Advantages of alternative assessment in teaching English

Open book exams. Because students can use books and notes, open book exams encourage students to learn to apply knowledge rather than memorize material. They are usually somewhat less anxiety-provoking than regular tests.

Crib Sheets. Allowing students to bring some notes provides the same advantages as an open book exam. The process of deciding what to include in the notes, putting concepts in your own words, etc., is also a good learning experience for the students. The instructor can provide appropriate parameters and guidance.

Take home exams. Take home exams allow instructors to give students problems which will take longer than a class period to manage and/or require the students to use a variety of references. However, they limit student studying to only the material related to the questions asked and instructors do not know if students received help in answering the questions.

Collaborative testing. Some instructors have students take multiple choice tests in pairs or small groups. This approach which allows students to discuss the materials and `teach each other' usually increases the students' grasp of the material. There are several alternative ways to use collaborative testing. Some instructors allow students to discuss the test with their group, but ask each student to turn in his/her own answer sheet; group members do not need to agree on answers. Others require the group to come to an agreement on answers; each group hands in one answer sheet and each group member receives the same grade. A third option is a combination of the two: Class members first take the test individually and hand in their answers to receive an individual grade. Then they take the same test (or portion of the test) as a group and individuals are assigned bonus points based on the group's performance (e.g., for group tests of 95% or better, individuals receive 3 bonus points, 89-94% receive 2 points, etc.).

To express academic concepts without speech, students can point or use other gestures. They can also be asked to perform hands -on tasks or to act out vocabulary, concepts, or events.

Student portfolios. Instructors in many classes ask students to prepare a collection of class assignments. These are most often collections of written work, but could also include computer programs, drawings, video tapes, or problem solving. Because portfolios contain a collection of student work, they often provide a more accurate picture of a student's achievement than a single test or project could.

Performance Tests. In a performance test students are required to perform a complex skill or procedure, or create a product to demonstrate that they can apply the knowledge and skills they have learned while the instructor observes and evaluates the process. These tests are time consuming and often difficult to grade, but are much more appropriate for certain courses than a pencil-and-paper test. For this type of test to be reliable, an instructor should have a scoring guide which specifies the criteria for each grade.

Retake policies. Providing students with the opportunity to repeat an exam (using an alternative form of the exam) benefits most students. It decreases student anxiety and provides the opportunity for students to learn from their mistakes. However, this policy demands a large bank of test items and additional instructor time for grading the exams. One professor at this university cuts down on grading time by bringing answer keys to class and having students correct their own tests, in the presence of the instructor, as soon as they finish. This has the added benefit of immediate feedback to the students.

Adding the option of explanation to an M-C test. Sometimes students feel that a multiple choice question can be interpreted in more than one way with one interpretation leading them to choose one answer while an alternative interpretation leads to another. Allowing students to explain an answer decreases student anxiety and often prevents penalizing the `good' student for interpreting the question at a deeper level than was intended. This entails slightly more grading time for the professor, but those using this option report that students rarely include an explanation for more than one or two questions.

Replacing tests with summaries. Some instructors, rather than testing, require students to regularly write summaries of the class readings and lectures which include the main points, a critical reaction to the ideas, and a discussion of what's most important. This requires a great deal of reading on the part of the instructor, but students report that they prefer the summaries over tests. They feel it is less stressful than taking a test and that they learn more and retain it longer.

Assessment can be defined as a sample taken from a larger domain of content and process skills that allows one to infer student understanding of a part of the larger domain being explored. The sample may include behaviors, products, knowledge, and performances. Assessment is a continuous, ongoing process that involves examining and observing children's behaviors, listening to their ideas, and developing questions to promote conceptual understanding. The term authentic assessment is often referred to in any discussion of assessment and can be thought of as an examination of student performance and understanding on significant tasks that have relevancy to the student's life inside and outside of the classroom.

A portfolio is a collection of samples of a student's work, and is focused, selective, reflective, and collaborative. It offers a visual demonstration of a student's achievement, capabilities, strengths, weaknesses, knowledge, and specific skills, over time and in a variety of contexts. In the question-and-answer strategy, the teacher poses a question and the student answers verbally, rather than in writing. This strategy helps the teacher to determine whether students understand what is being, or has been, presented, and helps students to extend their thinking, generate ideas, or solve problems.

