View Content #25041

By Julie Sykes, CASLS Director

Deonte gets up from his desk and walks to the front to turn in his chapter test. He's half happy his studying probably paid off, but also bummed he didn’t get to really show what he had learned in class during the previous two weeks. They practiced lots of great interactions in schools and he really knew how to find a common time to hang out by talking about schedules with a friend. Somehow, his test just didn’t reflect all of that learning, even though he is pretty confident his grade will be high. Deonte is not alone. Chapter tests do not always reflect the complex and comprehensive learning happening in world language classrooms every day. While we don't need to abandon them, when we add other types of assessment into the mix we can add a great deal of value to the evaluation of students' learning. We highlight two possibilities below.

1. Live simulations: Give learners a series of tasks to complete at 3-4 assessment stations. Each station should reflect a function taught in class and be assessed using a rubric that examines the relevant language functions being studied. A sample is given in this week’s Activity of the Week. As can be seen, these stations can focus on interpersonal (e.g., negotiate a schedule), presentations (e.g., create a video diary of your week), and interpretive (e.g., listen to the passage and complete the task). As learners move through the simulation they engage in real-world tasks and are able to demonstrate what they know.
2. Portfolios: Have learners create a record of their learning throughout the course and then, at the end, select their best work to revise and submit for re-grading and evaluation. This can serve as an assessment of what they can do with external resources such as time, reflection, and feedback, adding to what a teacher can learn from classroom chapter tests, almost always undertaken without additional student support.

Regardless of one’s perspective, adding assessments which augment examination of students' learning is critical to a comprehensive understanding of their language abilities.