Alternatives in Language

Assessment by: James D. Brown and Thom Hudson

List of positive characteristics for alternative assessments:Brown and Hudson (1998)

• Require students to perform, create, produce, or do something

• Use real-world contexts or simulations

• Are nonintrusive in that they extend the day-to-day classroom activities

• Allow students to be assessed on what they normally do in class every day

• Use tasks that represent meaningful instructional activities

• Focus on processes as well as products

• Tap into higher level thinking and problem-solving skills

• Provide information about both the strengths and weaknesses of students

• Are multiculturally sensitive when properly administered

• Ensure that people, not machines, do the scoring, using human judgment

• Encourage open disclosure of standard and rating criteria

• Call upon teachers to perform new instructional an assessment roles

Brown and Hudson, 1998, state “the designers and users of alternative assessments must make every effort to structure the ways they design, pilot, analyze and revise the procedure so the

reliability and validity of the procedures can be studied, demonstrated and improved.” (p. 656)

Peoples’ lives are often influenced by the results of the assessments they are given.

Attitudes, beliefs, and values - often held unconsciously - may be reflected in the

judgments of raters.

True/False,Matching,

Multiple Choice

Selected Response

Fill-In,Short Answer,Performance

Constructed ResponseConference,Portfolios,

Self or Peer Assessment

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Selected-Response Assessment(True/False, Matching, and Multiple Choice)

A. Students choose correct answer from a limited set of

options.

B.Best used to measure listening an reading skills

C. Quick to administer

D. Scoring is quick, easy and relatively objective

A. Difficult to construct

B. Students do not use any productive language

True False AssessmentA. Advantages

a. Focus on students’ abilities to select from two alternatives

b. Simple and direct indication if a particular point is understood

B. Disadvantages

a. Writers may write tricky answer choices

b. High guessing factor

c. Emphasis on details and unimportant facts

d. Difficult for listening and reading passages

Matching AssessmentA. Advantages

a. Low guessing factor

b. Takes up little space

B. Disadvantage

a. Restrictive in measuring ability

Multiple Choice AssessmentA. Advantages

a. Low guessing factor

b. Measures wide variety of learning points

c. Can provide useful information about student’s ability

B.Disadvantage

a. Real life language is not multiple choice

Constructed-Response AssessmentFill-In, Short- Answer, and Performance

A. Measures productive skills of speaking and writing

B. Can observe interactions of receptive and productive

skills

C. Relatively objective

D. Low guessing (bluffing) factor

A. Create problems for subjectivity

B. Scoring is time consuming

Fill-In AssessmentA. Advantages

a. Easy to make and administer

b. Measures ability to produce small amount of language

c. Possibility of assessing interaction between receptive and productive skills

B. Disadvantages

a. Narrow focus

b. Blank may have multiple possibilities

Short Answer AssessmentA. Advantage

a. Easy to make and administer

B. Disadvantages

a. Assesses only a few phrases or sentences

b. Multiple answers are possible

PerformanceA. Advantages

a. Comes close to getting authentic communication

b. Measures students’ abilities to respond to real-life language tasks

c. Counteracts negative washback effects in standardized testing , like bias

B. Disadvantages

a. Difficult to make and time-consuming to administer

b.Various costs are involved

c. Reliability, validity, and test security may be problematic

Personal-Response AssessmentConferences, Portfolios, Self and Peer

A. Produces language

B. Provides:

a. individualized assessment,

b. ongoing assessment

c. rich forms of feedback

A. Difficult to produce and organize

B. Scoring is subjective

ConferencesA. Advantages

a. Foster students reflection of

their own learning process

b. Develop better self-image

c. Elicit answers

d. Gather information

B. Disadvantages

a. Time consuming

b. Subjective to grade

c. Typically not scored

PortfoliosA. Advantages

a. Strengthen students’

learning

b. Enhance teacher role

c. Improve testing

processes

B. Disadvantages

a. Variety in design can be

difficult to assess

b. Issues with logistics

c. Subject to interpretation

d. Limited reliability

e. Questionable validity

Self and Peer AssessmentsA. Advantages

a. Quickly administered

b. Students are directly involved in assessment

c. Help students understanding of the language process

d. Increase motivation to learn

B. Disadvantages

a. Students’ self-estimates are not always accurate

b. May be affected by subjective errors

Personal-Response Assessment (continued)

WashbackA. Positive Consequence

Assessment corresponds to course goals and

objectives.

B. Negative Consequence

Assessment does not correspond to course goals

and objectives.

FeedbackA. Important in diagnostic and achievement testing

B. Essential part of learning process

“The assessment procedures used within a particular language program must be directly related to the curriculum if that feedback is to be maximally useful.” (Brown and Hudson, 1998, p.669 )

1. Using multiple sources of information

in designing and selecting assessments is a key

factor in interpreting assessment. (p. 671)

2. Assessments based on multiple observations are

generally more reliable than assessments based on

few observations. (p. 671)

Brown and Hudson (1998) , make two statements about assessments that most teachers should already know: