Teach english new edition r

continuous assessment, 
where the students’ progress is measured as it is 
happening, and where the measure of a student’s achievement is the work done all through 
the learning period and not just at the end. One form of continuous assessment is the 
language 
portfolio, 
where students collect examples of their work over time, so that these 
pieces of work can all be taken into account when an evaluation is made of their language 
progress and achievement. Such portfolios (called 
dossiers
in this case) are part of the 
CEF
(Com m on European Framework), which also asks language learners to complete 
language
166

---

Testing
passports
(showing their language abilities in all the languages they speak) and 
language
biographies
(describing their experiences and progress).
There are other forms of continuous assessment, too, which allow us to keep an eye on 
how well our students are doing. Such 
continuous recording 
may involve, among other 
things, keeping a record of who speaks in lessons and how often they do it, how compliant 
students are with hom ework tasks and how well they do them, and also how well they 
interact w ith their classmates.
Some students seem to be well suited to taking progress and achievement tests as the main 
way of having their language abilities measured. Others do less well in such circumstances 
and are better able to show their abilities in continuous assessment environments. The best 
solution is probably a judicious blend of both.
Good tests
Good tests are those that do the job they are designed to do and which convince the people 
taking and marking them that they work. Good tests also have a positive rather than a 
negative effect on both students and teachers.
A good test is 
valid. 
This means that it does what it says it will. In other words, if we say 
that a certain test is a good measure o f a student’s reading ability, then we need to be able to 
show that this is the case. There is another kind of validity, too, in that when students and 
teachers see the test, they should think it looks like the real thing - that it has