The Definition of Assessment

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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter, the writer discusses the related literature which serves as the basis to answer the research questions. There are two major parts in this chapter, namely theoretical description and theoretical framework.

A. Theoretical Description

In this part, the writer provides some descriptions about the theories used to analyze the content validity of Practice Teaching Students’ assessments. The theories become the key for the writer to be able to analyze the assessments.

1. Assessment

Before going deeper into the discussion of assessment and the principles of language assessment, it is better for the writer to provide a clear definition about the assessment.

a. The Definition of Assessment

Wiggins 1993, as cited by Earl 2003, stated that the word “assessment” is derived from the Latin assidere, which means “to sit beside or with.” This statement can be understood that the teachers sit together with their students to understand what is happening to them. Yet, assessment actually offers more activities than just sitting down with the students. Assessment can be done in various activities. Badder 2000 stated that assessment is a continuous process which involves examining and observing the students’ behaviors, listening to their PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 13 ideas, and promoting conceptual understanding by developing questions. Assessment is aimed at receiving information about the students’ progress and the instructional process. Airasian 1991 stated that assessment is a process of gathering, interpreting, and synthesizing information purposed to aid decision making in the classroom. Teachers collect information through assessment to help them make decisions about their students’ learning and the success of their instruction. Again, the information can be concluded from several assessment procedures or methods. Dealing with the variety of assessment procedures or methods, Brown 2004 stated the definition of assessment in comparison with the term test. Test, in simple terms, is a “method of measuring a person’s ability, knowledge, or performance in a given domain,” while an assessment is defined as an ongoing process that encompasses a much wider domain p. 3-4. The notion implies that when the students answer the questions from the teacher spontaneously, offer a comment, or try to give opinion, the teacher subconsciously makes an assessment of the students’ performance. The Glossary of the 1999 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, as cited by Chatterji 2003, p. 130, stated that assessment is “any systematic method of obtaining information from test and other sources used to draw inferences about characteristics of people, objects, or programs.” Miller, Linn, and Norman 2009 and Salvia, Ysseldyke, and Bolt 2001 added that assessment is a systematic process that plays important role in effective teaching. It begins with the identification of learning goals, monitor the progress students make toward those goals, and ends with a judgment concerning PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 14 the extent to which those goals have been attained Miller et al., 2009. Teachers use assessment information to make decision about what the students have learned what and where they should be taught, and the kinds of related services Salvia et al., 2001. Assessment, therefore, can be defined as some processes, activities, or systematic methods which are done to obtain information about the students’ progress or performance. The process, activities, or methods are various. Teachers can choose one or more activities to assess the students. Those activities are conducted to obtain information about the students’ progress during teaching and learning process, the students’ mastery of the teaching and learning materials, and the instructional process. It is also important to mention that, according to Siddiek 2010, p. 135, assessment is “an integral part of any effective teaching program, thus it should be subject to planning, designing, modifying, and frequent revision of its validity as tools of quality measurement.” The statement makes the assessment clearer that as a means to obtain valid information about the students and instructional progress, an assessment should be validly planned, designed, modified, and frequently revised. The most common activity of an assessment is a test. Test is a part of assessment. It means that it is not the only form of assessment made by the teacher. Tests can be useful devices, but they are only one among many procedures and tasks that teachers can ultimately use to assess students Brown, 2004, p. 4. Having the same idea that test is only one of several assessment procedures, Salvia et al. 2001, p. 13 stated that “during the assessment, data PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 15 from observations, recollections, test, and professional judgments all come into play.” It can be concluded that the assessment information can be obtained not only from the test but also from other procedures, namely observation, asking spontaneous questions, listening the students’ responses, and many more. Nevertheless, it should be noticed that test is often the most visible evidence of student learning for parents to see and make judgment about Walker et al., 2004. The position of a test in an assessment as a part of teaching activities is illustrated in Figure 2.1. Figure 2.1 shows that test is a part of assessment while an assessment is a part of teaching. Therefore, test is not the same as assessment but it is only one of the assessment procedures or tasks. Meanwhile, an assessment is under the wide area of teaching. It means that teaching involves assessing. Assessment becomes a very important and crucial part in teaching since it helps teachers understand the progress or achievement the students have made and it can also be a useful device to monitor or evaluate the instruction prepared by the teachers, and many more. TEST ASSESSMENT TEACHING Figure 2.1 Test, Assessment, and Teaching Brown, 2004, p. 5 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 16

b. Types of Assessment