Tips for Developing Assessments

The guidelines for assessing language learning activities in CALL classrooms are no different from those for assessing them in other contexts. For example, like Ms. Hagerty, teachers should involve students in the development of assessments. Involving students not only exposes them to more language and content and provides a deeper understanding about expectations for the activity, but it also helps them to develop metacognitive awareness about assessment and to find it authentic. This book  advocates developing such awareness for all aspects of language learning, and it is equally important for assessment.

Although authentic assessments are the ideal, language students are typically involved in plenty of standardized testing, both large scale (region, state, or nationwide) and small scale (classroom or program based). To help them develop metacognitive awareness and practice cognitive strategies for learning and assessment, students can find many computerized assessment applications to a variety of testing services such as Test of English as a Foreign Language (https://www.ets.org/toefl, see ETS, 2018) and Kaplan (https://www.kaptest.com/all-tests, see Kaplan Inc., 2018). Whether using software or other materials, teachers need to follow the assessment guidelines to effectively assess student progress and push students to higher achievement.