Assessing and tracking your students' language learning

ɫèAV Languages
A teacher stood at the front of a class with a book, pointing at a student. Students are sat at desks with their hands raised.

Reading time: 4 minutes

As a language teacher, your goal is not just to impart knowledge but to guide your students on a transformative journey toward fluency. Assessing and tracking learning progress is a dynamic process that empowers both educators and learners, rather than being just a routine task.

In today's language learning blog post, we will explore the significance of assessment in language teaching and provide valuable insights on how to track and assess your students' linguistic development.

The benefits

Informed instruction

Regular assessments enable teachers to tailor instruction to meet individual student needs. Identifying strengths and weaknesses helps educators adapt teaching methods, promoting a more personalized and effective learning experience.

Motivational tool

Assessment results can be very useful in motivating students. Even small progress should be acknowledged as it can boost their confidence and encourage a positive attitude towards learning. It is important to share success stories, celebrate achievements and foster a culture of continuous improvement within your language classroom.

Feedback for growth

Assessment feedback can help students improve their skills by giving them a clear idea of their strengths and weaknesses. Teachers can use this feedback to encourage students to take responsibility for their learning journey and foster a growth mindset that is resilient even in the face of linguistic difficulties.

Tracking and assessment methods

Diverse assessment methods

Embrace a variety of assessment methods to capture the multifaceted nature of language learning. Beyond traditional exams, integrate speaking assessments, project-based evaluations and collaborative activities. This diversity ensures a comprehensive understanding of your students' language proficiency.

Example: Consider assigning projects that involve researching, creating presentations and demonstrating creative expression (like plays or videos) in the target language. Assessing various aspects such as language skills, creativity and critical thinking. Design projects around your class's interests and motivations.

Formative assessments

Integrate formative assessments into your teaching strategy. These ongoing evaluations, such as quizzes, class discussions and short writing assignments, provide real-time feedback. For instance, if you notice that your students are struggling with a particular concept, you can use formative assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of your teaching approach and make necessary adjustments.

Example: Conduct regular quizzes, polls or short assessments during class to evaluate students' understanding. Use quick checks to gauge student understanding to adjust teaching methods accordingly. This will help you tailor your teaching methods in real time to ensure effective lesson delivery.

Portfolio assessment

Encourage students to maintain language portfolios. These portfolios can include samples of their written work, recorded conversations and reflections on their language learning journey. Portfolio assessments offer a holistic view of progress and provide students with a tangible record of their achievements.

Example: Conduct periodic portfolio reviews to discuss progress and set goals. Encourage frequent reflection to show learners how far they've come.

Self-assessment

Empower students to self-assess. Encourage reflection on their language skills, setting goals and evaluating their own progress. Self-assessment also fosters a sense of responsibility and independence in the learning process. When students take ownership of their progress, they become more invested in their education and are more likely to achieve their goals.

Example: Provide your language students self-assessment checklists or rubrics for them to evaluate their proficiency and set personal goals.

Technology integration

Use language learning platforms' analytics and progress reports for data-driven decision-making. It's great to help save time and provide reliable and up-to-date reports.

Example: Using online platforms for assignments, quizzes and collaborative projects with built-in tracking features. Our learning platforms, ɫèAV English Connect (PEC)and MyEnglishLab (MEL), can help you keep track of your students' progress.

Cultural projects

Cultural projects are a great way to engage students in the broader context of the language they are learning. These projects could involve researching cultural practices, traditions or historical events related to the language.

Students learn how to navigate cultural nuances, understand diverse perspectives and effectively communicate in different cultural contexts by participating in cultural projects. Such projects help students form a personal connection with the language and bridge the gap between theory and real-world application, making language learning more meaningful.

Example: Assign projects that explore certain cultural aspects of the target language, encouraging a deeper understanding of context. These can be evaluated on how well it's presented, its clarity, and how factually accurate it is.

Peer reviews

Peer review is a valuable practice that promotes a sense of community within the language learning classroom. It involves students working together and offering constructive feedback to each other, which leads to the development of their language skills. It creates a collaborative learning environment where students actively participate in the improvement of their peers, learning from one another's strengths and weaknesses.

Students often put more effort into assignments when they know peers will review their work. This increased accountability can lead to higher-quality work and a greater commitment to language learning.

