Special Focus on Assessment and Feedback

Assessment as an Authentic,
Communicative ExperienceSteps for Creating
Performance-Based Assessments and Rubrics to
Demonstrate Student Understanding

By Crystal Brim

uestion: What is truer than truth? Answer: the story. This Jewish
proverb came to mind as I thought about the words assessment
and grade. What does a grade mean? Numerical equations compute
GPAs from a number that teachers assign to student learning. An A in
one school system equals 90100%. In others it equals 94% and above.
Conversely, a failing grade is 70% and below at certain schools and 60%
and below at others. Some schools insist that students grades should
not be based at all on behavior; the grade should demonstrate only what
they know. These percentages represent truth on the transcript.
But, considering faculty personality, teaching philosophy, and the
school district/state standards, what does a grade mean? When students complete the school year or graduate, how can they demonstrate
their understanding and skills? Answer: the story. Performance-based
assessments, documented and compiled in a portfolio (including
the rubric), provide the story. Furthermore, educators can create an
authentic and personal language learning experience for students by
developing performance-based assessments that focus on meaningbearing communication. The key to creating effective assessments is to
work backward, step-by-step, from the desired results.

Step 1: Determine What You Want Students to Know

Content coverage is the sin of curriculum development, according
to Wiggins and McTighe. In The Understanding by Design Guide
to Creating High-Quality Units (2011), they state that the textbook
should serve as a resource, not the syllabus of a course: We dont
start with content; we start with what students are expected to be
able to do with content.
In my first years of teaching, I was required to teach the same
curriculum as the other instructors who taught my courses. Course
material was covered with each turn of the textbook page. Once the
last page of the chapter arrived, the paper-and-pencil test happened.
In this paradigm, the content determined the assessment instead
of the assessment informing the units curriculum. Once I was able
to teach using my textbook as a resource instead of as a syllabus, I
could start working backward from my desired result.
Teaching learners to transfer, or apply what they have learned in
one way or context to another, on their own (Wiggins & McTighe,
2011), is one of my overarching curriculum goals for each language
level. When I studied in Mexico as a foreign exchange student in high
school, I had to transfer what I had learned in my Spanish class the
moment I met my host family. Initially, most conversations required
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the ability to discuss my personality, family, friends, and interests.

Connecting with others through authentic experiences and meaningful
conversation transformed my thinking about grammar worksheets and
drills: Grammar became a tool to help me communicate. I discovered
that it was the ability to exchange ideas with real people that mattered
more than speaking and writing with perfect discourse.
When I became a Spanish teacher, I desired to recreate a similar experience for my students. But doing so would require a paradigm shift
from the instructional methods of drilling grammar to which I had
been exposed. My first step was to create a learning community based
on meaning-bearing communication demonstrated in skills-based
performance. I focused on fostering an environment of opportunities
where students could learn and demonstrate the ability to transfer.
Meaning-bearing communication is essential to encourage the exchange of ideas and student motivation. I see evidence of knowledge and
skill retention when communication and assessment are centered on ideas
relevant to my students own lives. When something is relevant and meaningful, we have a better chance of remembering it. Hence, I began with the
easiest subject for a student to communicate in target language: ones self.
My desired result was for students to communicate the story of
their lives from childhood to the present, just as I had to in Mexico
as an exchange student. My secondary goal was for students in different language course levels to complete the same project, demonstrating their knowledge of both that levels language structures and an
ability to think within the continuum of cognitive processes. I wanted Level 2 students to move beyond lower-order thinking skills and
Advanced Placement (AP) students to exhibit higher order thinking
skills. For that reason, I created two semester goals from which to
work backward: By the end of the first semester in Level 2 Spanish,
students in groups of three will converse for 6 minutes in the present
indicative tense discussing their personalities, family, friends, and
interests. AP Spanish Literature and Culture students will compose
free-verse poetry about their personalities, family, friends, and interests, accurately using a variety of literary devices.

