Understanding what testing, assessing and teaching is.



We, as teachers, must actually be aware of the noteworthy distinction among testing, assessing and teaching.

First of all, it is a fact that most students feel somewhat panic-stricken when facing a test and this situation is most of the times a terrifying, distressing experience that makes students feel anguished. However, after reading Chapter one from the book "Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices" by H. Douglas Brown, two questions popped up in my mind:

1. Do my students really hate me when I test them?

2. What should I do to transform that despondency that students have towards tests?

Well, based on my experience as a teacher, I would claim that testing is a key aspect while learning any subject and I am strongly in agreement with the fact that testing should be an enjoyable process that teachers put into action in order to optimize, analyze and measure their students' performance and abilities. Furthermore, teachers should feel obliged to innovate and create strategies to make that happen.

On the other hand, do we usually tend to misunderstand the meaning of assessment? Have we forgotten that testing and assessment are not the same, then?

Actually, we can talk about tests as part of the assessment process; however we must understand that there are uncountable ways to assess our students' performance. In a learning environment, students must be given the chance to construct knowledge, to experiment alternatives and to take a whack at their own  theories. Consequently, assessment is the process of gathering information about knowledge, abilities, feelings and principles. What is more, while assessing students, teachers must take into consideration not only people's hypothesis and beliefs, but also the foundation of knowledge and the process of learning.

Finally, we can assume that teaching is the platform where assessment and testing take place.

* Images taken from Google Images.