Monitoring Progress in the Classroom

The chapter proceeds from the perspective that assessment can best support teaching and learning when these two activities are aligned. It is concerned with assessments undertaken for formative (assessment for learning) rather than summative (assessment of learning) purposes and reflects a commitment to understanding learner abilities while they are in the process of developing. Feedback is seen as an important dimension that helps to adjust classroom instruction according to varying learner abilities. Situated broadly within a learner-centered approach to language teaching, various models are presented that focus on ongoing, formal and informal, planned and unanticipated outcomes in which all the three agents (teacher, learner, and peer) are accorded equal status. Dynamic assessment is also discussed, which maintains that to fully capture the range of an individual's capabilities it is necessary to examine both the products of past development (i.e., abilities that are fully formed) as well as abilities that are currently in the process of their formation. Issues and challenges, conceptual and implementation-related, that this kind of assessment gives rise to are discussed in the last section. One issue involves establishing effective practices in contexts traditionally dominated by summative tests and a high stakes testing culture. The need for training teachers and learners in formative assessment as well as making space and time available in their everyday teaching and learning is also recognized. Further, it suggests that reforms would have to address all three components—teaching, learning and assessment—simultaneously, as piecemeal approaches are not likely to be effective.