Formative Assessment In College English Teaching

College English assessment in China has been depending largely on summative assessment for years, which assesses the capacity of students and the quality of teaching through the scores of examinations. The score-centered teaching produces negative effect on English teaching. Summative assessment neglects the fact that students are the principal part of learning, and it also ignores the activeness and the creativity of students. It is no good to the reform of English teaching methods and contents. In order to promote the College English education reform and to implement the advanced education theories, Requirement on College English Curriculum (2004) was released by the Ministry of Education with the emphasis on reforming the teaching methods and teaching activities, and on advocating scientific education assessment system. The new Requirement on College English Curriculum (ibid) suggests the application of portfolios, classroom performance records, interview, discussion etc. Formative assessment is more scientific, inclusive, and reasonable in evaluating the learning process and outcome. The proposal of formative assessment is not only an innovation in theory, but also a breakthrough in practice.The present thesis looks back to the origin of education assessment and the current research on it both at home and abroad. Besides, the paper inquires into the theoretical basis of the pedagogy and psychology of the formative assessment in terms of humanism psychology, constructivism, cognitive psychology, motivation theory, the reflective practitioner, the affective filter hypothesis. These advanced educational ideologies indicate the macro directions to the formative assessment reform.Through the formative assessment experiment, the thesis raises the experiment goal, lays down the experiment contents and standards and designs the formative assessment tools. It concludes that formative assessment has its incomparable advantages over summative assessment. It can promote the students ability to grasp English knowledge, improve their language skills, encourage their positive emotion and attitude toward English learning. It can also develop their team spirit, cultivate their autonomous learning ability, and to help the students develop all-roundedlly and harmoniously. The purposes of formative assessment keep pace with English education goals, and meanwhile is a means to achieve them.