What makes an assessment appropriate?

A good language proficiency test is made up of language tasks that replicate what goes on in the real world (Bachman & Palmer, 1996). Thus performance assessments, which require test takers to demonstrate their skills and knowledge in ways that closely resemble real-life situations or settings (National Research Council, 2002), are most appropriate. Performance assessments generally reflect language used in the real world better than selected-response tests (e.g., true-false or multiple choice).

Performance assessments require learners to accomplish tasks that demonstrate what they know and can do. Examples of performance assessment tasks include oral interviews, oral or written reports (e.g., how to become a citizen), projects (e.g., researching, producing, and distributing a booklet on recreational opportunities available in the community), or demonstrations (e.g., filling out forms, writing a note in response to a memo from a child's teacher). Information from a variety of performance assessments provides a more complete picture of learners' abilities than can be gathered from performance on one standardized test alone (Van Duzer, 2002).

For performance assessments to be used for accountability purposes, they need to be standardized. Programs should check with their state representatives to see what assessments can be used for accountability reporting. (See English Language Assessment Instruments for Adults Learning English, for a list of some of the performance assessments used for NRS reporting. For more detailed discussion of test appropriateness, see Kenyon & Van Duzer, 2003.)

Other Uses of Assessments

Not all assessments are used for program accountability. They also may be used to determine learners' goals and needs, to place learners in appropriate instructional levels and classes, to measure learners' progress and help them move to more advanced levels, to qualify them to enroll in academic or job training programs, and to document program effectiveness. To accomplish these purposes, programs often use a variety of different assessments, including both standardized and alternative measures.

Alternative assessments include surveys, interviews, checklists, observations, teacher-developed tests, learner self-assessment, portfolios, and performance-based tests (Van Duzer, 2002). These assessments allow program administrators and teachers to learn what adults need and want to learn (in a needs assessment) and monitor their learning from classroom-based activities (in ongoing assessment). Alternative assessments may be conducted in learners' native languages if that is reasonable. For example, surveys and interviews are often used soon after enrollment to find out about adults' and their children's language and literacy use at home and at work, what they believe they do well, and what they want to learn. These kinds of assessments also are used to place learners in classes. Portfolios, or collections of individuals' work, can include such items as book reports, notes from interviews, learners' reflections on their progress, writing samples, data from performance-based assessments, and scores on standardized tests. From program-developed performance-based tests, instructors, administrators, and learners can get information about how the learners use English to accomplish different tasks. Skills such as reading a chart or locating information on a schedule can be related to actual situations that learners might encounter. Authentic materials such as job schedules, pay stubs, and union contracts are often used to assess learner knowledge and skills in workplace programs (Holt & Van Duzer, 2000).