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Assessment in the educational context is a learning (and communication) activity that always entails gathering information from the group of learners in order to evaluate it with the aim of justifying a decision about the teaching and learning process and its results. This classic definition by Cronbach (1963) encompasses all kinds of assessment, be it formative assessment, dynamic assessment, performance assessment, achievement assessment, summative assessment, etc. The differences between them are related to the type of information gathered and evaluated, the agents taking part in the assessment (teachers, students), the tools used, the moment when the assessment is performed, its function, and, therefore, the type of decision which is made as a result. In any case, there have been so many adjectives added to the term assessment are so many that, instead of making things clear, they often create confusion (Alcaraz 2015).

It is important to bear in mind that the concept of assessment varies depending on the learning theory followed. Generally, target-based assessment is related to a behaviorist tradition of learning, while process-based assessment, in which continuous feedback guides and supports the student throughout their learning, is based on a socio-constructivist conception of education.

Assessment as communication (Weiss 1991) conceives this educative action as just a learning activity with which language teachers and students share, contrast, negotiate and make explicit the criteria and indicators of achievement pursued in a particular task; to achieve that communication, the criteria for assessment are elicited throughout the learning process. This framework, therefore, entails that the aim of assessment is to learn (Stobart 2008), hence assessment is also conceived as a communicative activity, that is, as a dialogue.

 

References

  • Alcaraz, Noelia (2015). Aproximación histórica a la evaluación educativa: de la generación de la medición a la generación ecléctica. Revista Ibeoramericana de Evaluación Educativa, 8(1), 11-25.
  • Cronbach, Lee J. (1963). Course improvement through evaluation. Teachers College Record, 64, 672-683.
  • Figueras Casanovas, Neus y Puig Soler, Fuensanta (2013). Pautas para la evaluación del español como lengua extranjera. Madrid: Edinumen.
  • Grupo EVA (1991): Évaluer les écrits à l'école primaire: des fiches pour faire la classe. París: Hachette.
  • Stobart, Gordon (2008). Testing Times: The Uses and Abuses of Assessment. Abingdon: Routledge.
  • Weiss, Jacques (Ed.) (1991). L'évaluation: Problème de communication. Cousset (Suiza): DelVal.