I. Classroom Assessment Strategies by Ormrod, J. E.
Chapter 14
Definition and Forms of Assessment
Assessment: The process of observing a sample of a student's behavior a
nd drawing inferences about their knowledge and abilities.
Informal Assessment: Results from a teacher's spontaneous, day-to-d
ay observations of how students perform.
Formal Assessment: A preplanned, systematic attempt to determine w
hat students know and can do.
Paper-Pencil Assessment: Students provide written responses to writt
en items.
Performance Assessment: Students demonstrate their knowledge and
skills in a non-written fashion (i.e., perform).
Traditional Assessment: Measures knowledge and skills in isolation fr
om real-world tasks.
Authentic Assessment: Measures knowledge and skills in a real-life (a
uthentic) context or ability to apply learning to real-world tasks.
Standardized Test: Developed by experts for use in many schools.
Teacher-Developed Assessment: Developed by teachers for their own
classrooms.
Criterion-Referenced Assessment: Designed to determine what studen
ts know and can do relative to predetermined standards or criteria; in
dicates mastery or nonmastery of specific topics.
Norm-Referenced Assessment: Compares a student's performance to t
hat of a peer group.
Evaluation and Assessment Purposes
Formative Evaluation: Evaluation conducted before or during instruc
tion to facilitate instructional planning and enhance students' learning.
Summative Evaluation: Evaluation conducted after instruction to mak
e final determinations about what students have achieved and assess fina
l achievement.
Assessment can be used for five main purposes:
1. Guiding Instructional Decision Making: Both formative and summativ
e evaluations help determine what to teach and how to teach it.
2. Diagnosing Learning and Performance Problems: Assessments (espe
cially norm-referenced standardized tests and teacher-developed assessm
ents revealing error patterns) help identify unique academic and personal
needs.
3. Determining What Students Have Learned from Instruction: Formal
assessments are typically used to see if students have achieved instructio
nal goals or met standards, and for assigning final grades.
4. Evaluating the Quality of Instruction: Low assessment results should
prompt teachers to reflect on and modify instructional strategies.
5. Promoting Learning: Assessments can motivate students to study, influe
nce their cognitive processes (e.g., rote vs. meaningful learning), serve as
learning experiences, provide valuable feedback, and encourage intrinsic
motivation/self-regulation if students are actively involved.
Important Qualities of Good Assessment (RSVP)
Good classroom assessment instruments possess four key characteristics:
1. Reliability: The extent to which an assessment yields consistent infor
mation about the knowledge, skills, or characteristics being assessed.
2. Standardization: The extent to which an assessment involves similar co
ntent and format and is administered and scored in the same way fo
r everyone.
3. Validity: The extent to which an assessment instrument or procedure me
asures what it's intended to measure and enables appropriate inferen
ces about the characteristic or ability in question.
o Content Validity: Extent to which the assessment tasks represent a
representative sample of the contentbeing measured.
o Predictive Validity: Extent to which the assessment results accurat
ely predict future performance in a particular domain.
o Construct Validity: Extent to which an assessment accurately mea
sures an abstract, unobservable characteristic (e.g., motivation,
self-efficacy).
4. Practicality: The extent to which an assessment instrument or procedure
is easy and inexpensive to use.
Relationship between Qualities: Reliability and standardization are nec
essary conditions for validity.
II. Formative Assessment: Opportunities and Challenges by Liqiu Wei (2
010)
1. Definition and Characteristics
Formative Assessment (FA) is described as assessment for learning—a process
integrated within teaching that provides feedback to improve learning rather t
han to grade it.
Key characteristics:
Multi-assessors: Includes teacher, peer, and self-assessment.
Multiple strategies: Combines formal and informal, testing and non-test
ing tools (e.g., observation, portfolios, interviews).
Comprehensive content: Covers both cognitive and affective aspects—k
nowledge, attitudes, and motivation.
Developmental and personalised: Focuses on learner progress, respect
s differences, and promotes growth rather than comparison.