According to Baume, portfolios are a very effective method for stimulating, supporting, integrating and assessing student work. Another major strength of portfolio assessment strategy is that it provides involvement and collaboration in the learning process and its assessment. As Serhani (2007) claims that teachers should do more than teaching to tests likewise students, should do more than studying for tests. In other words, teachers and students should collaborate in the process of assessment. This is in line with Davis (2005) who states that portfolio assessment can be the focus of initiating a discussion between student and tutor. He additionally explains that students with teacher assistance and guidance are involved in preparing their own portfolios. This helps students gain a sense of responsibility towards their work. When students are involved in reflection activities and setting goals for future progress, they become more self-critical and reflective about their activities, as Davis (2005) reminds us that portfolio promotes students' critical thinking.

"If assessment is to be a positive force in education, it must be implemented properly. It cannot be used to merely sort students or to criticize education. Its goals must be to improve education. Rather than 'teach to the test,' we must 'test what we teach.'" Nowadays, teaching strategies in language classrooms are shifting from the traditional way of enlightening unacquainted learners solely by transmitting knowledge to what students will need to succeed in the real world.

Today's teachers are demanded to focus on current language teaching strategies that include thinking critically, learning to solve problems, and working and communicating with others. However, assessing these skills through traditional assessment devices is rather difficult. Therefore, they are faced with a fact that they need to develop new forms of student assessment.

Portfolio assessment is an innovative, alternative assessment strategy that is rich in both strengths and weaknesses that should be fully considered for successful implementation. One major concern as a drawback for portfolio assessment strategy is time (Davis, 2005; Pierce & O'Malley, 1992). Portfolio assessment can be very time-consuming for teachers especially if portfolios are done in addition to traditional grading. According to Gуmez finding the time to score the portfolios can be particularly burdensome for teachers if the school uses assessment portfolios in addition to traditional testing. The strategy puts more pressure on teachers and makes some feel anxious especially those using it for the first time. Teachers need knowledge to manage portfolios easily and successfully as portfolio assessment can be something new and unfamiliar which demands study. Teachers need to spend much energy for portfolios management. They need to get involved in developing strategies and materials, conferencing with individual students or small groups, reviewing portfolios contents, commenting on students' work, and provide feedback. During the process of developing portfolios, students must receive feedback from the teacher. In addition, most students must be guided through the process of developing portfolios as portfolios may be a new experience for them. Briefly, all these activities require the teachers to devote their energy more than they do in the traditional assessment. There is also concern about using portfolios that deals with decisions that have to be made constantly about what to include and how to evaluate and interpret the contents of the portfolio. In practice, another problem of portfolio assessment strategy is exposed when developing reliable, valid, and effective scoring guides, rubrics, and criteria for assessment of portfolios and its contents. Schaaf (2005) explains that assessing portfolios involves complex interactions between teachers' competences, the portfolio, the standards used, raters' characteristics, and raters' interpretations.

Therefore, scoring students' portfolios which include a variety of work of different purposes done over time is more time-consuming than scoring a traditional test. Furthermore, it is difficult to establish the validity of portfolio assessment, given that validity refers to the question whether the assessment is measuring the intended constructs (Schaaf, 2005). This idea is further viewed by Davis (2005) who claims that in the context of portfolio assessment, validity is the extent to which the portfolio assesses the curriculum learning outcomes. With the amount of assistance and guidance provided by teachers during the process of developing portfolios, there is an important issue that needs to be considered which is whether portfolios are an actually representative of students' performance. Finally, one of the main challenges regarding using the portfolio assessment strategy is related to reliability. Schaaf (2005) defines reliability as stability over time and consistency between assessments. Problems in scoring emerge as portfolio contains a variety of work samples of different purposes which are collected over time. The challenge is that portfolio assessment may produce unacceptably low inter-rater reliability, especially if the assessment rubrics are not properly prepared or are used by untrained assessors (Davis, 2005). Gуmez (1999) defines inter-rater reliability as consistency of scoring among raters (those assessing and scoring students' work). This problem can be coped with when raters are on acceptable rating rubrics and are sufficiently practiced in portfolio grading. According to Schaaf (2005) who claims that the development and use of a scoring model must be supported and clearly understood by the raters. To sum up, the portfolio assessment strategy is found not to alter the traditional forms of assessment. Portfolio assessment and standardized testing can intertwine and complement each other.

