Abstract
The traditional approach to assessment is being reevaluated as a valid and effective language learning assessment tool because it often fails to account for the specific needs, contexts, and backgrounds of language learners. To make assessment processes more equitable, just, and inclusive, this chapter extends the traditional approach to assessment practice by introducing the equity-minded assessment model, which includes six principles for teachers to use as a framework for creating and evaluating assessments: validity, reliability, practicality, authenticity, washback and equity, and justice and inclusion. The author suggests that the model be used to design, administer, and reflect on the effectiveness of the assessment and as a critical reflective framework and not merely as a checklist of items. Thus, this model can serve to make assessments for learning and not just of learning, thereby making the assessment process equitable and inclusive.
TopConcept
Educators have different opinions on the type, timing, content, language, and authorship of assessment and feedback (Spolsky, 2017). A critical orientation to assessment incorporates several elements that focus on theory in action, or what Freire (1984) would call praxis. Praxis is defined as a “reflection and action upon the world in order to transform it” (Freire, 1972, p. 52). According to Freire (1972), oppressed people can use praxis to critically reflect on their status, condition, and position, and to take actions to interrogate a system of power. Therefore, using practices such as praxis would be crucial to taking transformative actions. However, according to Barros (2011), traditional assessments have not been successful in “breaking down restrictions in the ways knowledge is constructed precisely because their applications are counterintuitive to the process of education as a continuum” (p. 83). Traditionally, assessments, especially large-scale assessments, have been used to maintain the status quo and serve the interests of the privileged by maintaining the uniformity of their content, procedures, and analysis. Similarly, Shohamy (2017) contended that a social perspective of language assessments views them as a “means for maintaining hierarchies and normalizing judgement” (p. 444). Moreover, traditional English language assessments have imposed a hegemonic version of English by privileging students who use the preferred version and thereby disadvantage those who do not come from the dominant linguistic background or are not multilingual (Gross & Crawford, 2021; May, 2017).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Washback: The extent to which an assessment influences teaching and learning and determines whether the impact is positive or negative.
Critical Reflection: The process of evaluating, reviewing, and analyzing one’s practice and ideas that often challenges the current practice by asking probing questions.
Practicality: The extent to which an assessment is within budgetary and resource limits.
Validity: The extent to which an assessment measures what it intends to measure and assess.
Authenticity: The extent to which an assessment’s content and format are relevant to all stakeholders’ real-world practice.
Reliability: The extent to which an assessment is dependable and consistent.
Equity in Assessment: A process of assessment that is inclusive of diverse perspectives, linguistic varieties, and appropriate accommodations that lead to fairness and positive washback.
Assessment: An ongoing process, protocol, and measurement that has the goal of gathering evidence on students’ learning, achievement, and performance.
Evaluation: The process of reflecting on the results of assessment to make important decisions using the results.