Designing a 21st Century Assessment in EFL Learning Context
Abstract
Success in a digital world requires more than the ability to turn on a computer or use a smart phone. It requires creativity, innovation, communication, critical thinking, digital citizenship, information fluency and other important 21st century skills. Even though most students can interact with apps on their mobile device, they are not born with these necessary 21st century skills. The present paper addresses the ways of designing a 21st century assessment in English as a Foreign Language learning context The assessment is aligned to the six strands, namely creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making, digital citizenship, and technology operations and concepts. There are several mostly-used types of assessment. They include structured interviews, situational judgment tests, role plays, group exercises, in basket exercises, work samples, and performance standards/appraisal. The purposes of assessments designed to measure 21st century skills, such as to provide information for school accountability, to evaluate individual student progress, to focus public attention on educational concerns, or to change educational practices by influencing curriculum and instruction. In addition, the different purposes require different sources of evidence to evaluate the validity of the assessment. Furthermore, computer-based technology can support the development, administration, and scoring of large-scale assessments of 21st century skills.
Keywords: 21st century assessment, EFL context, EFL learning
References
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