TESTS REDUCE LEARNERS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

TESTS REDUCE LEARNERS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE            

                                     Diego Alejandro Cardona Escobar

There is no doubt that assessment is one of the most complex topics in education, yet one of the most important ones. Though tests are only a method to assess learners, it is over-used and, in some cases, the only way teachers evaluate students. This paper attempts to explore how tests affect learners negatively, how tests do not allow providing meaningful and relevant feedback, and how tests can be replaced by other strategies of evaluation.

The begin with, tests may cause various feelings on learners that affect negatively their academic performance. Anxiety, nervousness, and lose of self-confidence are some emotional states that scholars are vulnerable to when taking an exam (Nitko, 2001). Every person who has been enrolled on academic settings recognizes that studying hard for a test does not guarantee a high grade. It is when external factors such as feelings interfere with students’ tests outcomes. Moreover, learners are not only affected before taking a test, but also when they get their result. The score that students get in an exam can affect considerably their motivation towards a subject meaning that poor performance leads to low motivation while high performance may prompt to foster it. In other words, tests grades encourage good students to keep studying hard but dissuade poor-performance learners to be motivated.

Secondly, tests do not allow facilitators to provide relevant and meaningful feedback. When undergraduates take multiple-choice exams, the feedback they receive is limited to know the correct answer and to provide a personal interpretation of their mistakes. Cameron (2005) claims that meaningful feedback on pupils’ learning would make the next teaching event more effective, in a positive, upwards direction. Tests do not offer teachers such advantage, instead restrict teaching possibilities to improve students’ academic performance.

Finally, this paper seeks to find alternatives to tests as to evaluate scholars.  Debates, role-plays, interviews, writing e-mails, and posting opinions can be substitutes to evaluate students. According to Betz and Walsh (2005) assessment must integrate tasks that an individual may find in a real-life situation, such as keeping a telephone conversation or buying goods in a store. Accordingly, facilitators have to look out for interactions and activities their students can carry out with a specific knowledge or ability they have acquired in the classroom.

As a conclusion, tests are an evaluation method that affects negatively learners’ feelings, limits teachers to provide meaningful feedback, and blindfolds facilitators to use different assessment strategies. Moreover, teachers need to be aware of the real-life application of the understanding and skills students get in class. Then, it is teachers’ responsibility to not teach for tests so that learners do not study to pass.

References

Betz, N., & Walsh, B. (2000). Tests and Assessment. London, UK: Pearson.

Brookhart, S., & Nitko, A. (2001). Educational Assessment of Students. London, UK: Pearson.

Cameron, L. (2005). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.