A response journal is a student's personal record containing written, reflective responses to material he or she is reading, viewing, listening to, or discussing. The response journal can be used as an assessment tool in all subject areas. Strictly speaking a part of quizzes, tests, and examinations, selected responses require students to identify the one correct answer. The strategy can take the form of multiple-choice or true/false formats. Selected response is a commonly used formal procedure for gathering objective evidence about student learning, specifically in memory, recall, and comprehension. Self-assessment is a process by which the student gathers information about, and reflects on, his or her own learning. It is the student's own assessment of personal progress in terms of knowledge, skills, processes, or attitudes. Self-assessment leads students to a greater awareness and understanding of themselves as learners.

2.2 The techniques of alternative assessment

The use of a variety of assessment techniques will lead teams to better understand student behavior. Each technique can, in effect, bring the team closer to developing a workable intervention plan.

Classroom assessment techniques are focusing on aligning assessments more closely with the instructional strategies actually used with children.

A well developed assessment plan and a properly executed functional behavioral assessment should identify the contextual factors that contribute to behavior. Determining the specific contextual factors for a behavior is accomplished by collecting information on the various conditions under which a student is most and least likely to be a successful learner. That information collected both indirectly and directly, allows school personnel to predict the circumstances under which the problem behavior is likely and not likely to occur.

Multiple sources and methods are used for this kind of assessment, as a single source of information generally does not produce sufficiently accurate information, especially if the problem behavior serves several functions that vary according to circumstance (e.g., making inappropriate comments during lectures may serve to get peer attention in some instances, while in other situations it may serve to avoid the possibility of being called on by the teacher).

It is important to understand, though, that contextual factors are more than the sum of observable behaviors, and include certain affective and cognitive behaviors, as well. In other words, the trigger, or antecedent for the behavior, may not be something that anyone else can directly observe, and, therefore, must be identified using indirect measures. For instance, if the student acts out when given a worksheet, it may not be the worksheet that caused the acting-out, but the fact that the student does not know what is required and thus anticipates failure or ridicule. Information of this type may be gleaned through a discussion with the student.

Critical to educators is the use of assessment to both inform and guide instruction. Using a wide variety of assessment tools allows a teacher to determine which instructional strategies are effective and which need to be modified. In this way, assessment can be used to improve classroom practice, plan curriculum, and research one's own teaching practice. Of course, assessment will always be used to provide information to children, parents, and administrators.

Standardized tests, criterion-referenced tests, diagnostic tests, cloze exercises, unit tests, worksheets - these are some of the assessment tools frequently used in evaluating reading proficiency. The following four alternative assessment techniques build on classroom activities to provide insight to student learning.

Retellings

After students read a story or have one read to them, ask them to retell it as if they were telling it to a friend who never heard it before. It is important to let students know in advance that they will be asked to do this. To analyze the retelling quantitatively, use a checklist of important elements in the story (setting, plot, resolution, etc.) and assign a score for each.

Qualitative evaluation focuses on students' deeper understanding of the story and ability to generalize and interpret its meaning. This type of evaluation can be noted in the form of comments at the bottom of the checklist. Retellings can be done individually or in groups. Teacher prompts may be required to help lead some students through the story.

Portfolios

Portfolios are systematic collections of student work over time. These collections help students and teachers assess student growth and development. It is essential that students develop a sense of ownership about their portfolios so they can understand where they have made progress and where more work is needed.

Portfolio Content

The content of portfolios will vary with the level of the student and will depend on the types of assignments they are given in class. In addition to completed reports, poems, letters, and so forth, portfolios often contain first and second drafts. Reading logs and audiotape recordings can also be included. As portfolios are assembled, it is important that students keep them in a place where they have easy access to them. Students should be encouraged to browse through their portfolios and share them with classmates.

Criteria for Selecting Items for Portfolios

Although almost all work may initially be included, portfolios can quickly become unmanageable if they are too large. Portfolios that will form the basis for assessment can be assembled at the end of each term and at the end of the school year. A specific number of items for inclusion (often five or six) and criteria for selecting them should be agreed to by the teacher and students.

Evaluation of Portfolios

Portfolio evaluation often occurs at three levels: the student, the student's peers, and the teacher. For each piece selected, students may be asked to describe briefly why they chose it, what they learned, and what their future goals are. Students can also be asked to prepare an overall evaluation of their portfolio.

