As Brown clearly stated in the first chapter of his book Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices (2000), tests are only a tool to assess students' performance, but they do not represent the only form of assessment that a teacher can make. A couple of weeks ago I decided I would try something different in my class. I came up with an idea to evaluate the topic concerning daily routines. I opted for designing a test (yeah, I know, not very creative...), but I chose to give it a little twist by adding some questions my students would have to answer by watching a short and simple video. In my mind it was such a good idea, but I started questioning if my choice would cause more harm than good after some of my students showed confused when answering the questions I had prepared.
Did I fail? Did I succeed? Well, it was my first attempt, and as most first times, it did not result in a complete triumph.
According to Brown (2000), "A well-constructed test is an instrument that provides an accurate measure of the test-taker's ability within a particular domain". He also makes reference to the complexity of creating a good test, which he believes involves both science and art. I think many of my classmates would agree with the fact that being creative does not always come easily to some of us. As being artistic is considered a gift, some people actually have to invest a greater ammount of time and effort to cope up with the demands and challenges that being an amazing teacher brings.
Several questions arise as we go deeper into the topic of assessment: What is the best way to assess my students' performance? How can I avoid psychologically scaring low performing students? However, the main query that pops out in my mind is how to succeed at implementing different tools when assessing a topic? For now this questions remain without an answer. Hopefully, time and experience will show me the answers I need.
