All too often, exams are seen as something completely separate from class – as a way to test and grade your students’ knowledge. However, exams have the potential to be much more than that: with good coherence between classroom teaching and what is being tested, examinations can also have a very positive educational impact by providing evidence both of what students have learned and of what they can do.
In practice, learning-oriented assessment means that when students’ knowledge is assessed, the teacher focuses on collecting the evidence on what needs to be done to meet the set learning goals as well. By assessing the progress the students are making, the teacher can then make a decision on how to progress: give feedback to students or maybe even modify the immediate learning objectives to optimise learning outcomes.
To find out more about the key principles of learning-oriented assessment, watch the webinar below with Miranda Hamilton, who spent 12 years as an English teacher and is now an educational consultant working on LOA, and Neil Jones, who worked in English language assessment for 22 years.