Alternative Assessment-Pak Sae
Alternative Assessment-Pak Sae
Alternative Assessment-Pak Sae
Composed by
Hening Prihatini
NIM: 1720105020
utilize some procedure for eliciting language doing the assessment because the assessment
performance. The language performance is not is a part of the instruction itself. This situation
only encouraged and promoted during the is quite far from the traditional assessment in
language test but also in non-testing situation which students have less opportunity to foster
(ibid). their language perfomance in doing the test
such as a paper-pencil test. Furthermore, as
To make it happens, alternative assessment is
stated by Al-Mahrooqi and Denman (2018:2)
seen as the answer of the problem which
that the picture of the students’ ability is
usually follows the traditional assessment. The
clearer, the result of the assessment can be
problem of traditional assessment is
used as the feedback of teaching-learning
considered far from testing the holistic ability
process. The result of the students’ works,
in utilizing the language in real-life situation
whether the teachers predict it or not, reflects
because it is only focusing on the theory of the
the instructions that the teachers do in the
English on a paper-pencil test which is usually
classroom.
done in a particular time and considered as the
‘standardized’ test. It means that the The Forms of Alternative Assessment
alternative is counter the traditional There are many forms of the alternative
assessment which allows the students to assessment which can be conducted to get the
assess their own learning process; the process holistic abilities of the students in order to
of assessing is mediated through social promote the students’ autonomy, in one hand,
interaction, communication, exchange of and get the feedback of the instruction, in the
views, and collaborative (Brown,2003: 251- other hand. Brown (2003: 254-280) proposes
254). the forms of this kind of assessment such as
performance-based assessment which “would
Despite of testing on paper-pencil test,
require the performance of the above-named
alternative assessment is somewhat of a
actions which would be systematically
blanket term that is often used to describe a
evaluated through direct observation by a
variety of alternatives to what is popularly
teacher and/or possibly by self and peers and
considered more “standardized” forms of
implies productive, observable skills such as
testing (Al-Mahrooqi and Denman, 2018: 1). It
speaking and writing, of content-valid tasks
is more student-centered forms of assessment
and integration of language skills, perhaps all
which are essentially different from the
four skills in the case of project work”;
conventional forms of testing (Rezaee et.al,
portofolios which “are an expression of
2013: 152-153). It allows assessment and the
students’ lives and identities” such as students’
instruction to continuously interact and there
essays and compositions, reports, project
by helping teachers to gain a clearer picture of
outlines, poetry and creative prose, audio
their learners’ abilities (Al-Mahrooqi and
and/or video recordings; journals which “are
Denman, 2018: 2).
the logs (or accounts) of one’s thoughts,
According to the definitions of the assessment, feelings, reactions, assessments, ideas, or
the conventional perception of test and progress toward goals, usually written with
assessment is replaced by the modern one in little attention to structure, form, or
which it is more relaxing since it gives more correctness”; conferences and interviews
opportunity to the students to be more which “motivates students intrinsically since
alternative in doing the test and assessment. the teacher plays the role of a facilitator and
The students’ performances in English are also guide, not of an administrator, of a formal
more developed and promoted. The students assessment and the students need to
are not taken away to perform their abilities understand that the teacher is an ally who is
from the instruction during preparing and encouraging slf-reflection and improvement”;
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observations which is done by the teachers It is in line with the statement of Rezaee et.al
who observe the students’ performances (2013: 153) that the forms of alternative
during the classes; self-and peer-assessments assessment concentrate on the processing of
which usually the teachers guide them in doing learning and use the assessment as a means at
this kind of alternative assessment through the the service of promoting student learning.
check-list sheets or other medias. Again, the students are promoted to be more
Rezaee et.al (2013: 152-153) support Brown’s autonomous in their learning by doing the
proposal of kinds of alternative assessment in assessment since it deals with their best work.
which they give the examples of the alternative Moreover, the students use their abilities to
assessment forms as portofolios, interviews, complete the assessment where they use them
journals, project works, and self or peer contextually. Baker (2010: 6) argues that the
assessment. term of alternative assessment is that the
assessment is more contextualized and either
The forms of assessment they (Brown and
simulate or use performance derived
Rezaee et.al) pursue foster the students to be
everyday, non-school tasks. This kind of
active in their learning process which is an
assessment supports the purpose of language
aspect of autonomous learning. Let’s take
instruction which is proposed in Assessment,
examples of portofolio and project work.
