teaching for them).