Although the terms assessment and evaluation are often used interchangeably, in actuality they are two parts of the same process.

Assessment is the process of gathering evidence of what the child can do.

Evaluation is the process that follows this collection of data, including analysis and reflection, as well as decisions based on the data.

For more, see: Assessing and Evaluating Student Learning

http://www.ed.gov.nl.ca/edu/k12/curriculum/guides/english/primary/studentaccess.pdf

Dear Nebi, thank you very much for your response.

Dear Bahram,

Generally, we apply three different types of evaluation in our teaching process. These are:

1. for shaping, promoting the personality including motivation towards learning (formative)

2. for summarizing a unit or section in the learning-teaching process (summative)

3. to observe different issues in the process in order to correct them (diagnostic)

Since the 2nd and 3rd type is connected to a real measurement process because you need to have exact data for your decision e.g. level of knowledge, we name it as "evaluation".

The 1st one, you do not need exact data just express your feeling e.g. I like your drawing etc. we call it as assessment.

Ágnes

Thank you very much dear Agnes for your reply.

Assessment – is the process of investigating (1) what students are learning and (2) how well they are learning it in relation to the stated expected learning outcomes for the course. Assessment helps faculty understand how well their students understand course topics/lessons. Assessment exercises are often anonymous.

Evaluation – making a judgment about the quality of student’s learning/work and assigning a grade based on that judgment. Evaluation activities (such as exams, papers, etc.) are often seen as formal ways to assess the expected learning outcomes for a course.

For more, see: Writing and Assessing Course-Level Student Learning Outcomes

http://www.depts.ttu.edu/opa/resources/docs/writing_learning_outcomes_handbook3.pdf

Dear Nebi, thanks again for your contribution and reply.

Hi Bahram;

A brief explanation;

Assessment is a form of test which involves obtaining evidence to inform inferences about a person's( an assesse, a test- taker, testee or candidate's) language- related knowledge, skills and ability.

Test or assessment which is used inter-changeably comes in a form of formative(check progress of learning) and summative( end of program check). Assessment comes in many forms of formal ,informal methods and different types test or purposes.

E.g. in a classroom

-informal questioning in class by teachers, quizzes carried out in class, learners -reflecting on their own language use( self - Assessment),(peer assessment)

-collections of learners' work (projects and portfolios).

observation techniques(watching and recording what learners do0

And the summative will be more formal test administered under strictly controlled conditions.

The types of tests or purpose will be;

proficiency test, placement test, achievement test, diagnostic test, communicative test, etc.

Evaluation - The purpose is to support long term improvement in renewal of programs/curriculums, teaching- learning, assessment with the fundamental goal of improving student's learning and teacher's effectiveness in relation to student's progress.

In short, it enables teachers to think about what they do, how they do it and why, so that they can develop awareness and understanding of the evaluating culture of learning that they are creating, reflection and making further refinements as needed.

In a Nutshell:-

Assessment - Judging the ability of a learner based on a test or otherwise and using judgment as a constructive element in learning over time.

Evaluation - Judgment made about a test-taker's ability , knowledge and intelligence.

To add to the assessment conversation in terms of gathering information based on established goals/objectives/expectations- it is not exactly a test; assessment can be formal or informal. In fact, it is critical to assess students at different times throughout a particular lesson or activity in order to gather insights (information) of students' understanding and learning. Assessment informs teaching, therefore it is imperative to use/implement a variety of tools to assess students' learning and make any necessary adjustments for clarification, when needed. Teaching/modeling, practice/application/exploration, and reflection/assessment are part of the learning process.

Thank you dears Renuka and Floris for your contribution and responses.

When we look at the current practice where continuous assessment forms part of the final grade point of the learner and for that matter his/ her certification, it becomes difficult to make a distinction between the two terms. I want to think that two criteria could be helpful. It is my view and it is subject to correction.

1. Who is doing what?

2. For whom?

With the criteria above, we would consider what the teacher does in order to find the weakness in the learner’s work and also the weakness in his/ her own teaching strategies as assessment. The purpose would be to improve learning.

Then, when the learner assigns scores to the teacher with regards to his/ her overall teaching performance and/ or makes comments on their performance, this activity should be considered as evaluation. Again, when both the teacher and the learner assign scores to a programme and/ or comments on a programme that has run for a period of time in their school, this should be regarded as evaluation. The evaluation is done for a third party.

We may add that this third party could use the results to make decisions concerning a teacher’s salary etc; facing out of a programme, determination of grade for certification of a learner and so on. A learner, by accident, may use evaluation result to make a decision about a programme, as to whether he or she wants to study that programme or not. By accident, a teacher may equally use the evaluation result to make decision concerning his/ her teaching.