Example: Implement peer review sessions where students provide feedback on each other's written or spoken assignments. Encourage constructive criticism to enhance collaboration and learning. To accommodate shy students, this process can be anonymous.

Assessing and tracking language learning progress is integral to effective language teaching, requiring continuous interaction between educators and students.

By utilizing diverse assessment methods and fostering a culture of constant improvement, language teachers play a vital role in guiding their students toward linguistic fluency. Helping language students celebrate their successes and overcome challenges helps them to be not only proficient speakers but also lifelong language enthusiasts.

Are you an English teacher preparing for assessments? Check out our postMotivating your students through assessment.

As well as our learning platforms, PECand MEL, we offer various English assessments and courses to help track your learner's progress and to certify their English level, so make sure to explore our range to find the best solution for your students.

All of our courses and tests

More blogs from ɫèAV

  • A girl sat at a laptop with headphones on in a library

    5 myths about online language learning

    By Steffanie Zazulak
    Reading time: 3 minutes

    Technology has radically changed the way people are able to access information and learn. As a result, there are a great number of tools to facilitate online language learning – an area that’s been the subject of many myths. Here we highlight (and debunk) some of the bigger ones…

    Myth #1: You will learn more quickly

    Although online learning tools are designed to provide ways to teach and support the learner, they won’t provide you with a shortcut to proficiency or bypass any of the key stages of learning.Although you may well be absorbing lots of vocabulary and grammar rules while studying in isolation, this isn’t a replacement for an environment in which you can immerse yourself in the language with English speakers. Such settings help you improve your speaking and listening skills and increase precision, because the key is to find opportunities to practise both – widening your use of the language rather than simply building up your knowledge of it.

    Myth #2: It replaces learning in the classroom

    With big data and AI increasingly providing a more accurate idea of their level, as well as a quantifiable idea of how much they need to learn to advance to the next level of proficiency, classroom learning is vital for supplementing classroom learning. And with the Global Scale of English providing an accurate measurement of progress, students can personalise their learning and decide how they’re going to divide their time between classroom learning and private study.

    Myth #3: It can’t be incorporated into classroom learning

    There are a huge number of ways that students and teachers can use the Internet in the classroom. Meanwhile, ɫèAV’s online courses and apps have a positive, measurable impact on your learning outcomes.

    Myth #4:You can't learn in the workplace

    Online language learning is ideally suited to the workplace and we must create the need to use the language and opportunities to practise it. A job offers one of the most effective learning environments: where communication is key and you’re frequently exposed to specialized vocabulary. Online language learning tools can flexibly support your busy schedule.

    Myth #5: Online language learning is impersonal and isolating

    A common misconception is that online language learning is a solitary journey, lacking the personal connection and support found in traditional classrooms. In reality, today’s digital platforms are designed to foster community and real interaction. With features like live virtual classrooms, discussion forums and instant feedback, learners can connect with peers and educators around the world, building skills together.

  • Two teenagers sat at a desk in a classroom working together in front of a laptop

    My lifelong learning journey: Why learning English never stops

    By Zarela Cruz
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    My journey with English began in the unlikeliest of places: a mining camp in southern Peru. As a child, I was fascinated by American culture – the movies, the music, the seemingly limitless world that English opened up. For me, the language was a gateway leading to a deeper understanding and feeling of belonging, making me part of their culture.

  • A classroom scene with a teacher and diverse students engaged in learning, using laptops on desks, in a brightly lit room.

    Is game-based learning technology a waste of time?

    By
    Reading time: 4 minutes

    We feel that game-based learning (GBL) is a waste of time… if not properly understood. Even then, one could argue that "wasting time" is a vital part of learning and perhaps we need to stop insisting that every second counts.

    Game-based learning vs. Gamification: Understanding the difference

    Let’s begin by first addressing the term "game-based learning" and how it compares to its doppelgänger, gamification. Gamification is the application of game mechanics and dynamics to non-game contexts to solve problems, engage users and promote desired behaviours. For example, rewarding acheivements with points, awards or badges for achievement, levelling up, using avatars, quests and collaboration are all gamification features, which elevate games above the mundane activities of normal life.

    The principles of gamification have been applied to the retail and services sectors for years: think of airlines' frequent flyers programs, pubs and bars running "happy hours" promotions, WeightWatchers' points-counting, Foursquare's badges for visiting new places. There are hundreds of examples of where game dynamics have been introduced into non-game contexts to influence behaviour and bring about a desired result.