Step 2: Decide How You Want Students to Demonstrate Their

Understanding
Performance-based tasks and assessments promote academic growth
when centered on meaning-based communication and communication/thinking skills. To achieve my semester goals for Level 2 and AP,
I created a performance-based assessment that would embody my
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February 2014

Assessments Improve Learning and Teaching

philosophy of a learning community with the vertical articulation of

language skills and integration of communication and technology
skills. The project was called Autorretrato (Self-Portrait).
Wiggins and McTighe assert that teaching for understanding
(in my case, meaning-bearing communication) involves ongoing
inquiries about a big idea, versus a focus solely on the acquisition of
knowledge and skill. This student inquiry and investigation should
be framed by essential questions. Essential questions are conceptual
questions that organize a unit of study and influence learning expectations and assessment products or performances. In Mapping the
Big Picture (1997), Jacobs provides a list of eight best writing practices for generating essential questions to guide learners and refine
teaching. In addition to essential questions, Wiggins and McTighe
define authentic performance as conditional knowledge and skill in
context. If students can demonstrate when, where, and why to use
what they have learned, then they demonstrate understanding.
Accordingly, I began designing the Autorretrato project by
working backward from these essential questions: What is a selfportrait? What makes us who we are? How do we convey who
we are to others? How do others experience and react to us? These
questions created the foundation for an authentic, communicative
experience. Once the project was completed, students could answer
these essential questions and the process was documented in the
creation and presentation of the Autorretrato assessment.
Once I established the conceptual framework for this unit of study,
I determined that the final product would demonstrate students skills
working with video editing software programs, in keeping with my
schools mission of technology use. Next, I identified the modes of
communication I desired students to demonstrate: presentational writing and speaking and interpretive listening. Finally, it was necessary to
decide the linguistic structures that would be used to communicate for
each level. Students in Level 2 communicated in the present indicative
tense (including all irregular forms). They were also required to show
their understanding of affirmatives and negatives and of comparatives and superlatives. AP students were required to demonstrate their
ability to communicate with a variety of verb tenses and grammatical
structures. Additionally, I wanted AP students to engage in the same
higher order thinking skills as are on the AP Exam: application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Therefore, AP Spanish Literature students completed a different version of the Autorretrato project. They
wrote poetry in Spanish, using literary devices they learned in class.
Based on the essential questions of this project, students created a
mosaic to most accurately present themselves to others. The mosaic
was composed of Spanish narrative, still photos, video clips, personal
artwork, and the music they felt best conveyed their self-image.
Students in Level 2 created a video (using iMovie or Windows Movie
Maker) depicting their lives from childhood to present day. First,
they composed the narrative in four segments: their personalities,
family, friends, and interests. Second, students worked collaboratively in what I call Writers Workshop to edit each others language
structures and write interpersonal comments on content. Next, they
created storyboards to illustrate the narrative with still photographs
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February 2014

