Assessing Student Learning Outcomes: Teacher Perspectives on Assessment Formats

Abstract

Student assessments matter in so many significant ways. They have a direct impact on our teaching practices and our students’ learning experiences and outcomes. They matter institutionally – in terms of how our departments participate in larger conversations about teaching practices, accountability, and funding. Finally, our assessments speak to our professionalism and teaching philosophies.

The Assessment Guide is a collaborative effort of the TU Dortmund Division of Foreign Languages faculty to engage in a meaningful and student-oriented discussion about assessing student achievement. Although chosen examples come from the area of L2 (English), most of the discussed material is not language-specific and can be applied to teaching other languages.

The purpose of the Assessment Guide is to offer recommendations and guiding templates to be used by the L2 (English) instructors in the design and development of valid, reliable, and fair assessments that enhance students’ learning experience and learning outcomes. The Assessment Guide aims to promote principles of consistency of practice across all sections of CEFR-informed English instruction in the Division of Foreign Languages, TU Dortmund University.