Quick answer: Yes, we should test our English students – but through formative assessment (quick checks during learning) rather than relying only on end-of-term exams. Three benefits: it shows whether our teaching has worked, it reveals knowledge gaps while there is still time to close them, and success on low-stakes quizzes gives students a motivating sense of accomplishment.
Should we test our students?
I hate tests. I never did well on them at school. In fact, I failed my UK university entrance exams in the 80s.
Perhaps shaped by those experiences, I have always tried not to have ‘end of term’ exams for my English students, unless we are working towards external exams, such as the Cambridge First or Proficiency.
Therefore, I test my students in a way that seeks to empower and support their learning. So rather than shy away from testing, let me share with you why we should test our students and how we can do it well. But first, let’s take a step back and find out why testing is important.
What is the difference between formative and summative assessment?
Let’s examine (if you’ll pardon the pun) why assessment is good for both our students and us as teachers.
The end of term tests (that I failed so dramatically on) are examples of summative assessment. They evaluate learner progress up to a specific point and give a summary of what students can do with the subject or their level of passive understanding. These tests are formal, often written, and provide the teacher with evidence of what students have learned over a specific period. All well and good.
However, formative assessment, or ongoing testing throughout the term, can be really helpful too. This is a method of assessing students while they are learning. It is different from summative assessment because it takes place during the learning process itself.
| Summative assessment | Formative assessment | |
|---|---|---|
| When | At the end of a term or course | During the learning itself |
| Form | Formal, often written exams | Targeted questions, quick quizzes, recap warmers |
| Purpose | Summarise what has been learned | Steer the next lesson; catch gaps early |
| Stakes for students | High – results ‘count’ | Low – mistakes are information, not failure |
As teachers, we are constantly setting and refining learning goals for our students. Formative testing helps us determine how far along the road they are, and if there are any areas we need to track back on. I really like it because it allows me to test my students in a way that’s innovative, fun and natural. It helps me understand how well they are achieving the learning goals that I have set them.
Formative assessment takes place in a variety of ways. Here are three examples:
- targeted questioning during the lesson
- questions at the end of the lesson
- recap warmer activities in the next session (our 5 TEFL warmers adapt perfectly for this)
There is a video example of one of these at the end of this blog, so keep reading.
So that’s what formative testing is. Now let’s look at three reasons for doing ongoing assessments in our classes and the potential positive outcomes for our students.
Testing reason 1 – has our teaching been successful?
Students travel the learning journey at different speeds. This is for a range of reasons, but depending on their progress, we might decide to move faster or slower with our teaching aims for some learners. Or we may decide we need to rewind and do something again. Here’s an example.
Let’s say that you have been teaching lexis around the theme of work with your class of beginners. The aim has been to get them to speak about each other’s work or jobs.
However, on a quick stop and check test at the end of the lesson, you notice that a couple of your students have made basic mistakes with the grammar, such as:
“I office worker.” “He shopkeeper”.
Firstly, great, your students appear to have learned the lexis you have been teaching. So this quick test shows you have been successful on one level. However…
Testing reason 2 – where are the knowledge gaps?
While the lexis teaching appears to be successfully embedded on one level, clearly there is another issue here. Some of the students appear to have a problem with verb omission. So a revision for these particular students on the use of the verb “to be” would be crucial before proceeding much further.
Additionally, you may also have noted that in the examples above, there was no indefinite article (a/an). So this would also require some work as well.
Just doing a stop and check test, perhaps through informal targeted questioning like this, could show you a knowledge gap that is crucial to close.
If all of our students have made this mistake, it indicates that there is a problem with how the grammar has been taught. Therefore, we would want to review this and potentially reformulate our approach, and possibly our objectives, before proceeding further.
Alternatively, if only a couple of students had made this mistake, it might indicate an L1 interference, where students are thinking about how they would answer the question in their own language, and then translating that into English.
In this case, more specific targeting of the structure for these students (perhaps a separate worksheet to practise at home) might be the way forward, so that you don't slow down the whole class or group.
You may decide, based on your quick test, that these learners need to focus on the grammar structure alongside the vocabulary as you go forward.
Either way, this is why formative testing is good. You don’t wait until the end of terms exam to discover learning gaps and it allows you to see if there is an issue with the teaching itself. Knowing this will enable you to make accurate decisions about future planning and teaching, possibly tailoring it for individual learners.
Therefore, testing can highlight areas for us to focus on as teachers, enabling us to go over work that hasn’t been successfully assimilated. It allows us to look at our practice, the type of approach we have taken and potentially try something different next time. (Handling what the test reveals is a differentiation job – our guide to teaching mixed ability classes shows how to support the strugglers without holding the others back.)
Testing reason 3 – how does testing motivate students?
Now let’s look at the third reason for formative testing.
If our students do well on a stop and check quiz or test, they feel a sense of accomplishment. They have learned something and demonstrated to you that they know it, to the extent that they got a question about it right or reproduced it correctly. So, short pop-quiz tests or simple Q and A sessions can be motivating and give our learners a sense of their own progress. Regular tests can also have a positive effect to get students into the habit of reviewing material on a regular basis.
So those are three reasons for conducting formative tests with our students. They shouldn’t replace summative testing in totality but be used alongside it.
How can you start assessing your own students this week?
Three easy entry points:
- Place them first. Know each learner’s starting level – you can send new students our free Test my English level quiz, and our post on what level your English language learner is helps you interpret what you see.
- Build in a five-minute check. End each lesson with three targeted questions on the day’s aim, or open the next one with a recap warmer or quick quiz – a question pulled into a discussion task works as a natural spoken test.
- Keep it low-stakes. Mistakes on a formative check are information for you, not failure for them – say so, and students stop fearing the word ‘test’.
Assessment, testing and English for exams are all included in our newly updated Premier 120-hour TESOL course. We will show you how you can evaluate the results of student assessment and identify ways to use these to adjust or modify your future learning objectives.
In the meantime, watch the video of Louisa as she conducts some basic formative testing at the end of a session in a class. Try to incorporate this into your next lesson.
Frequently asked questions
How can I adapt formative testing for beginners?
Keep checks short, concrete and confidence-building: hold up flashcards for quick recall, ask yes/no and either/or questions, or run a three-item mini-quiz on the day’s words. Beginners should leave most checks having got most answers right – success is the fuel that keeps low-level learners coming back.
Does formative testing work in online lessons?
Very well. Use the chat box for instant whole-class answers, quick polls for concept checks, and shared whiteboards for recap warmers. Ending each online session with three targeted questions – or opening the next with a two-minute quiz – gives you the same steering information as a classroom stop-and-check.
How often should I test my English students?
Little and often beats big and rare: a few minutes of targeted questioning every lesson, a short recap quiz each week, and a fuller review every few weeks. Formative checks this frequent feel like part of the lesson rather than an event, and they catch problems while they are still cheap to fix.
Do formative tests replace end-of-course exams?
No – they complement them. Summative exams still summarise achievement, and external qualifications such as Cambridge exams need exam-style practice. Formative assessment does the day-to-day steering in between, so that by the time a summative test arrives, neither you nor your students meet any surprises.
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Key learning takeaway
Formative or ongoing assessment allows us to assess whether our teaching has been effective, enabling us to see who needs more help, and who can advance and move forward faster.
It shapes our plan for the next lesson and beyond, so we can tailor our approach for individual learners.
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Watch out for a future blog, where we’ll look at some of the different methods we can use to assess our learners’ performance.