Classroom-Based Assessment in TEFL


What are the aims of this course?


Assessment is an important part of every teacher's job:

  • performing needs/deficiency analyses of new students
  • making regular classroom comprehension tests
  • assessing students' reading, writing listening and speaking abilities
  • making mid-term and final proficiency tests
  • assigning grades to students

This vital part of teaching is, however, often overlooked, and many teachers are uninformed about the basic principles of TEFL evaluation.

Assessment is a major aspect of English language learning in Korea:

  • English classes in Korea are test-driven.
  • Teachers teach to the test.  
  • Every middle/high school student studies English for the 수능 test.
  • Many students study TOEIC, TOEFL or TEPS for intrinsic reasons.
  • Very few students who learn English for the love of the language.
  • Yet English textbooks contain NO assessment.
  • English teachers must design and perform ALL the classroom assessment, without help from the textbooks.
  • How can they do this realistically, reliably, and validly?

Assessment in the English language class is different from other subjects, since language has a large performance aspect, and being able to USE the language in real situations (performance) is different from smply having a knowledge of the languistic components. When we evaluate students' language-learning achievements, therefore we need to ask ourselves some questions:

  • What do I want to assess?
    • Do I want to assess comprehension of the syllabus goals?
    • Do I want to assess knowledge of grammar?
    • Do I want to assess sentence construction?
    • Do I want to assess abilities in the four skills?
    • Do I want to assess improvement over the semester?
    • Do I want to assess students' ability to pass the 수능 test?
  • How should the assessment be carried out?
    • Multiple choice questions?
    • Discrete sentence questions?
    • "Authentic text" questions?
    • "One-shot" exams?
    • Continuous assessment?

     

The Course

This course is a practical one. Not only will theory be investigated through the textbook, Integrating EFL Teaching and Assessment in Korea (CBAK), but there will be practical activities (and assignments), through which course members will try out the ideas and talk about the results.

There will be many things to do in this course, and many things to talk about. However, education is aimed at students, who are the most important people in this course and in every course. There will therefore be a continuous focus on learner-training, self-assessment, goal-setting, reflection and evaluation.This course is for you, and you will therefore be helping to make it and evaluate it!

Most recently revised on February 14, 2005