Classmates are frequently enlisted in portfolio evaluation. Their evaluation can focus on what they see as the special strengths of the portfolio, their personal response to some item in the portfolio, and a suggestion of one thing their classmate could work on next.

Portfolio evaluation by the teacher should build on that of the student's and peer's. Although the teacher evaluation may result in a grade, it is important that an opportunity be found for discussion with the student. This discussion should culminate in agreement on future goals.

Although not a part of the formal evaluation process, it is helpful, particularly for elementary school children, for parents to review the portfolios. Portfolios can be sent home or they can be reviewed at the time of the parent-teacher conferences. It is essential that teachers take steps to help parents understand that their role should be to provide encouragement and that they should focus on the positive and not be critical.

In the development and use of classroom assessment tools, certain issues must be addressed in relation to the following important criteria.

A. Purpose and Impact-- How will the assessment be used and how will it impact instruction and the selection of curriculum?

B. Validity and Fairness-- Does it measure what it intends to measure? Does it allow students to demonstrate both what they know and are able to do?

C. Reliability-- Is the data that is collected reliable across applications within the classroom, school, and district?

D. Significance-- Does it address content and skills that are valued by and reflect current thinking in the field?

E. Efficiency-- Is the method of assessment consistent with the time available in the classroom setting?

There is a wide range of assessments that are available for use in restructuring science assessment in the classroom. These types of assessments include strategies that are both traditional and alternative. The various types of alternative assessments can be used with a range of science content and process skills, including the following general targets.

Declarative Knowledge-- the "what" knowledge

Conditional Knowledge-- the "why" knowledge

Procedural Knowledge-- the "how" knowledge

Application Knowledge-- the use of knowledge in both similar settings and in different contexts

Problem Solving-- a process of using knowledge or skills to resolve an issue or problem

Critical Thinking-- evaluation of concepts associated with inquiry

Documentation-- a process of communicating understanding

Understanding-- synthesis by the learner of concepts, processes, and skills

Assessment can be divided into three stages: baseline assessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment. Baseline assessment establishes the "starting point" of the student's understanding. Formative assessment provides information to help guide the instruction throughout the unit, and summative assessment informs both the student and the teacher about the level of conceptual understanding and performance capabilities that the student has achieved. The wide range of targets and skills that can be addressed in classroom assessment requires the use of a variety of assessment formats.

Classroom Assessment Techniques

What are CATs?

Classroom Assessment Techniques are formative evaluation methods that serve two purposes. They can help you to assess the degree to which your students understand the course content and they can provide you with information about the effectiveness of your teaching methods. Most are designed to be quick and easy to use and each CAT provides different kinds of information.

Formative Evaluations

Formative evaluations provide information that can be used to improve course content, methods of teaching, and, ultimately, student learning. Formative evaluations are most effective when they are done frequently and the information is used to effect immediate adjustments in the day-to-day operations of the course. Some faculty incorporate a CAT into every class session.

How do CATs improve teaching and learning?

When CATS are used frequently, they can have the following impacts: For faculty, CATs can:

provide day-to-day feedback that can be applied immediately;

provide useful information about what students have learned without the amount of time required for preparing tests, reading papers, etc.;

allow you to address student misconceptions or lack of understanding in a timely way;

help to foster good working relationships with students and encourage them to understand that teaching and learning are on-going processes that require full participation.

For students, CATs can:

help develop self-assessment and learning management skills;

reduce feelings of isolation and impotence, especially in large classes;

increase understanding and ability to think critically about the course content;

foster an attitude that values understanding and long-term retention;

show your interest and caring about their success in your classroom.

What kinds of evaluations are CATs designed to perform?

Course-related knowledge and skills (including prior knowledge, recall and understanding; analysis and critical thinking skills; synthesis and creative thinking skills; problem solving skills; and application and performance skills)

Student attitudes, values, and self-awareness (including students' awareness of their own values and attitudes; students' awareness of their own learning processes; and course-related learning and study skills awareness)

Reactions to instruction methods (including student and peer reactions to teachers and teaching, class activities, assignments, and materials)

Following is a partial chart of CAT exercises, indicating the kind of evaluation for which each is intended, what each is called, how each is conducted, what to do with the information you collect, and an approximation of the relative amount of time each requires.