    Game-based learning in action: More than just play

    Gamification does not refer to the straightforward use of games (whether digital or otherwise) as part of a teaching or learning interaction. A teacher using the board game Monopoly in the classroom to demonstrate the idea of rent is not gamifying the learning environment; they are involving learners in game-based learning. GBL refers to the use of games as tools: as devices for opening discussion, presenting concepts or promoting learner engagement within clearly defined learning objectives, in other words, learning through playing games. Gamification is the appropriation of those principles, mechanics and dynamics that make games work in order to promote engagement or engender a desired outcome.

    Teachers have long introduced games into the learning environment – such as Kim’s Game, Pelmanism and Guess Who? – and the uptake of GBL with digital games is particularly well demonstrated by the work being done by the Institute of Play, and the growing popularity of the likes of Minecraft and SimCity in schools. In terms of our immediate ELT context, pretty much any video game can be repurposed for language learning, in the same way a text, song or website can be. Take, for example, the indie game . Although there is no actual spoken language in the game, the platform puzzle format lends itself perfectly to practising language around predictions or conditionals ("If I pull that lever, the door will open"), recounting events ("I was chased by a giant spider!"), strategising and so on. In this post, we will be referring to existing digital games that have been appropriated into a learning context, as opposed to games that have been designed with a specific educational use in mind.

    Sharma and Barrett’s definition of blended learning provides a useful context for approaching the use of digital games in such modalities, notably the combination of “a face-to-face classroom component with an appropriate use of technology”. We’re making no assumptions about whether the games are being accessed in the classroom, on mobile or online at home. The blend isn’t defined by where a learner is, but by how their use of technology supports and enhances their contact with the teacher.

    The notion of appropriateness in Sharma and Barrett’s definition is critical as, in the case of a GBL project, it assumes a teacher has a familiarity with both the tech and content accessibility of a selected game. Acquiring that level of familiarity with a game requires a certain amount of time engaging with it to determine its fit for the needs of the learners, an activity which might easily be considered off task when compared to the other demands being made on an educator’s schedule.

    How GBL fuels engagement and deeper learning

    The benefits of GBL with digital games are potentially quite profound, however. First, studies indicate that playing video games in general can stimulate the generation of neurons and enhance connectivity between the regions of the brain responsible for memory formation, spatial orientation and strategic thinking. The right pairing of game and learning objectives could be argued to promote situated cognition, a theory that knowledge is constructed through – and inseparable from – social interactions and the context in which they take place. A learner immersed in SimCity stands a much greater chance of understanding the principles of taxation and the provision of public services through playing the role of a mayor, for example, than a learner being walked through the annual budget. As Lim et al. state: “games are effective because learning takes place within a meaningful context where what must be learned is directly related to the environment in which learning and demonstration take place”.

    Early-stage research on mirror neurons is adding a new aspect to the discussion around the immediacy of playing games. In short, mirror neurons suggest that when we observe someone performing an action, there is a brief moment in which our brain cells fire as if we are carrying out that action ourselves. The boundary between observer (player) and observed (in-game character) becomes blurred for a split second. A lot can happen in that split second.

    In addition to the benefits of an immersive, neuron-stroking experience, games demonstrably promote learner engagement by introducing the F-bomb into the mix (fun). They also have the capacity to provide an unrivalled social experience, as in the case of MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games). As an example, consider how a leading MMORPG game, World of Warcraft, is applied in learning environments.

    Addressing concerns and embracing change

    However, there are often deep-seated cultural aversions to the use of games in an educational context that GBL initiatives are required to overcome. Critics have said that digital games are anti-social, that they rot your attention span, that they are not legitimate, validated learning resources. Although there is not yet a body of research that can empirically confirm or debunk the effectiveness of games used for learning, surely watching a learner plan, execute and evaluate a project in Minecraft with classmates suggests that those objections are based on dated assumptions. The language learning space in particular is still very much attached to a coursebook paradigm that is predicated on levels and a clearly defined syllabus. Perhaps GBL is too much at odds with an established business model that is the bedrock of too many large education organisations.

    So is GBL a waste of time? We’d argue that it is when its potential is not properly recognised and it is treated as light relief. Games are dynamic, engaging resources capable of delivering experiences and drawing connections that can really ignite a student’s learning experience. Furthermore, they bring a playful and unpredictable aspect to the learning process.