PERFORMANCE BASED ASSESSMENT IN

THE EFL CLASSROOM

Yamith J. Fandiño
University of La Salle
Bogotá, Colombia
WHY PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT?
WHY PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT?
SCHOOLING/EDUCATION
• Transfer of learning (apply knowledge beyond basic facts and procedures)
• The development of mental habits (thinking and inquiry processes)

RESEARCH
• Improved assessment practices at the classroom level can have powerful,
beneficial effects on transfer of learning and measures of achievement.

TEACHERS
• To make improvements in learning and learning, teachers must be provided
with the assessment tools they need for increasing the achievement of ELLs.

CONSTRUCTED-RESPONSE FORMATS
• Ss develop a response, create a product, or make a demonstration.
• They allow more than one answer to a problem and typically involve higher-
order thinking skills.
 PERFORMANCE-BASED ASSESSMENT
DEFINITION

• Performance-based assessment is an alternative assessment that requires

students to construct a response, create a product, or demonstrate
application of knowledge in authentic contexts (O’Malley & Valdez, 1996, p.
239).
• Performance-based assessment represents a set of strategies for the...
application of knowledge, skills, and work habits through the performance of
tasks that are meaningful and engaging to students (Hibbard and others, 1996,
p. 5)

BENEFITS

• It uses meaningful, naturalistic, and contextualized tasks.

• It promotes hands-on or collaborative activities.
• It shows what students know and can do.
• It supports the language and cognitive needs of ELLs.
• It provides feedback to students on strengths and weaknesses.
 PERFORMANCED-BASED ASSESSMENT

Types
• Products: They are works produced by students that provide concrete
examples of their application of knowledge.
- Examples: writing samples, projects, art or photo exhibits, and
portfolios.

• Performances: They allow students to demonstrate application of

knowledge and skills under the direct observation of the teacher.
- Examples: oral reports, skits and role-plays, demonstrations, and
debates.

• Process-oriented assessments: They provide insight into student

thinking, reasoning, motivation, and use of learning strategies.
- Examples: think-alouds, self-assessment checklists or surveys, learning
logs, and individual or pair conferences.
 PERFORMANCED-BASED ASSESSMENT

Features
• Visible criteria: It consists of the sharing of standards and making the
criteria for evaluation visible to students.

- Teachers share their expectations for student work and performance in

as explicit terms as possible through a scoring rubric, checklist, or
representative samples of student work.

• Self-assessment: It consists of teaching students how to manage their

study habits, use learning strategies, and reflect on progress toward
learning goals.

• Teachers provide students with specific feedback, opportunities to give

and receive criticism from peers, and time to set learning goals.
 PERFORMANCED-BASED ASSESSMENT

While standardized tests may be appropriate for determining

whether or not students have met state and local standards, we
need other forms of assessment to inform instructional decisions
made on a day-to-day basis, diagnose students’ strengths and
weaknesses related to classroom instruction, and provide specific
feedback to students that supports their learning…

Although not a panacea, performance-based assessments can

promote increased achievement for ELLs by increasing confidence in
their ability to learn and motivation to continue learning.
(Valdez, 2002, p. 3)
PERFORMANCED-BASED ASSESSMENT
 PERFORMANCED-BASED ASSESSMENT
Design and implementation
•Define the purpose of the assessment
-What am I trying to assess? What do my students need to know? What prerequisite skills do my
students need to have?

•Decide what activity and tasks will serve your purpose.

-Factors to take into account:
Time constraints, availability of resources in the classroom, and quantity of data needed to
assess the Ss' performance.

-Types of assessment:
Informal: the student does not know that the assessment is taking place.
Besides linguistic aspects, you can assess extra-linguistic aspects such as how students
interact and cooperate, or what their study or work habits are.

Formal: the student is informed about the assessment and the criteria at hand.
You can either observe the student as he/she performs specific tasks (formative assessment)
or assess the quality of end products (summative assessment).
 PERFORMANCED-BASED ASSESSMENT
PROCESS

The first step: Defining the target

•Determine what is it you are going to assess.
•This can generally be accomplished by reviewing the standards and objectives.

The second step: create a performance activity

•Design a project or task that allow the students to demonstrate their knowledge,
reasoning, skills, and/or attitudes.
•These tasks should be authentic (real-world), feasible (in time, space, and cost), fair
(not biased based on gender, race, etc.), flexible (allow multiple outcomes), and
observable.

The third step: create criteria

After the task or project is defined, criteria needs to be developed to assess the
students’ success or the product’s quality.
 PERFORMANCED-BASED ASSESSMENT
CRITERIA

They reflect the elements of the project/task that will be employed to determine the
success or quality of the student’s performance.

1.Identify the ideal project or task to be assessed.

2.List the important aspects of the project or task.
3.Limit the number of performance criteria, so they can all be observed.
4.If possible, have colleagues or students themselves check the criteria.
5.Express the criteria in terms of observable behaviors or product characteristics.
6.Do not use ambiguous words or complex definitions that obscure the performance
criteria.
7.Arrange the performance criteria in the order in which they are likely to be observed.
PERFORMANCED-BASED ASSESSMENT
 PERFORMANCED-BASED ASSESSMENT
INSTRUMENTS

RUBRICS
•Most rubrics consist of objectives, performance characteristics, and points or scores
that indicate the degree to which the objectives were met.
•Rubrics allow students to understand the criteria for assessment before they start the
project.

CHECKLISTS
•Checklists contain a list of behaviors or specific steps, which can be marked as
Present/Absent, Complete/Incomplete, Yes /No, etc.
•Checklists help to provide structure for students and they are great tools to use when
you want to note the completion of a task

HOLISTIC SCORING
•It has one overall score instead of discrete dimensions. It is used when one, overall
score is more important than sub-scores for specific categories.
•Although holistic scales can be easier to create and easier to score, they do not provide
a great deal of feedback.
 References

Brualdi, A. (1998). Implementing performance assessment in the classroom.

Practical assessment research and evaluation, 6(2). Retrieved from
http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=6&n=2

Valdez, L. (2002). Performance-based assessment: promoting achievement

for English language learners. ERIC/CLL news bulletin, 26(1), 1-3