CHAPTER III. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ASSESSMENT IN PRACTICE

3.1. Introduction to alternative assessment into the classroom

This year we were required to do practice in Lola academic lyceum. So, I had a chance to practice some methods related to the theme of the gradual qualification work. As it was mentioned above, the name of the work is “Advantages of alternative assessment in teaching English”. Firstly, I tried to introduce about the theme to the class. During the lesson every teacher should be able to evaluate students in a correct way. Because, if teacher don't know how to assess learners, there will not be any interests to learn something from teacher. Every teacher is required to teach specific standards or content based on subjects.

There are numerous and obvious reasons why reformed curricula tend to use alternative assessment methods on an ever wider scale in the teaching of foreign languages. First of all, they offer a comprehensive image of the student's overall competence in a foreign language. Secondly, they test much more than the students' ability to sit an examination. Also, they change and enrich the student's attitude towards learning and communication patterns and they increase the students' linguistic self-confidence.

Alternative assessment methods have the great advantage of being context-specific, as they use and adapt those assessment tools that should best reflect the purposes of learning. Alternative evaluation is very much related to the content of teaching-learning process. Researchers have also noticed further advantages of alternative assessment: it is systematic, dynamic and flexible, managing to build up competences that last in time, as it does not concentrate only on grading and ranking immediate and punctual performance.

A brief contrastive analysis of the two types of assessment nowadays used in the teaching of foreign languages at university level may emphasize the advantages of using permanent alternative assessment methods during the academic year. Classroom assessment is not one of the glamorous aspects of being a teacher, but it may be the most important. More professional development should be provided to teachers in this area. Too many teachers fail to understand the value of looking at data in depth. To put it simply, it is hard to know how to get somewhere you have never been if you do not have a map or directions. Authentic classroom assessment can provide that roadmap allowing every student to be successful. Alternative assessment refers to procedures and techniques which can be used within the context of instruction and can be easily incorporated into the daily activities of the school or classroom. It is particularly useful with English as a second language student because it employs strategies that ask students to show what they can do. In contrast to traditional testing, students are evaluated on what they integrate and produce rather than on what they are able to recall and reproduce.

Alternative assessments generally meet the following criteria:

· Focus is on documenting individual student growth over time, rather than comparing students with one another.

· Emphasis is on students' strengths (what they know), rather than weaknesses (what they don't know).

· Consideration is given to the learning styles, language proficiencies, cultural and educational backgrounds, and grade levels of students.

After the initial assessment is given, teachers can break down the data in a variety of ways. They will get a quick idea of what each individual student knows coming into the year. They can also evaluate whole group data to determine where the emphasis on instructional time should be placed. For example, if 95% of the students get all the questions correct for a particular standard, the teacher should probably teach the concept early on in the year without spending an inordinate amount of time. However, if students perform poorly on a standard, the teacher should plan to devote a greater amount of time later on in the year.

The middle of the year and end of the year assessments allow teachers to measure overall student growth and whole class understanding. It would be wise to spend more time re-teaching a standard in which a large portion of the class struggled with on an assessment. Teachers can also reevaluate their approach with individual students who are lagging behind possibly offering tutoring services or increased remediation time

Teachers should utilize small group or individual meetings to work with students who are struggling with specific concepts. Small group instruction should occur every day and individual meetings should occur at least one time per week. Some type of feedback other than just a grade should be provided for every daily assignment, homework, quiz, and test. Simply grading a paper without reinforcing or re-teaching the incorrect concepts is a missed opportunity.

Goal setting is another essential part of teacher-student collaboration. Students should understand how the goals are tied to academic performance. Goals should be high, but attainable. The goals and progress towards them should be discussed on a regular basis. Goals should be continuously reevaluated and adjusted if necessary.

As we know, alternative assessment has many types and I used some of them while evaluating learners' knowledge.

3.2 The result of alternative assessment in the class

While practicing at lyceum, I saw many kinds of mixed ability students and I had to assess them different ways according to their knowledge. So, we did some activities related to assessment. I prepared lesson plans before beginning the class which are to make interests students.

K-W-L CHARTS

Many teachers have success using K-W-L charts (what I know/what I want to know/what I've learned) to begin and end a unit of study, particularly in social studies and science. Before the unit, this strategy enables teachers to gain an awareness of students' background knowledge and interests. Afterward, it helps teachers assess the content material learned. K-W-L charts can be developed as a class activity or on an individual basis. For students with limited English proficiency, the chart can be completed in the first language or with illustrations.

