Classroom-Based Language Assessment and L2 Learning

Abstract

Over the past decade, there has been a call for an interface between assessment practices and second language (L2) learning, and this call has come from both testing specialists (e.g., Purpura, 2011) and second language acquisition researchers (e.g., Norris & Ortega, 2003). One area where a crossing point seems to have occurred is in classroom-based language assessment and, in specific, formative assessment. Rea-Dickins (2008) writes that a greater alignment of research in the areas of formative assessment and second language acquisition may give theorists, researchers, and practitioners a clearer understanding of language development in the classroom. Phrases such as learning-oriented language assessment (Purpura, 2004), assessment for learning (Black et al., 2003), and assessment as learning (Rea-Dickins, 2008) have been coined to emphasize the formative purposes, and highlight the learning aspect, of these classroom-based assessment practices.