and images. Once the story was complete, students needed to

import the visual components of their mosaic and the corresponding narrative into a video-editing program. Because many of my
students learned this cross-curricular skill in my language course, it
was necessary to teach the required technology skills and review the
guidelines of digital citizenship.
Technology is a tool for communication, similar to the way
grammar functions to convey ideas. Technology use should not be
the focus of our language curriculum, but it certainly helps connect
students with content and deposit it in their long-term memory.
Additionally, we connect meaningfully to common core curriculum
by teaching technology skills in language classrooms. Best practices
in teaching technology involve first presenting your own product
or past student examples and then modeling specific skills required
to meet your standards. Also, instructors should distribute a rubric
with detailed expectations when presenting their model example and
required skills. When students receive the scoring standards for a
project before they begin the project, the expectations can guide their
work and students can take ownership of their learning.
After teaching the technology skills required for the video, students must learn those skills. This is a great opportunity for projectbased learning because students learn best by doing. The first time
you assign an intricate technology project, it is advisable to allocate
a week of instructional time to monitor and guide them as they construct their own learning. If you struggle philosophically with allowing that much class time, remember that the more students engage
with content, the probability that the content will be stored in their
long-term memory increases.
Once students imported their storyboards into a video-processing
program and I taught students how to use it, they had to import music
they felt established a certain mood and reflected their self-images.
When music is incorporated, the editing process begins. Students
chose a theme song with lyrics to open and close their video. They
selected wordless music for the background of the narrative and took
care to comply with copyright law concerning all songs. The song clips
had to correspond precisely with the transition between images and
narrative. At first, the editing process can be tricky but students grow
more confident and knowledgeable with time and practice.
To add another dimension to the mosaic, the individuals voice narrated the story in Spanish, corresponding to the text of the video. This
component gave students the chance to demonstrate their pronunciation
skills and learn how to record and mix the voice-over with the background music. Finally, students included a title page (Quien soy: Who I
am, name, date, meaningful quote) and finished with a word cloud of
the videos narrative. Last, students were required to cite their sources.
Our Level 2 learning community connected and became closer
from viewing these products: We saw Seths cows and watched him
drive his tractor in Georgia; we met Sydneys family and friends in
Africa and saw what life is like there; we traveled to Sweden to see
Hannas home and hear about her dreams and listen to her favorite
band. We experienced life together, in another language. AP Spanish
Literature students related similarly to one another by completing
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Special Focus on Assessment and Feedback

a different version of the Autorretrato project. They wrote poetry

in Spanish, applying the proper use of literary devices they learned
in class. Their videos had the same technical components, yet they
focused on establishing a strong poetic voice through their word
choice. AP students were motivated to learn literary devices because
they needed to create with them and they observed how writing style
further conveyed a message about the individual.

Step 3: Determine How to Effectively Measure Students

Understanding
Standards-based rubrics, with detailed skills levels, establish learning
expectations for the unit and empower students to take ownership
of their learning. Ineffective rubrics are those that list an expectation
but establish no standard. For instance, an ineffective rubric for an
oral presentation might state pronunciation: 1 2 3 4 5, grammar:
1 2 3 4 5. The teachers would listen and circle the number they
felt represented the students performance. Note the word felt. You
could substitute the word believed, but on what is that belief based?
Would there be evidence or feedback to inform student improvement?
In a public school classroom of 35 students it would be difficult for
any teacher to provide the amount of individual feedback that would
lead to student growth. Numerically based rubrics are similar to the
notion of a GPA representing student understanding. In fact, it is hard
to use a numerically based rubric without looking for what is wrong
to justify the score. With every error, the student fears dropping down
a number. However, a standards-based rubric, composed of narrative,
encourages the evaluator to look for what is right.
Scoring a performance with any type of rubric brings objective
criteria to what has traditionally been a subjective endeavor. Rubrics
with standards-based descriptors are more effective and fair. In A
Guide to Curriculum Mapping (2008), Hale identifies descriptors as
well-written skill statements that clarify the learning expectation relationship between a skill and the aligned content learning. Ideally, it
is the descriptors, rather than the evaluators affective response, that
judge the performance. The evaluators role becomes that of determining which category of performance the learner achieves. Guskey
and Bailey assert in Developing Standards-Based Report Cards (2010)
that grading involves one group of human beings (teachers) making
judgments about the performance of another group of human beings
(students). Though grading will always be an exercise in professional
judgment, standards-based rubrics provide students and parents
with the means to interpret the professional judgment the teacher
has made.
To create an effective rubric, you must first establish the standard
skill level of target language use. I consult the ACTFL Performance
Descriptors for Language, Concordia Language Villages Global SelfAssessment Grid, and AP Spanish Language and Literature rubrics.
I cull descriptors from these resources to determine the standard of
student performance I expect at each language level and for each assessment. The ACTFL Performance Descriptors for Language provide
descriptive performance outcomes adaptable to fit differences in languages and learners. The descriptors are organized according to ranges
50

