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Teachers often ask, "What kind of assessment should I use?" The answer depends on the information you hope to learn. Do you need to find out what your students already know or what they need to focus on in future study? In Task Based Learning and Teaching (TBLT), assessment measures should align with the intended functional outcome of the task. For example, was the transaction at the store successful? Did the learner write an appropriate email to the professor?

Summative assessments are designed to give a final snapshot of what students have learned already and what they are able to accomplish. Sample summative assessments can range from quick end-of-chapter tests to large-scale national tests. In TBLT, summative assessments can be used at the end of the primary task(s) as well as at the end of a unit or course to measure what students are able to do with language. Sample assessment types could include multimodal portfolios, simulations, written tasks, or information sharing.  Critical to this type of assessment in TBLT is determining the level at which learners are able to express meaning and complete the required task.

Formative assessments provide feedback to teachers and students so that they can work together to decide what learning activities to do next or what content to focus on. In TBLT, this often takes the form of subtasks and scaffolding leading up to the end task. Formative assessments provide important information about what students do not know. Since they assess for learning, students must feel that it's okay to admit they don't know something yet. Formative assessments are given throughout the learning process, when teachers and students can make changes to the learning activities. They typically provide qualitative information and specific details about the students' abilities. Formative assessment is a far more powerful means of helping all students attain mastery. Ongoing feedback—while the learning process is still happening—allows both students and teachers to find and fix impediments to success.

The summative or formative qualities of an assessment depend entirely on how the assessment results are used and nothing to do with the format of the assessment itself. For example, we sometimes hear multiple-choice tests described as summative and student self-assessments as formative. But if a multiple-choice test is given at the beginning of a study unit and the results are used to choose learning activities, then the assessment is formative. On the other hand, if a student self-assessment checklist is used at the end of the learning process to provide grades or credit or to give teachers or administrators information for program evaluation, then the assessment is summative. Regardless of the format, from a TBLT perspective, both should focus on the ultimate goal of functional language use and the expression of meaning. Both types of tests have their place in education, and teachers need to be clear in their own minds about the purpose of their assessments, so they can communicate more clearly with students, parents, and administrators and avoid misuse of assessment results.