The project ASSESS aims to define innovative methods and tools for the assessment of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. Its main goal is to bring new approaches to assessment and contribute to development of evaluation consciousness. It also wants to support restoration of assessment system and share good practices among European countries.
Assessment tools have an empirical role in schools because students are guided to higher education according to the results obtained from assessment tools. For this reason, young learners’ English language teachers’ beliefs are significant in this process because their beliefs influence their teaching strategies. Traditional approaches of assessment methods such as pencil and paper tests are poor to reflect students’ real potential in learning process. These tests cause lack of communication skills and poor problem solving ability for students.
In order to achieve these objectives, the project has developed two handbooks in order to support EFL teachers to construct assessment scales to evaluate speaking and writing skills. Here you can download the handbook related with the speaking skills and here the handbook related with the writing skills.
Furthermore, the project has created an online exam creator which has ready exams for all skills (listening, reading, speaking, vocabulary, writing) and gives also the opportunity to EFL teachers to develop their own exams. The project focuses on A1 and A2 levels.
An overview of the ASSESS project can be seen through the video below:
ASSESS project is an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership for Schools project which is coordinated by the Portuguese organisation Agrupamento de Escolas de Penalva do Castelo. In the partnership, besides Action Synergy, they also participate Education Mobility Grid from Germany, Nicea Culture and Education Association from Turkey, Learnmera Oy from Finland and Inercia Digital from Spain.
Further information related with the ASSESS project, you can find in the project’s website and Facebook page
You can follow here news related with the progress of the project
Two handbooks for the assessment of speaking and writing skills in EFL
Training for English Language Teachers in Athens