of performance (Novice, Intermediate, Advanced), modes of communication (Interpersonal, Interpretive, Presentational) and domains of
performance. For this project, my target performance range for Level
2 was Intermediate. (Learn more at www.actfl.org/publications/guidelines-and-manuals/actfl-performance-descriptors-language-learners).
The Global Self-Assessment Grid contains a series of can-do
statements concerning the three communicative modes: interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational. This chart is designed to help
students determine what they are able to understand and to communicate in a world language. It also helps them set goals concerning what they want to be able to understand and communicate.The
Global Grid gives them a road map to help them develop proficiency
in the language they are learning. The Global Self-Assessment Grid
is based on the European Language Portfolio (ELP) designed by the
Council of Europe and the LinguaFolio designed by the National
Council of State Supervisors for Languages (NCSSFL) in the United
States. (Find out more at tinyurl.com/concordia-global-grid). My
target performance range on the Global Grid for this project was
Exploring Mid. For the AP version of the Autorretrato project, I
consulted AP rubrics for poetry analysis and added descriptors
about creative writing. (AP rubrics can be accessed at apcentral.
collegeboard.com.)
After establishing the standard skill level of target language use,
you must determine what features of the performance you wish to
assess and describe them in as much detail as possible (in abbreviated form) for each category of performance: Exceeds the Standard,
Meets the Standard, Approaching the Standard, and Does Not
Meet the Standard. For the Autorretrato project, I had two separate
rubrics: Spanish Language Use and Production Standards: Movie.
There was no need to reinvent the wheel for my Level 2 Spanish
Language Use rubric because excellent examples are already available. I consulted writing and speaking performance descriptors from
Fairfax County Public Schools (www.fcps.edu/is/worldlanguages/
pals/#rubric). I used their writing rubric to assess the following categories: task completion (development of the Autorretrato storyline),
comprehensibility, level of discourse, vocabulary, language control,
and mechanics. I added two categories from FCPSs Level 2 speaking
rubric to assess the voice-over: fluency and pronunciation.
In the past, my Autorretrato project consisted of a visual art production and presentational writing in the target language. However,
my current schools mission incorporates the use of technology as a
21st century skill. Therefore, I transformed the project into a crosscurricular digital media production and it is appropriate for me to allocate a grade for a performance of knowledge in technology. Though
language use rubrics are relatively easy to acquire, I found that a
cross-curricular digital media production required combining several
rubrics and creating descriptors of my own.
Rubric writing is an ongoing process of creating, implementing, assessing, and rewriting. After changing the project standards, I studied
multiple technology rubrics online and in books and synthesized them
for implementation. Essentially, the first rubric was a rough draft. The
best way to improve a rubric is to assess projects with it and rewrite
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February 2014

Production Standards: Movie ProjectSecondary Levels Technology Use Rubric

Movie Components

Exceeds the Standard

Meets the Standard

Approaching the
Standard

Does Not Meet the

Standard

Visual elements:

In addition to Meets the

Standard criteria:

Still photographs and

video clips explain
and reinforce overall
storyline; they are
organized with artistic
unity (balance between
variety and harmony)

Still photographs and

video clips relate to the
storyline. Some do not
explain overall storyline
and/or may not relate
to the text in individual
frames or sections of
the movie. Portions of
composition lack variety
and/or harmony between
frames

Still photographs and/or

video clip do not relate
to storyline

Some images and/or

the video clip have poor
resolution. They are too
small, grainy, or pixelated

Most images are not clear

Frame composition,
Still photos/video clip/
word cloud
Resolution

Innovative and engaging:

student included
either original artwork,
photography, or video
that contains clear
subject, art form, and
content (meaning)

Still photographs and

video resolution are very
clear
Scanned images are
adjusted in a photo
editor to be clear with
balanced color
Images are appropriate
size for clear viewing

