LIN8007 Language and Literacy Assessment

Assessment of students’ language and literacy is a vital part of all teachers’ work. Teachers are constantly required to make judgements about their students’ language and literacy performance. With the present emphasis on contemporary outcomes-based education and national testing, and the need for students to meet language and literacy benchmarks, including being able to respond to the needs of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, teachers need the knowledge and skills to design, evaluate, interpret and discuss assessment tasks and students’ results, besides use the data to improve language and literacy pedagogy and students’ learning.

This course examines the current knowledge about language and literacy assessment and provides students with the opportunity to relate their study to their particular language and literacy assessment context. It introduces the different types of language and literacy tests, assessment techniques, their purposes and investigates issues of reliability and validity. Students will develop their own assessment in which they will demonstrate their understanding of assessment design and interpretation of results.