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Instruction, outcomes,
and assessment
The relationships
among purpose, information, interpretation, and decision making
are easy to imagine. Our reasons for evaluating students' learning
will determine the kind of information we seek, how we collect it,
how we interpret it, and how we use it. In this "Why assess?"
section, we focus on purpose. The remaining components are treated
in other sections.
In most classroom assessment, tests and other forms of evaluation
are linked to instruction. Instruction and assessment, if they are
to be well matched, should both be included in the planning process.
The needs
of learners are also important in planning for instruction and assessment.
Cohen
(1994) writes that language assessment promotes "meaningful
involvement of students with material that is central to the teaching
objectives of a given course. For this meaningful involvement to
take place, the goals of the assessment tasks need to reflect the
goals of the course, and these goals need to be made clear to the
students (p. 13)."
If all goes well,
instruction results in observable outcomes in learners, and assessment
provides the means to measure how well goals have been met. The results
of various forms of assessment usually comprise the bulk of what is reported
to students, parents, and administrators about student achievement.
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