Articulation, and Accountability (1999: 16),
Portofolios are designed to represent the
which is to prepare the students to use
students’ best work and to show how students’
language with cultural understanding and
work has evolved over time while project
knowledge in real-life context.
works demand the students to create a
product or conduct an activity relevant to the By giving the students alternative assessment
subject (Robyn et.al, 1996: 29-30). From the such as the project work, the teachers allow
definitions of both forms, it means that the the students to choose and decide by
alternative assessment allows the opportunity themselves what they would like to make for
to the students to decide their interests in the project related to the subject. Benson
doing the assessment. It may also capture (2001) in Genc (2015: 24) points out that the
authentic examples of the achievement of essence of genuinely autonomous behavior is
complex outcomes by assessing and evaluating that it is self-initiated rather than generated in
higher level skills such as problem solving, response to a task in which the observed
reflecting, synthesizing, and creative thinking behaviors are either explicitly or implicitly
that are carried out in realistic contexts (Al- required. It also delivers the students to keep
Mahrooqi and Denman, 2018: 2). working not only during the instruction but
also after it. The students become the owners
Ornstein (1995) in Iakovos (2011: 84) argues
of their learning process since this assessment
that to enhance students’ creative thinking,
is a part of it.
there are several guidelines, and two of them
are to engage the students in tasks which The project work, e.g making a short movie,
encourage them to apply exploration, testing, can be executed both individually and in
searching, and prediction skills; and encourage groups but the most common one is
autonomous and independent learning. In conducting it in groups. The groups allow the
conducting the portofolio or project works, the students to colaborate each other to perform
teachers foster the students’ creative thinking their abilities in producing the works of the
because the students need to deliver their groups. Besides giving them a chance to
ideas in the forms of those assessment. They socialize each other by doing the discussion
have to explore their abilities in order to show and the colaboration, the influence of the
their performance of the assessment. peers both in the groups and the classroom
helps the students to be more autonomous
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due to the same goal to be achieved. Lee in Lai proposes how to make the assessment more
(2017) states that learner autonomy is valid by forming the criteria. She states that the
constructed not only individually, but also internal validity criteria are the cognitive
socially. In a positive way, peer influence can complexity dealing with what is beyond
actually motivate youth to study harder at surface features that assessment demanded
school (de Guzman, 2007). They may become by the measure; the meaningfulness of the
the master of their own learning process. They task which deals with the contextualization in
combine their abilities in a form of product of a setting which students are likely to
the assessment. understand, and the clearance and the
expression in the language or symbols
It provides easly understood information and
generally accessible to students in the
more integrative in the classroom (Alderson
dicipline; content quality which expresses
and Banerjee, 2001: 228) and directed to be
accurately and to prevailing standards; and
more responsive and accountable testing to
consquences & fairness.
individual learners (Mc Namara, 1998 in ibid).
Those can be the reasons for the teachers to Besides that, there is a chance faced by the
use the data of the assessment as a feedback students to not show their best perfomances
of the instructions that they have done on the assessment because the limitation of
whether they need improvement or not. the students’ knowledge of arranging the
Despite of the benefits of the assessment, still, assessment. Baker (ibid: 9) assumes that the
the alternative assessment meets challenges teachers have not taught the students to do
that should be considered. what they have to perform on the assessment
because of the unresponsive administration,
The Challenges in Running the Alternative
and so forth. In delivering the knowledge of
Assessment
preparing them to do the assessment, the
Although alternative assessment is applicable
teachers meet the limit time and the other
to foster the students’ autonomy, there is no
administration of the instruction. The teachers
clear templates exist to guide the technical
are able to understand how to teach the
practices of alternative assessment developers
complex cognitive but do not do so for the
(Linn, Baker, Dunbar (1991) in Baker, 2010: 2).
alternative assessment because of inhibiting
Dikli (2003) in Al-Mahrooqi and Denman
multiple choice tests (ibid) as the
(2018:2) mentions that the issue of
‘standardized’ tests. To employ the
subjectivity, reliability, and validity and the
assessment in the instruction, all aspects of the
large investment of time and energy are seen
learning process take a part.
as the challenges of the alternative assessment
that often require from teachers. Since the Conducting Alternative Assessment
assessment is about the holistic assessment of To overcome the challenges in conducting the
the students’ performance in learning, it faces alternative assessment, teachers may make
difficulty in giving the standardized report of the criteria of the standards of the assessment
the students’ works. Baker (2010: 10) argues by giving a clear definition of the purpose of it.
that the reports of the students’ performances Pitoniak et.al (2009: 8-9) pursue the steps to
should be conditioned by data on instructional conduct the assessment as below:
exposure by giving them deeper and more 1. Test Purpose must be clear in order to
persistent meaning. give a valid interpretations of the test
The scoring technique and the form of it on to be applied on the basis of the test
students’ performances in this assessment scores.
could be an obstacle for the teachers to 2. Defining the Construct is correlated to
employ them in their instructions due to the the standard of the test given which is
issues mentioned. Bakers (ibid: 11-13) made by the teachers.
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