Second Language Assessment

Using ICTS to improve second-language assessment

Patricia Rosen, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Problem

The development of authentic assessment and evaluation situations for second language learners continues to be an issue (Cummins & Devesne, 2009). Aydin (2006) reported on the scarcity of data available on assessment and evaluation in L2 and Ketabi and Ketabi (2014) found that there has not been a consensus on the distinction between types of assessment in second language learning. East and King (2012) pointed out that the ‘washback’ effect is a challenge to authentic assessment as teachers focus on what is required for a final test rather than on the individual needs of learners.

Another challenge has been to create valid evaluations that reflect real life situations without seeming contrived (Laurier, 2004). Luk (2010) found that University Oral Proficiency Interviews were contrived, resulting in “…features of institutionalized and ritualized talk rather than those of ordinary conversation” (p.47). Birch and Volkov (2007) reported the difficulties in reliable assessment of classroom conversation as weaker learners were reluctant to speak and stronger students dominated conversations.

Ketabi and Ketabi (2014) observed that authentic assessment in large classrooms is particularly difficult so traditional testing, focused on ‘…gathering scores…’ (p. 438), was used most often. They noted that this could create stressful situations that hindered student performance. East and King (2012) also identified difficulties such as anxiety and helplessness related to ‘high-stakes testing’, specifically listening tests with ‘once only at normal speed’ (p. 209) input for test-takers. Wagner (2010) argued that widely used listening tests relying only on the auditory channel without visual input are not authentic because they do not allow for the interpretation of visual along with linguistic cues. Jones (2004) also demonstrated a need for incorporating both auditory and visual channels when designing second language vocabulary evaluations, which were traditionally based on either recognition or recall activities.