In addition to Meets the

Standard criteria:

Sound:
Music
Voice-overs

Music enhances movie:

Variety of songs used in
harmonious fashion
Music was created by
student with music
creation software

Images may be
distracting and detract
from storyline or are
inappropriate
Incorrect number of still
photos or video clips.
Word cloud is missing

Scanned images were

not adjusted in a photo
editor

Music matches the mood

of the storyline and
visual elements

Music volume is too loud

or too soft in portions of
the movie

Music may distract viewer

and/or is out of balance
throughout the movie

Volume is set to an appropriate level throughout movie and fades in

and out in accordance
with voice-overs

Portions of the voiceover are muffled/unclear

and/or improperly mixed
with music

The majority of voiceover is difficult to

understand because it
is muffled and/or poorly
mixed with music

Some unnatural pauses

or clips do not accurately
match the voice-over
speed

Movie is difficult to
follow due to tempo and
pacing problems

Voice-over is very clear

and properly mixed with
music
Editing/enhancing:
Image transition and
pacing
Text pacing and
movement

In addition to Meets the

Standard criteria:
Incorporates video
effects (e.g., pan and
scan, cross-dissolve)
Creative combination
of text, pacing and
movement reflect and
enhance the mood of
the storyline/visual
elements/music

Text appearance matches

the mood of the movie;
text is clearly visible,
accurately matches the
voice-over speed and
moves in an aesthetically
pleasing manner across
the screen
All sources are used
appropriately according
to copyright law and
properly cited

Digital citizenship:
Citing sources, copyright
compliance

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Transitions flow
smoothly: no unnatural
pauses between images,
clips accurately matches
voice-over speed

February 2014

Some text isnt clear due

to font, size, or color
contrast
Some text is too fast, too
slow or moves chaotically
across screen distracting
the viewer

All sources are used

appropriately according
to copyright law but
some sources are not
properly cited

Text is difficult to read

due to font, size, or color
contrast
Text movement is
distracting. It is too fast
to read and/or doesnt
match voice-over speed

Few sources are properly

cited and/or usage
breaks copyright law

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Special Focus on Assessment and Feedback

the rubric with what you learned. After assessing the digital project
and consulting with colleagues, I realized that the rubrics I found
online were laden with values-based language and vague descriptors.
Many of my original descriptors were not well-written because they
needed to be operationalizeda process of making a concept/learning
expectation clearly distinguishable or measurable in terms of observation. Consistent with the ongoing cycle of rubric composition, I offer
my current draft of the cross-disciplinary rubric I use for this project:
When composing this technology use rubric, I begin with descriptors in the category Meets the Standard. In a culture of grade inflation
I desired to establish the criteria for achieving an A. However, I also
wanted to provide an accessible challenge for my students by listing
the descriptors for work that Exceeds the Standardwork that is
worthy of a score of 97100% and reflects the abilities of a different
student than those who earn 9094%. In fact, when students ask if I
give any extra credit, I point them to the Exceeds the Standard portion of a rubric and state that they can execute those descriptors to go
above and beyond to earn more points to improve their class grade. I
write the performance category Exceeds the Standard second because
the students who wish to earn that grade must do everything to meet
the standard criteria plus the additional descriptors. In this manner,
the narrative of the rubric is very detailed, but does not repeat itself
unnecessarily. Thus it is user-friendly and students understand the
precise expectations they must fulfill to earn the grade they desire.
Educators of any content area can use this digital media production
rubric and apply the grade range to each category that most appropriately reflects the values of their school system.