2. Implementation in College English Classrooms
The author conducted action research integrating FA into English courses in
Western China, combining formative and summative assessments equally.
Findings:
Enhanced self-evaluation: Students became more aware of their learnin
g strengths, weaknesses, and goals.
Motivation and confidence: FA strengthened intrinsic motivation and se
lf-esteem, particularly among low achievers.
Improved learning strategies: Students adopted more diverse cognitive
and meta-cognitive strategies.
Increased autonomy: Learners took greater responsibility for independe
nt learning beyond the classroom.
Achievement gains: FA improved English performance, especially in clas
ses led by experienced teachers.
3. Recommendations and Prospects
While FA shows clear benefits, challenges such as time demands, labour int
ensity, and low reliability remain. Wei proposes several strategies:
1. Collaborative effort: Encourage teamwork among teachers and use self/
peer evaluation to reduce workload.
2. Teacher training: Provide professional development in FA design and im
plementation.
3. Student involvement: Engage learners in setting success criteria and ev
aluating outcomes.
4. Balanced grading: Ensure every assessed activity contributes meaningf
ully to final results, but avoid overemphasis on marks.
5. Constructive feedback: Offer regular, specific, and encouraging feedbac
k to guide learners toward goals.
6. Promote self-assessment: Encourage reflection to deepen learning and
foster lifelong learning habits.
III. Formative vs. Summative Assessment: Impacts on Academic Motivat
ion, Attitude Toward Learning, Test Anxiety, and Self-Regulation Skill b
y Ismail, S. M., Rahul, D. R., Patra, I., & Rezvani, E. (2022).
1. Introduction and Background
The study explores how formative and summative assessments affect acad
emic motivation, attitudes toward learning, test anxiety, and self-regulation skil
ls among Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners.
Assessment is viewed as an essential part of instruction that enables both teac
hers and students to adjust learning strategies through feedback (Popham, 200
8; Heritage, 2012).
Key conceptual points:
Formative assessment: continuous feedback to improve learning.
Summative assessment: periodic testing to measure learning outcomes.
The study aligns with sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978), emphasisi
ng learning through interaction and feedback.
2. Literature Review
Researchers differentiate assessment types:
Summative Assessment measures attainment at the end of instruction, t
ypically through grades or certification (Cizek, 2010; Brown, 2003).
Formative Assessment provides ongoing feedback during learning, helpi
ng teachers and students identify strengths and weaknesses (Wiliam, 201
1).
Previous studies show that formative practices enhance engagement, motivatio
n, and achievement (Alahmadi et al., 2019; Ozan & Kıncal, 2018).
3. Methodology
Participants: 72 male Iranian EFL learners (average age = 21) from Pars
ian English Institute, divided into:
o Formative group
o Summative group
o Control group
Design: Pre-test–post-test experimental design over 23 sessions.
Instruments:
o Preliminary English Test (PET) for proficiency.
o Science Anxiety Scale (Britner & Pajares, 2006).
o Self-Regulatory Strategies Scale (Kadıoğlu et al., 2011).
o Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (Gardner, 2004).
o Researcher-developed attitude questionnaire.
Procedures:
o Formative group received continuous peer/self-assessment and des
criptive feedback (no final exams).
o Summative group had mid-term and final exams with limited feedb
ack.
o Control group had traditional instruction without structured assess
ment.
4. Results
After 15 instructional sessions:
Test anxiety: Decreased most in the formative group.
Self-regulation: Improved significantly in both experimental groups, hig
hest in the formative group.
Academic motivation: Increased notably under formative assessment.
Attitudes: Learners held positive views of both assessment types, but fo
rmative assessment received stronger support.
Statistical analyses (ANOVA, Bonferroni tests) confirmed significant post-test d
ifferences favouring the formative approach.
5. Discussion
Formative assessment proved superior to summative in improving mot
ivation, reducing anxiety, and fostering self-regulated learning.
Its strength lies in timely, action-oriented feedback and promoting lear
ner autonomy.
