Classroom assessment for language teaching: challenges, choices, and consequences, Tahnee Bucher and Eddy White, Editör, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle Upon Tyne, ss.60-100, 2020
Although classroom
assessment (CA) is considered low-stakes, assessments designed,
executed and assessed by class teachers are used to make important educational decisions, and adopting a
thorough approach to CA is vital to
achieve positive educational outcomes. This
study documents the development of a text discussion task intended to be used
in an English for Academic Purposes course. Students are expected to discuss an
assigned text in small groups. The process
of construct definition, task design, and rating scale development are
explained providing a replicable model for designing similar assessments.
Through ground analysis of the transcriptions of four text discussions
administrated over the course of the term, skills, subskills and language
functions operationalized through the task were investigated, and features that
describe and distinguish levels of performance were identified. Additionally, the
role of group dynamics in shaping individual’s
and group’s performance was explored. The
findings underpinned the co-constructed nature of group performance and
highlighted the role of interactional competence in group discussions. They
also revealed construct-irrelevant factors influencing test takers’ performance
posing a threat to the validity, reliability and fairness of the test method.
Implementations of the findings are discussed as well as recommendations for
dealing with validity, reliability and fairness concerns.