Disadvantages Of Classroom Assessment

Introduction

Recent research on classroom assessment focused on the interactions between assessment and classroom learning with a hope that improvement in classroom assessment will result in effective learning. As a result, a variety of alternatives in assessment were proposed and researched. Alternatives in assessment have become popular for that they require students to perform, produce, and create; focus on processes as well as products; tap into higher level thinking and problem-solving skills; and provide information about both the strengths and weaknesses of students (Brown & Hudson, 1998, p.654). They are also popular as they establish an ongoing circular association among three significant aspects of education: teaching, assessment and feedback. The circular relationship is shown in figure 1:

As shown above, teaching is followed by continuous assessment which offers continuous feedback, which in turn guides the process of instruction. Alternatives in assessment include portfolios, journals, conferences, interviews, observations, and self- and peer- assessment.

Reading Assessment

In line with the developments in assessment in general, reading assessment has also been researched with both product and process approaches. Though, earlier research into reading assessment used the product approach, “product approaches to reading have been unfashionable in recent years as research efforts have concentrated on understanding the reading process, and as teachers of reading have endeavoured to improve the way in which their students approach text” (Alderson, 2005, p.5). The product approach has been criticized as it is

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