Step 4: Create the Learning Experience with Enabling Activities

The ideal curriculum begins with determining the desired results.
These results inform writing the units essential questions. The essential questions, in turn, provide the framework of the assessments
content. Deciding the modes of communication and linguistic structures to incorporate generate the language of the rubric. Now you are
ready to begin creating the activities that enable the learner to demonstrate understanding on a performance-based assessment. What
things must be taught and practiced to facilitate student learning and
growth? First, begin with an information-exchange task to determine
what students know and think about the content. Second, provide
comprehensible and meaning-bearing input. Third, create specific
input-oriented activities. Finally, create structured-output activities.
For the Autorretrato project, I began with an information-exchange
task that is an authentic and communicative experience: Antes de leer
(Before Reading) questions facilitated interpersonal communication
about what students know and think concerning self-portraits. These
questions are based on the essential questions of this unit: What is a
self-portrait? What makes us who we are? How do we convey who we
are to others? How do others experience and react to us?
AP students can discuss the essential questions in the target
language in conversation groups. Level 2 students discuss more concrete ideas in a structured manner in the target language: Describe
this portraitwhat does she look like? Based on the next series of
52

pictures, what is her personality like? What do you think makes this
person who he or she is? Choose as many as apply from the following list: physical, personality, spiritual, cultural.
Next, I provide comprehensible and meaning-bearing input. Level
2 students read a book called La Gran Aventura de Alejandro (1994)
by Kanter. This reader gives intermediate students the experience of
reading simple material that exposes them to significant language
constructs and Spanish culture. We begin Level 2 with this reading
because it facilitates conversation and reinforces the common vocabulary and grammar taught by the textbook. The first several chapters
focus on our Autorretrato themes: personality, family, friends, and
interests and the grammar used to convey those ideas. Using this
book reinforces my goal of presenting grammar as a tool for communicating ideas. After each chapter, the author includes specific
input-oriented activities for vocabulary and grammar: both referential (right or wrong) and affective (expressing opinion or belief). The
author also provides structured-output activities to practice speaking
and writing. Additionally, I create activities for students to transfer
the knowledge and skills they learned from the reader to a different
context. For example, they write the narrative for the Autorretrato
projects in four segments that correspond with the books chapters.
They must utilize the vocabulary and grammar that describes the
protagonist Alejandro to portray their own lives. Students conduct
interviews with one another to practice interpersonal communication
on the same content. Additionally, they write scripts and perform
plays that contain the cultural figures introduced in the book. In
this play, students must interact with those cultural figures using the
vocabulary and grammar taught in the reader.
From comprehensible input to structured-output, these activities prepare students to construct the Autorretrato movie. I also
give Level 2 formative assessments on the vocabulary and grammar
of this unit. I use quizlet.com to give students practice, and they
take quizzes I create on quia.com. Additional formative assessments
consist of conversation tests measuring interpersonal communication
of the content. Formative assessments are for learning. Therefore,
students receive feedback online and on rubrics and are given further
practice. Finally, they are ready for a summative assessmentan
assessment of learning: the Autorretrato movie project. Individual
projects are shown in class and I evaluate them according to both the
language and technology rubrics. An additional instructional goal is
for the movies to be used didactically as comprehensible input. Students in the audience react and respond to their classmates movies
in writing. Later, they engage in interpersonal communication when
discussing the content. The Autorretrato movie project also serves
as a formative assessment to prepare students for their final exam
interpersonal speaking portion, in keeping with my goal: By the end
of the first semester in Level 2 Spanish, students in groups of three
will converse for 6 minutes in the present indicative tense discussing
their personalities, family, friends, and interests.
My semester goal for AP students is to engage in the same higher
order thinking skills as the AP Exam: application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. In this unit, the poem Autorretrato by Rosario
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Assessments Improve Learning and Teaching

