Types of Assessment Assessment

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b. Types of Assessment

There are some types of assessment. Brown 2004, p. 5-7 divided the assessment into three divisions namely the informal and formal assessment, formative and summative assessment, and norm-referenced and criterion- referenced tests. 1 Informal and Formal Assessment The first distinction of the types of assessment is informal and formal assessment. Informal assessment can be done in many forms, starting with incidental, unplanned comments and responses, along with coaching and other impromptu feedback to students Brown, 2004, p. 5. In contrast, he stated that formal assessment is exercises or procedures specifically designed to tap into a storehouse of skills and knowledge. They are systematic, planned sampling techniques constructed to give teacher and students an appraisal of student achievement. In addition, McAlpine 2002, p. 7 stated that “formal assessments are where the students are aware that the task that they are doing is for assessment purposes.” Tests are the example of formal assessment but not all formal assessments are in the form of tests. 2 Formative and Summative Assessment Centre for Learning and Professional Development CLPD of The University of Adelaide 2011 stated that formative assessment is where the assessment task provides possible development activities they require to improve PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 17 their level of understanding on their learning in the current course. Formative assessment is used to evaluate students in the process of “forming” their competencies and skills with the goal of helping them to continue that growth process. Practically, the informal assessments are or should be formative Brown, 2004, p. 6. Summative assessment aims to measure, or summarize, what a student has grasped, and typically occurs at the end of a course or unit of instruction. CLPD of The University of Adelaide 2011 stated that summative assessment is “where assessment task responses are designed to grade and judge a learners level of understanding and skill development for progression or certification.” Final exam in a course and general proficiency exam are examples of summative assessment. 3 Norm-Referenced and Criterion-Referenced Tests Brown 2006 stated that norm-referenced test NRT is designed to assess global language abilities, namely academic listening ability, reading comprehension, and many more. It is aimed at spreading the students out along a continuum of general abilities or proficiency. Brown 2004, p. 7 stated that NRT test is the test “in which the test takers’ score is interpreted in relation to a mean average score, median middle score, standard deviation extent of variance in scores, andor percentile rank.” He also stated that the purpose of NRT is to place the test-taker along a mathematical continuum in rank order. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 18 In contrast, as stated by Brown 2006, criterion-referenced test CRT is created to measure well-defined and fairly specific instructional objectives. Furthermore, he stated that the objectives are specific to particular course, program, school district, or state. In addition, Brown 2004, p. 7 stated that CRT is designed to give test-takers feedback, usually in the form of grades, on specific course or lesson objectives. Table 2.1 shows the differences between NRT and CRT. Table 2.1 Norm-referenced and Criterion-referenced Differences Characteristic Norm-Referenced Criterion-Referenced Type of Interpretation Relative A student’s performance is compared to those of all other students in percentile terms. Absolute A student’s performance is compared only to the amount, or percentage, of materials learned. Type of Measurement To measure general language abilities or proficiencies. To measure specific objectives-based language points. Purpose of Testing Spread the students out along a continuum of general abilities or proficiencies. Assess the amount of material known or learned by each student. Distribution of Score Normal distribution of scores around the mean. Varies; often non-normal. Students who know the material should score 100. Test Structure A few relatively long subtest with a variety of item contents. A series of short, well- defined subtests with similar items contents. Knowledge of Question Students have little or no idea of what content to expect in test item. Students know exactly what content to expect in test items. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 19

2. Methods of Assessments