Week 5-Alternative Assessments and Rubrics

After reading the about assessments and rubrics the following is a summary of what I have understood.

Alternative assessments are performance based activities which helps language learning as communication for meaningful purposes. These methods provide learners opportunities to reflect on their linguistic development and learning processes. For instructors, it is a way to connect assessment with learning strategies.
Checklists are often used for observing performance in order to keep track of a student's progress or work over time as they provide an indication of whether a specific criterion, characteristic, or behavior is present.

Rubrics are a wonderful way to clarify expectations for holistic grading, such as for writing or speaking. Rubrics are divided into four categories. Holistic rubrics- an overall impression or rubrics respond to language performance as a whole. Analytic scales-are divided into separate categories representing different aspects or dimensions of performance. For example, dimensions for writing performance might include content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. Primary trait rubrics- the instructor predetermines the main criterion or primary trait for successful performance of a task, narrowing the criteria for judging performance to one main dimension. The multitrait rubrics approach- is similar to the primary trait approach but allows for rating performance on three or four dimensions rather than just one. As the reading suggests it is important for the Instructors to plan ahead and introduce alternative forms of assessment gradually or in conjunction with traditional forms of testing.

As Vinicius has mentioned this is a way of involving students in the learning process which will make the learning more meaningful to students. In my institution we have been using rubrics, mainly analytic scale, in most of our subjects. we also use peer evaluation in group presentations.