Sample K-W-L Chart

K

Lincoln was important.

His face is on a penny.

He's dead now.

I think Lincoln was a President.

He was a tall person.

W

Why is Lincoln famous?

Was he a good President?

Why is he on a penny?

Did he have a family?

How did he die?

L

Lincoln was President of the U.S.

He was the 16th President.

There was a war in America when Lincoln was President.

He let the slaves go free.

Two of his sons died while he was still alive.

Before a unit of study, teachers can have students fill in the K and W columns by asking them what they know about the topic and what they would like to know by the end of the unit. This helps to keep students focused and interested during the unit and gives them a sense of accomplishment when they fill in the L column following the unit and realize that they have learned something.

Performance-based assessments include interviews, oral reports, role plays, describing and explaining, summarizing, retelling, paraphrasing stories or text material, and so on. Oral assessments should be conducted on an ongoing basis to monitor comprehension and thinking skills.

When conducting interviews in English with students in the early stages of language development to determine English proficiency and content knowledge, teachers are advised to use visual cues as much as possible and allow for a minimal amount of English in the responses.

The group which I taught consisted of twenty students having an intermediate level of English. The students were introduced to the topic and solved a set of practical activities involving the fluctuation verbs and their corresponding prepositions.

Then, as an assessment activity, the group was given a set of graphs and charts referring to the fluctuation of different economic variables. It is important to mention that the information offered to the student was not only real but also very recent. In teams of two, the students were given the following task: A presumable foreign client willing to invest in our country wants to become a partner of the company you work for. As part of the meeting with this client, your company intends to make a short presentation of how the industry you activate in (e.g. car industry, tourism, food industry, etc) has evolved during the past five years. You and a colleague are in charge with preparing a PowerPoint presentation that will open the meeting. The teacher also provides the students the set of verbs (increase, rise, peak, rocket, decrease, lower, fall, etc) and prepositions (to, by, from… to., etc), they are expected to use in combination with the numeral in the graphs and charts they were given.

As a second task (Task B) of the assessment the students were given two traditional tasks: a fill in exercise where they were supposed to used correctly certain fluctuation verbs according to the context and a translation exercise.

Following their assessment, the group was asked to fill in an assessment form for the two activities (the alternative assessment method and the traditional test consisting of two exercises.

The five questions that made up the assessment form were the following:

1. Which of the two tasks did you consider more challenging?

2. Which of the two tasks did you consider more difficult?

3. Is the task relevant for your use of English as a future professional?

4. Is the task relevant for your overall preparation as a future professional?

5. Is the task related in any way to the specialized subjects that are part of your curriculum?

The answers to these questions were the following:

1. Answer to each question	Task A (alternative assessment)	Task B (traditional assessment)
1. more challenging	100% (20 students)	0 % (no student)
2. more difficult	60 % (12 students)	40 % (8 students)
3. relevant for the level of English	55 % (11 students)	45 %(9 students)
4. relevant for the overall performance	95% (19 students)	(5% (1 student)
5. related to the specialized academic subjects	100 % (20 students)	0% (no student)

After the lesson I evaluate learners' background knowledge according to their participation during the lesson. Firstly, I had difficulties with managing time, attracting students' attention. Later, I managed all of them.

CONCLUSION

Alternative assessment holds great promise for EFL students. Although the challenge to modify existing methods of assessment and to develop new approaches is not an easy one, the benefits for both teachers and students are great. The ideas and models presented here are intended to be adaptable, practical, and realistic for teachers who are dedicated to creating meaningful and effective assessment experiences for EFL students.

As the methodology is developing, alternative assessment is also becoming fulfilled. It is as we know, a form of student performance grading that allows for a more holistic approach to student assessment. The traditional form of student assessment involves the average grading of a cumulative set of work for a given time period. With alternative assessments, students are enabled to provide their own responses rather than simply selecting from a given list of options. Alternative assessment can also encompass a portfolio of work to represent an entire use of concepts, similar to the way a traditional final examination is intended to be a cumulative demonstration of material learned over a given time period. But there is no one sole way to assess in EFL courses. EFL is an approach; as a result, there is no particular kind of language, teaching material or methodology which defines these languages. The focus is definitely placed on what the students know and can do and on what they do not know. Alternative assessment can be thought as performance assessment since it emphasizes processes and competencies, while it de-emphasizes theoretical scoring outcomes.

