Research On The Application Of Formative Assessment In College English Learning

Educational assessment is quite a young science. Educational assessment is based on educational assessment theories put forward by Tylor. It is proved in practice that scientific educational activities need scientific educational assessment. Using educational assessment properly is very important to improve education quality. Educational assessment can be classified into formative assessment and summative assessment. Now, assessment method in college English teaching and learning redundantly depends on summative assessment.Recently, curriculum reform has become a hot topic, so has assessment. Though the traditional summative assessment has some advantages, it still has some limitations. It values result more than process, knowledge more than quality development, and selection more than encouragement. This kind of assessment can not bring the activity, creativity or initiative of the students into full play. Formative assessment, which is also called process assessment, is a kind of qualitative assessment. It can provide both teachers and students with useful information for their sustained development. It aims at improving instruction, providing ongoing feedback and decision-making information. The forms, contents and methods of formative assessment are so diverse that it has great vitality. Nine formative assessment methods are discussed in this thesis, such as self-assessment, peer-assessment, teacher assessment, collaborative assessment, classroom observation, interview, portfolio, journal and questionnaire.However, because of the particularity of college English learning, formative assessment is still not so widely used. Therefore, a case study is documented for the purpose of illustrating how formative assessment can be carried out and finding out what its practical significance to Chinese college English teaching and learning. Classroom observation, interview, journal and portfolio were used in this case study. The research results demonstrate that formative assessment can both greatly improve students'ability in college English learning and enhance their confidence.Besides advantages, however, formative assessment also has some disadvantages. It is time-consuming, and its reliability arouses great dispute too. In addition, formative assessment is still a relatively new field in Chinese educational assessment system, thus its enforcement must meet with many misunderstandings and difficulties. Therefore, support from teachers, education leaders, schools and educational institutions are necessary.Finally, the findings of researches on formative assessment and summative assessment have borne out that they are complementary to each other, and both are very important in improving college English learning. Thus, teachers should combine the two in a planned way according to the practical situations and the specific characteristics of college English leaning. Only in doing so, can both students and teachers achieve the best effects.