Reliability of Digital Formative Assessment Practices and Instruments

Abstract

The rise of enthusiasts in mobile-assisted language learning (MALL), benefiting from well-established benefits of consuming audiovisual content for autonomous learning, has proliferated during the last decade. Simultaneously, there is constant debate about how reliable digital evaluation systems are, and therefore, what are the best instruments/practices to assess language learning remotely? After contextualizing the motivation for this research, this chapter will provide a rundown of state of the art related to digital learning assessment, with a particular focus on online formative assessment practices and adaptive learning systems, as well as contexts they were implemented. The purpose is to identify valid practices, pinpointing strengths and weaknesses and ending with an assessment instrument proposal for an online collaborative platform (OCP), in which learners—either autonomously, or supported by their EFL teachers—follow steps to get certification in a given communicative skill, by the consuming, mapping, producing, and uploading audiovisual content.

The Potential of Audiovisual Online Collaborative Platforms as a Teaching/Learning Aid of ESP – Testing and Validating a Prototype

“…For future work, it would be interesting to execute a TAP in the same framework with the learners in order to get more feedback about the three dimensions, as well as more threats and operationalization strategies from learners. Another development for future work is the embodiment of a digital formative assessment mechanism to the OCP, as suggested by Carvalho et al (2020) [35]. This mechanism would provide learners with the opportunity to select a Learning Path in the OCP, in order to be exposed to a massive amount of AVC focused on a given communicative skill.…”

“…14 shows the three steps to follow in this hypothetical addition: Step 1 -Choosing a path for assessing a communicative skill; Step 2 -Watching and mapping videos from a pre-set playlist; and Step 3 -Production, upload, and mapping of learners' own content. (Carvalho et al, 2020) [35] This development intends to increase the motivation of learners to use the OCP, and must therefore be sustained in an effective reward system -being the maximum reward a certification of high language proficiency in certain communicative skills. The Learning Path would assure more learners to participate in mapping of content, and hence guarantee the collaborative element.…”