Formative assessment helps teachers monitor progress, tailor instruction,
and address issues before final exams, thus reducing stress and enhancin
g performance.
The findings are consistent with Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & D
eci, 2000), linking autonomy and motivation with effective feedback.
6. Conclusion and Implications
Formative assessment is an essential pedagogical tool in EFL contexts,
more effective than summative methods in developing:
o Motivation
o Self-regulation
o Positive learning attitudes
o Lower test anxiety
Teachers should integrate formative assessment regularly to guide instruc
tion and give constructive feedback.
Future research is encouraged with larger, gender-diverse samples and
mixed (quantitative-qualitative) approaches.
III Classroom Assessment Strategies by Chapter 14
Definition and Forms of Assessment
Assessment: The process of observing a sample of a student's behavior a
nd drawing inferences about their knowledge and abilities.
Informal Assessment: Results from a teacher's spontaneous, day-to-d
ay observations of how students perform.
Formal Assessment: A preplanned, systematic attempt to determine w
hat students know and can do.
Paper-Pencil Assessment: Students provide written responses to writt
en items.
Performance Assessment: Students demonstrate their knowledge and
skills in a non-written fashion (i.e., perform).
Traditional Assessment: Measures knowledge and skills in isolation fr
om real-world tasks.
Authentic Assessment: Measures knowledge and skills in a real-life (a
uthentic) context or ability to apply learning to real-world tasks.
Standardized Test: Developed by experts for use in many schools.
Teacher-Developed Assessment: Developed by teachers for their own
classrooms.
Criterion-Referenced Assessment: Designed to determine what studen
ts know and can do relative to predetermined standards or criteria; in
dicates mastery or nonmastery of specific topics.
Norm-Referenced Assessment: Compares a student's performance to t
hat of a peer group.
Evaluation and Assessment Purposes
Formative Evaluation: Evaluation conducted before or during instruc
tion to facilitate instructional planning and enhance students' learning.
Summative Evaluation: Evaluation conducted after instruction to mak
e final determinations about what students have achieved and assess fina
l achievement.
Assessment can be used for five main purposes:
6. Guiding Instructional Decision Making: Both formative and summativ
e evaluations help determine what to teach and how to teach it.
7. Diagnosing Learning and Performance Problems: Assessments (espe
cially norm-referenced standardized tests and teacher-developed assessm
ents revealing error patterns) help identify unique academic and personal
needs.
8. Determining What Students Have Learned from Instruction: Formal
assessments are typically used to see if students have achieved instructio
nal goals or met standards, and for assigning final grades.
9. Evaluating the Quality of Instruction: Low assessment results should
prompt teachers to reflect on and modify instructional strategies.
10. Promoting Learning: Assessments can motivate students to study, i
nfluence their cognitive processes (e.g., rote vs. meaningful learning), ser
ve as learning experiences, provide valuable feedback, and encourage intr
insic motivation/self-regulation if students are actively involved.
Important Qualities of Good Assessment (RSVP)
Good classroom assessment instruments possess four key characteristics:
5. Reliability: The extent to which an assessment yields consistent infor
mation about the knowledge, skills, or characteristics being assessed.
6. Standardization: The extent to which an assessment involves similar co
ntent and format and is administered and scored in the same way fo
r everyone.
7. Validity: The extent to which an assessment instrument or procedure me
asures what it's intended to measure and enables appropriate inferen
ces about the characteristic or ability in question.
o Content Validity: Extent to which the assessment tasks represent a
representative sample of the contentbeing measured.
o Predictive Validity: Extent to which the assessment results accurat
ely predict future performance in a particular domain.
o Construct Validity: Extent to which an assessment accurately mea
sures an abstract, unobservable characteristic (e.g., motivation,
self-efficacy).
8. Practicality: The extent to which an assessment instrument or procedure
is easy and inexpensive to use.
Relationship between Qualities: Reliability and standardization are nec
essary conditions for validity.