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Assessment Literacy: Building a Base for Better Teaching and Learning. V52, Nr.3

The assessment is the way of ealuating a student, the !rocess of testing

their assimilated "nowledge. Assessmentt usually means to hand out to students

a !re!ared test or #ui$. %t doesn&t matter if the test 'elongs to the te(t'oo" or

teacher, !roduced 'y our institution or a ma)or testing organi$ation. Teachers

should 'e assessment literate, if they want the assessment to 'e effectie. The

o')ecties of the article: the way how to 'e assessment literate, terms whichma"e u! the cornerstones of testing, how to !lan our courses with assessment in

mind, how to ma"e a test 'lue!rint. *ther techni#ues used for ealuating

students:!erformance tas"s, !ortofolios, o'seration.Both terms+testing+and

assessment+ are a!lied in measurement students learning. The term

assessment+is more com!rehensie. %n com!arison with tests which gie only

grades to students,+assessments+ assess 'oth teachers and students. Besides that,

the assessment is intended to im!roe student&s learning, to motiate them and

ma"e them learn. -urthermore assessment affects decisions related toinstruction, determines the e(tent to which instructional o')ecties are met and

!roides information for administrating decisions. oreoer it is #uite im!ortant

to connect students assessment to the learning and teaching !rocess. Teachers

should com'ine items of the test to o')ecties. After using the test, teacher can

see the student&s feed'ac" and how was the o')ecties made. After outcome the

teacher ma"es a conclusion , if he shoud use tools for his im!roement and

student&s learning also. /e can distinguish 0 "ey conce!ts:usefulness, rea'ility,

alidity, !racticality,wash'ac", authenticity, trans!arency. These elements areconsidered the 'asis in hel!ing a test to 'e well made, thus these conce!ts are

a'le to im!roe !ractices, deelo! assessment literacy. A test should contain the

!ur!ose, the grou! and the s!ecific language. 1(am!les of tests:

T*1-L,%1LT,1T. 1ach of these tests has a s!ecific !ur!ose. T*1-Lusing

and understanding 1nglish at the 4niersity and how test ta"ers com'ine

listening, reading, s!ea"ing and writing.%1LT has an academic ersionstuding

1nglish in a 4niersity6 and general training ersions"ills in 'road social

conte(t6, 1T 7for students and adults. The assessments should also 'erealia'le. %f the teacher gies to the students the same test twice, the results will

'e the same. The test can 'e relia'le 'ut not alid. %t is im!ortant of the alidity

is the a!!ro!riateness for the conte(t and the audience of the test. -actors which

hae effect on alidity: unclear #uestion, test items that as" students to !erform

at a s"ill leel that is not !art of the course o')ecties, test items that are !oorly

written, test length that doesn&t allow for ade#uate sam!ling or coerage of

content, com!le(ity and su')ectiity of scoring that may inaccurately ran" some

students. -or enssuring alidity and rea'ility is to create e(am 'lue!rints.

8racticality issues consist of cost of test deelo!ment and maintenance, time

needed to administer and mar" the test, ase of mar"ing, aaila'ility of suita'ly

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trained mar"ers, and administration logistics. The teacher can allow students to

e(change their oca'ulary #ui$ and mar" them. %t is more !ractical for students

to see other&s wor". /ash'ac" contains the effects of testing on students,

teachers and the !rogram. /e distinguish !ositie and negatie /ash'ac".

8ositie is than when testing is 'ased on clear course, which "now all the

students and teachers. 1(ams which re#uire e(tensie !re!aration is negatie.

To 'e wash'ac" !ositie the teacher should assure that the test is reflecting the

goals and o')ecties. Through feed'ac" we also can 'ring a !ositie wash'ac".

/ith the hel! of short #ui$$es which are graded 'y the students, they see where

they need to wor" and study more. Authenticity contain test which reflect real

world situations and in which !roide motiation for students. Trans!arency

refers to the aaila'ility of information to students. The students should

understand what are the course o')ecties are, what will 'e tested, a'out the

mar"ing and the format a'out the tests.if the format of the test is un"nowf for

the student, it could affect it&s relia'ility. Through using trans!arency it reduce

student&s an(iety and allow the to !erform further and 'etter. %n !lanning our

assesments there are some !hases, which we should ta"e into account. The first

!hase is the initial !lanning stage. /hile !lanning an e(am we should thin"

a'out assessment conte(t and the !ur!ose. The ne(t ste! is to identify student&s

needs and deelo! course learning o')ecties. The teacher formulate the o')ects

and what he wants his students to "now. %t hel!s him how to assess if the

students hae learned what the teacher wanted to learn. Blue!rint of

assessment is a good way for doing this. Blue!rint is a tool used in order to

determine what is im!ortant for a student to "now and ensure that the content'eing taught is re!resented on the test. /e 'egin to create a 'lue!rint with the

learning o')ecties, how they will 'e tested and the total e(am coering each

area. 1(am!le of a 'lue!rint is re!resented in -igure 3. which includes the

following s"ills: reading, listening, writing, grammar, then the learning

o')ecties, #uestions , items and !ercentage. -eed'ac" is a !art of assessment.

%nformation from the test hel!s teacher to !ut the final mar" of an e(am.