Why Assess?

Making informed decisions about learner's progress requires language teachers to gather and interpret information that shows what learners "know and can do." This section shows you how to align your purpose for assessing to methods in test design and use.

Creating an Assessment Unit

Effective assessment supports learning and teaching, rather than simply reporting that learning did or did not occur. This section discusses how you can integrate assessment with instruction by using a variety of formative measures of students' progress towards your class objectives.

What am I Assessing?

Deciding what you want your students to know and do is an essential step in aligning language assessment to standards and instruction. This section shows you how to use the ACTFL K-12 Performance Guidelines for Learners that describe proficiency in classroom contexts and the four skills model, which is also widely used.

The Modes of Communication

The Interpersonal, Interpretive, and Presentational modes of communication described in the National Standards* and the ACTFL Performance Guidelines for K-12 Learners present innovative ways to look at assessment.  
             *Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century.

Evaluation

Providing learners with descriptive feedback shows them where and how they can improve. Developing and adapting effective and efficient rubrics, checklists, and scales is an essential component of assessment.

Research & Theory

This section provides you with information on theory and research related to types of language assessments, considerations in test construction, test-taking strategies, and other issues in language assesment.

Resources

This section provides you with links to searchable, annotated bibliographies on assessment, content-based instruction, national standards, Virtual Assessment Center resources, and links to related sites.