Language Assessment in the Classroom
Assessment is becoming increasingly important in language education. Understand it better with this course for language teachers.
Duration
4 weeksWeekly study
3 hours
Language Assessment in the Classroom
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Improve your knowledge of and skills in language assessment
In the last 15 years, assessment has had an increasingly significant impact on education policy globally. Consequently, there is a growing need among teachers to understand how assessment works.
In this course, you will learn about the principles of sound language assessment. You will develop an understanding of the ideas in developing different types of test and how they can be applied. With guidance from experienced test developers and international assessment experts, you will explore practical ways of assessing language and skills which you can use in your classroom.
What topics will you cover?
-
Principles of language assessment
Formative and summative assessment
Positive washback
Assessment and testing -
Assessing speaking
Formats, tasks and settings
Rating scales -
Assessing writing
Assessment tasks
Marking criteria
Feedback -
Assessing reading
Meaningfulness and authenticity
Developing reading tests
Scoring reading tests -
Assessing listening
Task types for listening assessment
Scoring listening tests -
Assessing grammar and vocabulary
Principles of testing grammar and vocabulary -
Test development
Assessment and course planning
Approaches to testing
The test development cycle
Evaluating the effectiveness of a test
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Identify the basic principles involved in reliable and valid test design
- Demonstrate an understanding of different types of tests and how they can be used
- Evaluate assessment needs of students within a given context
- Explain some practical techniques for assessing different language skills and knowledge
Who is the course for?
This course is aimed at language teachers in secondary or high schools around the world, and anyone interested in understanding how language assessment works.
You will need to have English language proficiency at a minimum CEFR B1 level to get most benefit from the course.
The course does not presume or require any previous knowledge of assessment issues.
Who will you learn with?
Teacher trainer with the British Council in Tokyo. Part of the Leaders of English Education Project (LEEP) team. Recently completed an MA in Language Testing with Lancaster University.
Hello. My name is Daniel and I work in the UK at UCLan. I have worked in TESOL for around 25 years and my areas of interest are language assessment, corpus linguistics and discourse.
I have an MA and a PhD from Lancaster University, specializing in language testing. I also have practical experience working as a teacher, teacher trainer, examiner, item writer, and item reviewer.
Hello! I'm Colin and I work as the Assessment Solutions Manager for the British Council. I started in language teaching and assessment since last century. I love the topic of formative assessment
Language teaching and assessment professional, currently working as a research assistant at the University of Central Lancashire. Graduated in Language Testing (MA) at Lancaster University in 2014.
Who developed the course?
British Council
The British Council builds connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and other countries through arts and culture, education and the English language.
We work on the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2019-20 we connected with 80 million people directly and with 791 million people overall, including online and through our broadcasts and publications.
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Learning on FutureLearn
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- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
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