Bilingual Jobs Agency

With education technology advancing at what sometimes seems to be an alarming rate, its application to the English language learning classroom seems almost imminent. What is even more intriguing is our learners’ ready acceptance of and adaptation to the incorporation of new technologies into their everyday lives.

In Summative evaluation such as achievement tests and final exams, a grade or score is received at the end of a program or course and / or aims to assign grades to certify the student’s global level of knowledge on the topics taught.

Knowledge for Good Performance

Testing occurs in one of two format types, some examples of knowledge tests can include:

• Proficiency tests

• Norm-referenced tests

• Discrete-point tests

• Language sub-skills tests

Some examples of performance tests can include:

• Achievement tests

• Criterion-referenced tests

• Communication skills tests

• Integrative tests

• Receptive tests

So the question becomes then, “Which type of test is best for formal and summative evaluations designed to assess language learning and ability or language level?” In my opinion, this should be done using language performance assessments. In part 2 of this article we’ll examine some reasons why.