Classroom-based Assessment in the School Foreign Language Classroom

"Black and William's (1998) influential article 'Inside the Black Box' prompted an increasing interest in assessment processes within the classroom. However, to date most of this research has been done in general and science education. This book reports on a detailed ethnographic study of Indonesian as a Foreign Language classrooms at two consecutive levels of schooling in Australia. Using the broadest possible definition of classroom-based assessment (SBA) and a grounded approach to analysis, data were used to develop a comprehensive framework for analysing CBA. This framework was then used to describe and compara assessment practices in the respective classrooms. The results demonstrate, inter alia, that 'how' assessment was conducted was as important as 'what' was assessed in these classrooms"--Publisher's description, back cover.

Kathryn Hill is a lecturer in the Medical Education Unit at the University of Melbourne. Prior to this appointment she spent 15 years as Research Fellow at the Language Testing Research Centre (LTRC) at the University of Melbourne. She has worked on a diverse range of assessment and evaluation projects, most recently in healthcare communication.