Unit 18 - Assessment types and tasks

What are assessment types and tasks?

Assessment means judging learners’ performance by collecting information about it. We assess learners for different reasons, using different methods to do so. Assessment tasks are the tasks we use for assessing learners. We can assess learners informally or formally. Informal assessment is when we observe learners to see how well they are doing something and then often give them comments on their performance. Formal assessment is when we assess learners through tests or exams and give their work a mark or a grade. 

Reading	Writing
-True/false questions -Yes/no questions -Multiple-choice questions -Open comprehension questions -Information transfer, e.g. table completion -Ordering paragraphs -Choosing titles for texts or paragraphs -Cloze tests	-Copying -Jumbled words -Labelling -Form filling -Sentence/dialogue completion -Completing the middle/end of a story -Story writing -Picture/diagram description -Writing essays/ compositions/ emails/ letters/  postcards/reports
Listening	Speaking
-True/false questions -Yes/no questions -Multiple-choice questions -Open comprehension questions -Information transfer, e.g. table completion -Listen and complete the gaps/sentences -Tick the word/sentence you heard -Following instruction for mapping a route/drawing a picture, etc. -Choose the adjective/picture/diagram, etc. which best describes what you heard -Dictation	-Repeating words/sentences -Responding to prompts/functions -Describing pictures/objects/films, etc. -Giving (short) presentations -Discussions -Interviews -Role-play -Problem-solving in groups
Grammar	Vocabulary
-Multiple-choice questions -Sentence/dialogue completion -Transformation exercises -Error correction -Gap-filling	-Labelling -Categorizing -Word-building -Word maps/mind maps (diagrams showing relationships between words in the same lexical set) -Matching -Odd one out -Finding/ giving synonyms/ antonyms/ definitions, lexical sets

Reference:

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2012). The TKT Teaching Knowledge Test Course Modules 1,2 and 3 (Vol. Second edition). United Kingdom: Cambridge English.