Preliminary Discussion of Formative Assessment and its Application in College English Teaching

【Abstract】Evaluation is an important component in teaching and teaching also cannot leave evaluation. However， summative assessment has taken dominant place in college English in our country for a long time. It emphasizes students scores excessively， which bruises students learning initiative. Therefore， formative assessment which emphasizes learning itself and learning process has been paid more and more attention from scholars and teachers. This research tries to discuss formative assessment from these aspects such as the definition of formative assessment， the instruments of formative assessment， the modes of formative assessment， the theoretical bases of formative assessment and so on. This study also discusses the application of formative assessment in College English Teaching to explore its feasibility and effectiveness in College English Teaching.

【Key words】Formative Assessment； Summative Assessment； College English Teaching

1. The Introduction of Formative Assessment

The term， formative assessment， which appears in the College English Curriculum Requirements （2007） is used in this paper.Black and William （1998） claimed that “All the activities that teachers and students undertake can be called formative assessment because it provides information which can be considered as feedback to modify teaching and learning activities.” Gipps （1999） defined formative assessment as the one that was used by teachers and students to appraise， judge or evaluate students behaviors in class or their works after class in order to improve their learning. Boston （2002） simply defined formative assessment as the diagnostic use of assessment to provide feedback for teachers and students over the course of instruction.

2. The Instruments of Formative Assessment

1） Portfolio

The aim of portfolios is to record the process of learning and it is the basis of evaluating students efforts， progress， learning process and result. Students may realize learning strengths and weaknesses in some period and work out the learning plan suitable for themselves through building and reviewing portfolios. Teachers may know every student learning progress and differences in some period clearly and specifically according to portfolios.

2） Questionnaire

Questionnaires can be used freely， before the term， in the mid of the term or after the term. A variety of questionnaires are designed according to different aims. Its contents usually include motivations， interests， autonomous learning abilities， cooperative abilities， and so on. Questionnaires are usually divided into structured questionnaire， semi-structured questionnaire， semi-open questionnaire and open questionnaires.

3） Discussion

Teachers organize students to discuss on a certain topic purposefully and designedly and observe and write down the situation of discuss. In this way， teachers can know the students performances in the group so that they can teach students in accordance of their aptitude. Meanwhile， students may enhance their team-work spirit and learn from each other.

3. The Modes of Formative Assessment

1） Self Assessment

Self assessment means that learners take part in the process of judging， evaluating and supervising their own learning. Self assessment is the important component in evaluating learning process， including self summary of unit learning， summary of key points and difficult points， self assessment of abilities of speaking， listening， reading， writing and translation， testing， performances in web-based learning and classroom， and so on.

2） Peer Assessment

Peer assessment refers to the evaluation which students make for classmates cultivation of learning habits， abilities of practical application of language， emotions and attitudes in the group cooperative learning. Peer assessment reflects the trend of foreign language teaching emphasizing students cooperative learning abilities.

3） Teacher Assessment

Teacher assessment is the traditional way which most of universities adopt at present. When assessing students， teachers are administrators， evaluators， instructors and supporters. Moreover， Teachers can evaluate students effectively at any time. As a teacher， they adjust teaching plans according to evaluation， which makes the efficiency of classroom teaching enhanced. Teacher assessment includes teacher observation， classroom discussion， homework， questionnaire， interview， and so on.

4. The Theoretical Bases of Formative Assessment

1） Constructivism

Constructivism， a branch of cognitive psychology， is the further development of cognitivism. A Swiss psychologist， Piaget， is the first person who put forward this theory. Afterwards， this theory was enriched and perfected by Kohlberg， Sternberg， Katz， Vygotsky， etc. Constructivism claims that knowledge is gained through sense-making by learners with the help of others， including teachers and classmates， and necessary teaching materials in certain situation， that is to say， socioculture background. Constructivism considers students as the center of teaching not teachers who are thought as assistants， supervisors， instructors， and so on. When formative assessment is designed， the theories of constructivism affect it. For example， students should take part in formative assessment， too. Formative assessment should promote students to learn knowledge by themselves but not by teachers.