Castellanos serves as the comprehensible input for AP students. They

must read each stanza of the poem and identify the theme portrayed
and the literary devices used to do so. Just as Level 2 learners wrote
prose that paralleled the reader La Gran Aventura de Alejandro, AP students were challenged with penning free-verse stanzas of similar themes
about their own lives. The first draft focused on content. Subsequent
drafts focused on using literary devices accurately to enhance the tone
and lyricism of the poetic voice. Like Level 2 students, AP students
worked cooperatively in Writers Workshop to edit each others language
use and write interpersonal comments on content and literary device
usage. The final draft became a storyboard with images and AP students
created the same movie as Level 2 students. The rubric I created for
technology skills is used for my movie projects in all language levels.
These enabling activities and summative assessment equipped learners to answer the essential questions with which my unit design began.
I worked backward, step-by-step, from that desired result so that these
questions framed the curriculum and guided the learning experience.
The inquiry and investigation process required students to self-reflect

Montgomery continued from p. 47

NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements

as they record themselves spontaneously
exchanging information and expressing
opinions about their favorite books and
popular movies. She reports that students
willingly challenge themselves to progress to
the next level of performance, and she employs several different strategies to support
them in doing so.
Mau explains: We use a conversation
card that draws attention to behaviors and
gambits to keep in the conversation. I also
encourage constant reflection through
questioning (e.g., Why do you think this is
Intermediate-Low work?) Students set a goal
detailing the steps they will take in order to
progress to the next level based on what they
did or did not do. Self-assessment draws
students attention to their own progress,
helps them to celebrate their success, and
encourages them to develop a desire to
continue learning language throughout
their lives.

and empowered them to express their findings in an authentic manner

to others. Because the questions focused on the learner as an individual,
the curriculum bore special meaning, maximizing content retention and
facilitating both presentational and interpersonal communication. Evaluating the project with a standards-based rubric clearly established the
expectations of the assessment. Though evaluating student projects relies
on professional judgment, the narrative in these rubrics makes the evaluation more credible and easy to interpret by both students and parents.
In fact, Spanish teachers, no matter the location, could assess my students understanding with the same rubrics. Ideally, these explicit standards would make the evaluation more empirical and another teacher
would score the project similarly. Collecting the Autorretrato project in
a portfolio would be useful for both students and instructors to measure
academic growth over time. This communicative performance-based
assessment shows that understanding is not a mere number decided by
the instructor. Understanding is a story told by the learner.
Crystal J. Brim is a Spanish Teacher at Darlington School in Rome, Georgia.

Students need feedback from the teacher

throughout the creative process. Both
interpersonal and presentational assessment
tasks offer many opportunities for teachers
to identify patterns of error in student
performance. Teachers can then provide
students with on-the-spot instruction, along
with just-in-time feedback and support to
immediately improve performance during
each task. Teachers can evaluate the quality
of the oral feedback they give by checking if
their feedback:
elicits students evaluation of their
own performance;
draws students attention to what they
did well;
shows students how patterns of
error, misconceptions, or inefficient
processes affected performance;
focuses on no more than three items
students have control over changing
about their performance;
includes specific strategies or
concrete steps that lead to immediate
progress; and
offers sincere encouragement.

the most provocative forms of assessment

showcase what students know and can do
with the target language, help students to
begin to see language as a tool for accomplishing real tasks, and support them in
experiencing increasing confidence and success with their language abilities. Ensuring
that assessment empowers our students in
these ways may require us to shift our focus
from using assessment for more mundane
purposes (such as assigning grades) toward
those which provide cognitively challenging,
emotionally engaging, and socially satisfying
opportunities to share interesting information with authentic audiences for meaningful purposes.
Such assessments have the potential to
influence students self-perceptions, shape
their identities, and affect their futures.
As we design compelling assessment tasks
around culturally authentic tasks, carefully
scaffold students progress, and focus on
providing feedback instead of just a grade,
assessment will begin to empower our students, transform our instruction, and change
our world in positive and powerful ways.

The Power of Assessment

Cherice Montgomery is an Assistant Professor of

Spanish Pedagogy and Coordinator of the Spanish
Teaching Major Program at Brigham Young University,
Provo, Utah.

Like most tools, the value of assessment

depends on our skill in using it. Some of
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