Yes, they vary. Evaluation is a superordinate term while assessment or test is a subordinate term. This article might be of help. Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org

ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online)

Vol 2, No 4, 2011

36

Toward an Integrated Framework for Language Testing and

Intervention

Richard Kamai

Department of English

Federal College of Education

P.M.B. 2042, Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria

E-mail: [email protected]

Jude Valentine Badaki (corresponding author)

Department of English

Concordia College, Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria

E-mail:[email protected]

Thanks dear Richard for you response and contribution.

As said earlier, assessment is a formative activity that aims to know what has and is happening in  a given program or mission where as is evaluation is a judgement of a program or mission based on the assessment results. For example a test is an assessment  and the decision made following the test outcome is an evaluation such as allowing a student to progress or delaying or awarding a grade ranging from A to F. The tools we use in research to help us collect information are assessment tools whereas the tools we use to make judgement such as significance tests are evaluation tools.

Hailom i am particularly glad about your detailed explanation of assessment. However, it is important that certain misconceptions are ironed out. First of all, assessment is not always formative as indicated in your explanation. Assessment can be diagnostic, formative, or summative. Therefore in order to effectively define assessment, it is important to understand the various purposes.   

What David said is correct. There are different assessment types. Nevertheless whether assessment is formative , summative, diagnostic, continuous as is a recommended practice  these days, the ultimate aim is to generate data that could be used for evaluating the assessed  individual or group. The purpose of any assessment could be different  from program to program depending on the program objective. However, the ultimate end is to make a decision for taking an action. This could be looking to the level of students and as to what type of instruction and use of teaching material suit  to help achieve program objectives ( course objectives for example); or determine the level of the assessed individuals and groups  or any other. Today we talk about reflection in action and reflection on action. The reflection is a way of conducting assessment  on real action and that leads to making decision to improve say for example ability to give instruction, manage classes and the like.

Yes, "evaluation" and "assessment" as educational term are used interchangeably. But I believe that assessment can be part of an EVALUATION process, not the other way around! When the examiner - after a diagnostic test, for example - doesn't stop and decides to take the issue a little bit further by suggesting a useful intervention (or - in educational terms - an effective learning strategy), this is called EVALUATION! Moreover, when we provide judgement - as stated above - then we're proceeding into the stage of evaluation. Compared to assessment, EVALUATION looks like AN UMBRELLA TERM that includes many different forms, strategies and techniques for assessment. Besides, the PURPOSE might indicate whether we're assessing or evaluating something; for example, in the case of a NEEDS-ANALYSIS test, we're required to use the data from the test to produce a list that can inform the design of an instructional programme, for example. I see this as 'evaluation'..However, PROFICIENCY language tests such as TOEFL or IELTS, can be seen as a form of ASSESSMENT, since the main purpose is to assess learners'/candidates' current mastery level  of English as a foreign language.

Hope this helps!

Mahmoud

there are three steps in any evaluation system:first is measurement where the data is collected using valid and reliable tests, second is assessment where the decisions are taken depending on the results of analyzing the data .third evaluation where a program is constructed to develop the target which can be a teacher performance, a curriculum or achievement of the learners .

I agree with George that measurement is a sub-set of the category 'assessment'. Assessment can be a combination of quantitative and qualitative results gained through measurement of specific skills/knowledge as well as qualitative observation. This is usually objective.  Evaluation  is usually used when positive and negative qualities of a person/project/assignment are considered especially when it is done to help improve someone or something with recommendations, etc. Evaluation is usually subjective.

Test represents one particular measurement technique. Evaluation involved measurement techniques , such as using Likert scale, scoring rubrics and checklist. Measurement is the process of assigning numbers to individual or programmes according to specific but do not yet making any judgement. Assessment is the process of gathering information to make judgements on a specific programmes.

Assessment: it is a generic term that encompasses all types of evaluations. One speaks of student assessment in general. It is outcome-oriented. Evaluation uses grades and is geared towards learners’ mastery level, performance and verbal ability. One also speaks of textbook evaluation.

I would recommend reading MacNamara, Scaramucci , and Morrow for that.

This could help in making things clearer!

·        Assessment is the most generic term. Its targets are the processes of learning and teaching. It provides data for improving the learning and teaching processes. It is used by education authorities to gauge how well the learners are learning. The main purpose of assessment is to help improve the considered module or subject-matter. Assessments are said to be given at the beginning of a learning experience (lesson, course...).

·        Evaluation is associated with the word textbook (textbook evaluation). It provides the teachers with scores, grades and marks. It sets out to measure to what extent the learning objectives are attained. It takes place at the end of a learning session or experience.