Assessment and Evaluation module

Teaching and learning plays a big part in the field of education as education is the process of acquisition – knowledge, skills, values and beliefs. Assessments and evaluation are utilized by stakeholders to keep track of the inputs and outputs of education on each individual learner.

Many times throughout this module, we are reminded that tests are created to gauge students’ understanding in order to provide recommendations and feedback for improvement. This made me ponder over my experiences during my schooling years as I (along with my classmates) were thoroughly convinced that our teachers set the test to fail us instead of facilitate our learning. The test definitely made us feel horrible about ourselves and the subject, although it did motivate us to study harder, not because we wanted to understand the subject, but rather, to maintain our results and self-dignity.

Knowledge about the principles of language assessment has definitely expanded my views and thoughts about assessing and being assessed. I find myself thinking critically about assessing and being assessed in this module as well as other modules.

For one, is it reliable if students are given the “choice” to do an extra assignment which is said to be able to earn them extra points? Or is that merely a clever way of phrasing homework/task to students? Not only that, in the scoring guide that was given to us later on in the module, we found out that a minimum of three pieces of reflection is expected of us. However, this task is muddy as no clear explanation were given as opposed to the first and second part of the portfolio. Short pieces could defer from person to person in terms of the word count, as well as to the depth of the content of the reflections. In this sense, there is also no consistency as there is limited guidance given to students in writing the reflections. The instruction could be narrowed to ensure students’ understanding and direction in responses so as to maintain reliability.

Another thought that pops into mind is that students can be assessed in groups on their knowledge of assessment and evaluation through designing of assessment. As this might be our only exposure on assessing and evaluating students, we could be given the task to actually prepare items and tests for students. Discussions and feedback will also help us as we encounter more problems and confusions about how to go about creating test items, regardless of whether it is formative or summative assessment. 

All in all, I have thoroughly enjoyed learning about assessment and evaluation as this is an important aspect in the teaching and learning process. It has been deeply instilled in me about the objectives of a test, the underlying principles of assessment, alternative in assessment as well as expanded my knowledge about formative assessment. I had plenty of deep thoughts and reflections on my past experience of learning and how I would like my lessons to be in the future.