2） Post-modernism

Post-modernism is the ideological trend of a kind of new culture which was popular in 1950s and 1960s in the West. It is aimed at criticizing and sublating Modernism and advocates diversity， heterogeneity， creation and so on. Post-modernism thinks that the relationship of teachers and students should be equal and interactive. Education should put away the traditional view of teacher as the center. It emphasizes that education evaluation should lay stress on richness and diversity of objects and emotion， will， motivation and interests of educates. Traditional classroom evaluation cannot do this point， which doesnt benefit students development. But formative assessment can benefit students development. Consequently， formative assessment should be applied in teaching.

5. Formative Assessment and Summative Assessment

Summative assessment is conducted after a teaching stage which is composed of final examination， proficiency test， etc. Summative assessment， which regards academic record as evaluation object， is an important method to test teaching results. It gains widespread popularity in practical teaching evaluation. However， it also has a lot of disadvantages. it only emphasizes mastery of language knowledge， neglecting students learning process， the behavioral expression in daily learning and the cultivation of practical application and learning abilities of English， which makes students only attach importance to remembering and reciting fragmentary language points and ignore students communicative competence and the application of language itself in daily life. Formative assessment refers to the value judgment for developing teaching activities so that teaching activities can be adjusted and teaching objectives can be realized. This kind of evaluation has a lot of advantages. First of all， it can get the feedback of teaching situations timely. Secondly， it can adjust teaching activities properly so as to form teaching methods and means which are suitable for the characteristics of teaching objects well. Last but not least， through this kind of evaluation， it is better for summing up experience in time and improving work process appropriately. As two important evaluation forms， formative assessment and summative assessment have obvious distinctions. Formative assessment， which is connected to teaching links closely， is used to adjust and promote teaching. In the process of evaluation， teachers and students are all assessors. Its results are announced in text comments or private conversations， usually in anonymous or informal form. Nevertheless， summative assessment passes judgment on teaching results by means of marks or grades after finishing teaching and it nearly breaks away from teaching process.

6. The Necessity of Formative Assessment in College English Teaching

Through the introductions of formative assessment， it can be understood clearly. If formative assessment are applied in College English teaching， the quality of college English teaching will be enhanced.

On one hand， different from the teacher-centered teaching mode， formative assessment is student-centered. It emphasizes that students should be the center while teachers only play the roles such as instructors， assistants， supervisors and so on. Meanwhile， it claims that knowledge should be acquired by students constructing not by teachers cramming. As a result， if formative assessment is applied to College English teaching， they will be complementary to each other and promote the quality of English teaching together.

On the other hand， In College English teaching， specifically， the interaction of teachers and students， the interaction of students and students and other interactions， students and teachers all need feedback in order to see their learning and teaching situations clearly. From this point， formative assessment is just like a mirror to offer the information and reflect problems according to which teachers and students can monitor learning and teaching situations and adjust learning or teaching plans. Thereby， teachers and students can get beneficial feedback from formative assessment in College English teaching so as to improve teachers teaching and students learning. With the teaching mode changing， the assessment mode should change correspondingly， because the traditional evaluation mode cannot meet the demand and offer effective feedback for teaching.

7. Conclusion

Through the discussion of formative assessment， the study concludes that it has more advantages than summative assessment. Formative assessment is a kind of assessment that assesses the teaching process and may assess many aspects. It is dynamic and multidimensional. Because of this， it is also suitable for multidimensional interaction happening in College English teaching. So in College English teaching， formative assessment should be applied.

References：

[1]教育部高等教育司.大學英语课程教学要求[M].北京：高等教育出版社，2007.

[2]Black，P，William，D.1998.Assessment and Classroom Learning[J].Assessment in Education：Principles，Policy& Practice.5：7-74.

[3]Gipps，C.1999.Socio-cultural Aspects of Assessment.Review of Research in Education.24.

作者简介：陈宇（1987-），女，河南信阳人，助教，硕士研究生，研究方向：外国语言学及应用语言学、翻译。