Using Performance Assessments to Increase Motivation in the Foreign Language Classroom at the High School Level

Abstract

This work describes the importance of Integrated Performance Assessments in the foreign language field can promote changes in the learning and teaching of a foreign language. But new practices can be slow to implement due to lack of distribution of knowledge, time and budget constraints, and teachers’ attitudes and practices in the classroom. The national foreign language standards were created as a guideline for schools as to the knowledge students should acquire. Integrated Performance Assessments (IPA) were developed to connect this goal to the classroom as a process to evaluate students’ learning. There is a need to clarify the use of IPA compared to traditional end of chapter tests and to what extent these tests serve to promote the standards. The researcher compared two approaches for assessing foreign language learning through comparison of the students’ grades from IPA to the end of chapter test grades from a convenience sample of students using grades recorded in a teacher’s grade book. There was wide deviation in traditional end of chapter scores which could indicate a problem in evaluating students’ knowledge using this more traditional scoring method. The students as a whole received better grades on the IPA as there was a narrow deviation which appeared to show that students had more success in their learning according to the IPA. Use of IPA may have more correctly reflected students’ foreign language learning and proficiency.