With the help of my research, I was able to find out the great amount of data about assessment and its' types.

In my practice I used all of them and made a conclusion that dividing the assessments into variety of types is very affective, for they aid the teachers to assess the student's knowledge and comprehension.

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28. William Badders, 2000 a DiscoveryWorks Author in the Cleveland Public Schools in Cleveland, Ohio

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30. Ramazan (2012) NCBE Program Information Guide Series. Portfolio assessment in English language teaching (ELT).

31. Lynch & Shaw 2012cited in Huang “ Portfolio assessment features.” p. 214-80.

32. Moss, 2005 The effect of portfolio assessment on the writing performance of EFL secondary school students in Saudi Arabia.

33. Columba & Dolgos 2012 cited in Ramazan. The implementation of portfolio assessment in integrated English course.

34. Banta, GEMA Online ™ Journal of Language Studies, 10 (3).

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43. Wiggins, G. (1998). Educative Assessment: Designing Assessments to Inform and Improve Student Performance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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54. Definitions adapted from The Ontario Curriculum Unit Planner;Assessment Strategies Companion © Queen's Printer for Ontario, 2002

55. William Badders, 2000 a DiscoveryWorks Author in the Cleveland Public Schools in Cleveland, Ohio

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APPENDIX 1

Lesson overview

Name of lesson plan activity: Market day

Skill focus: Speaking and writing

Organisation/school name: Former teacher at two different schools

Target students: Class 8 students, around 16 to 17 years old

Materials used in class: Chart papers, sketch pens, scales

Lesson plan

1. Objective of the lesson:

· Write a paragraph on the topic `Market day'

· Develop confidence in writing

· Develop observation skills

2. Instructions for teaching the lesson:

· Getting to know about the local market day would be useful for planning

3. Stages and timings:

Stage 1 (15 mins): Pre-class preparation

Ask the children to observe the weekly market held in the nearby village. For this, make small groups of students. Ensure that the children who live near to each other form one group as far as possible.

Ask each of the groups to discuss and decide on any one of the following for observation:

· Activities of buying and selling in the market

· People who have come to sell

· People who have come to shop

· Things being sold

· Clothing people wear

Ask the students to depict their observations in the form of a picture to bring to the classroom. Tell students that they may observe for just half an hour and note the timing.

Stage 2: During class

Stage 2 a) -- Discussion and presentation (40 mins)

Ask all the groups to discuss how they would present the observation. Allow 10 mins for this. Ask them to present their observations briefly with their charts.

Stage 2 b) -- Writing (20 mins)

Ask students to write a paragraph or two on the local market day based on the discussion and their own experiences. Tell the students that they may ask you words or spellings if they need to.

Post-class activity

Display children's work on the classroom wall. This serves as a resource for the upcoming grammar classes:

you have their sentences to talk about, nouns/adjectives/types of sentences and so forth

Lesson overview

Name of lesson plan activity: Introducing yourself

Skill focus: Speaking

Target students: Young learners (primary level)

Materials used in class: Writing board and pen

Lesson plan

1. Objective of the lesson:

The lesson aims to help learners introduce themselves in English.

2. Instructions for teaching the lesson:

Step 1

Introduce yourself to the class, pausing after each phrase. For example: I am Ortiqova Shoxista. I am a teacher. I am 23 years old. I am from Uychi. I love making paper boats.

Step 2

Introduce yourself again, once again pausing after each phrase. Write down each sentence on the board.

Step 3

Encourage the students to introduce themselves. They can use the phrases on the board as a model.

Step 4

Once they have all introduced themselves, they can change details like name, age, nationality etc. and introduce themselves as fictional characters. They may make up these details as they wish. Encourage them to be funny. For example: I am Sarvinoz. I am 16 years old. I love fairy godmothers.

3. Stages and timings:

Stage 1 (5 mins)

Teacher introduces himself/herself.

Stage 2 (5 mins)

Teacher writes the expressions used on the board and introduce himself/herself again.

Stage 3 (20 minutes)

Learners introduce themselves.

Stage 4 (30 mins)

Learners create fake identities for themselves and then introduce themselves.

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