Xorijiy lingvistika va lingvodidaktika –
Зарубежная лингвистика и
лингводидактика – Foreign
Linguistics and Linguodidactics
Journal home page:
https://inscience.uz/index.php/foreign-linguistics
Basics of evaluation and its application in tertiary
education
Elena BORISOVA
1
University of World Economy and Diplomacy
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received February 2025
Received in revised form
10
March 2025
Accepted 25 March 2025
Available online
25 April 2025
The article aims to integrate the aspects taught at the higher
educational institution and the theoretical and empirical
components of educational process. The given article will reflect
on the purposes and principles of assessment in the teaching
area. Besides, the comments on inclusiveness and student-
centeredness of the assessment of an assignment that has been
done by the learners in the module taught is scrutinized. The
correlation between formative assessment and summative
assessment as well as contemporary methods of teaching English
implies integration of the four skills. This analysis found
evidence for the importance of the principles of validity,
reliability and inclusivity for the assessment in higher
educational institutions.
2181-3701/© 2024 in Science LLC.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47689/2181-3701-vol3-iss4
This is an open-access article under the Attribution 4.0 International
(CC BY 4.0) license (
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.ru
Keywords:
principles of assessment,
inclusiveness,
student-centeredness,
validity,
reliability,
inclusivity,
assignment.
Baholashning asosiy tamoyillari va ularning oliy ta’limda
qo‘llanilishi
ANNOTATSIYA
Kalit so‘zlar:
baholash tamoyillari,
inkluzivlik,
talabaga yo‘naltirilganlik,
validlik,
ishonchlilik,
qamrovlilik,
topshiriq.
Ushbu maqola oliy ta’lim muassasasida o‘qitiladigan jihatlar
hamda ta’lim jarayonining nazariy va amaliy tarkibiy qismlarini
uyg‘unlashtirish maqsadiga qaratilgan. Maqolada ta’lim
sohasidagi baholashning maqsad va tamoyillari yoritiladi.
Shuningdek, o‘qitilayotgan modul doirasida talabalar bajargan
topshiriqni
baholashning
inklyuzivligi
va
talabaga
yo‘naltirilganligi borasidagi mulohazalar tahlil qilinadi.
Shakllantiruvchi va yakuniy baholash o‘rtasidagi aloqadorlik,
hamda ingliz tilini o‘qitishning zamonaviy usullari to‘rt
ko‘nikmaning uyg‘unlashuvini taqozo etadi. Ushbu tadqiqot oliy
ta’lim muassasalarida baholash jarayonida validlik, ishonchlilik
1
University of World Economy and Diplomacy. Tashkent, The Republic of Uzbekistan. E-mail: YBorisova@uwed.uz
Xorijiy lingvistika va lingvodidaktika – Зарубежная лингвистика
и лингводидактика – Foreign Linguistics and Linguodidactics
Special Issue – 4 (2025) / ISSN 2181-3701
27
va inklyuzivlik tamoyillarining ahamiyatini tasdiqlovchi
dalillarni aniqladi.
Основы оценивания и его применение в системе
высшего образования
АННОТАЦИЯ
Ключевые слова:
принципы оценивания,
инклюзивность,
ориентированность на
студента,
валидность,
надежность,
задание.
Цель статьи - интегрировать аспекты, преподаваемые в
высшем учебном
заведении,
с теоретическими
и
эмпирическими компонентами образовательного процесса. В
данной статье рассматриваются цели и принципы
оценивания
в
сфере
преподавания.
Кроме
того,
анализируются
комментарии
по
инклюзивности
и
студентоцентричности оценки задания, выполненного
обучающимися
в
рамках
преподаваемого
модуля.
Взаимосвязь между формирующим и итоговым оцениванием,
а также современные методы преподавания английского
языка предполагают интеграцию четырех языковых навыков.
Данный анализ подтверждает важность принципов
валидности, надежности и инклюзивности при оценивании в
высших учебных заведениях.
INTRODUCTION
Recent theoretical developments have revealed that learning theories are important
for the educators and applying these theories brings the participants of the process to a
new level.
The purpose of an article is to develop more sophisticated methods for teaching
English and improve the writing skills of learners. For this aim, the task on writing has
been identified and the process of assessment with the key principles is scrupulously was
described.
The written task that has been chosen as an example is performed by the students
during the course of Academic Writing at the UWED. The learners should be able to write
different types of academic essays that consist of 250 words. The essay should be outlined,
structured, coherent and cohesive, and it should meet the requirements of academic style.
It usually takes a whole academic semester to teach students to write them. During the
first meeting after the induction session the students are given a diagnostic task when they
are asked to write an academic essay on a definite topic. The overwhelming majority of
students do not know how to compose an essay and some students have some ideas about
it. According to a group of authors (Juwah, and others, 2004) diagnostic examination helps
teachers to gather specific information about students’ level of knowledge and can be
useful for adapting their teaching accordingly. This diagnostic test helps to elicit and reveal
the real situation about writing skills of the students of this group and statistics from the
results of the test facilitates me in teaching.
The standard solution to the problem is based on the principles that should be
followed when the assessment of the written task is carried out.
We investigated whether learner-centered approach was efficient for the learner or
not and we tried to prove that when teaching is learner-centered, the role of a teacher
Xorijiy lingvistika va lingvodidaktika – Зарубежная лингвистика
и лингводидактика – Foreign Linguistics and Linguodidactics
Special Issue – 4 (2025) / ISSN 2181-3701
28
changes, the teachers become facilitators, and designers of learning experience (Weimer,
2002).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
For this study, we analyzed the data collected from the written tasks the students
have to deal with and a formative assessment that is performed for that.
The learners are to write a paragraph of 100 to 150 words on a definite topic that
contains a strong topic sentence and should be provided with supporting evidence for the
main idea. The paragraph should be logically structured, coherent and cohesive. Moreover,
the supporting evidence of the paragraph should be supplied with background information
and should represent reasons and examples. The students are given this task as well as the
other assignments at the beginning of a semester. The given task goes after a number of
exercises which train students to understand and employ the structure of a paragraph. The
task should be submitted in printed form on A4. For a period of three weeks students are
informed and taught how to structure a paragraph and regular formative assessment is
crucially important for them, as it serves for betterment of learners’ writing skills.
This experimental design was employed because the purpose of this formative
assessment is to collect information about students’ strengths and weaknesses in
structuring the paragraph in a proper way and afterwards to improve their learning by
giving constructive feedback. Feedback is crucially important for learning and “it must be
at the heart of the process” (Brown, 2004-05). For the course of academic writing, the
formative assessment is carried out on a regular basis to ensure the development of
students’ abilities to organize a paragraph. If it is required, the same task can be assessed
and given the feedback not once but several times. The assessor’s task at his stage is not
checking for mistakes, but indicating them and giving feedback for improving the work.
Feedback usually contains information about inaccuracies and recommendation how to
correct them and avoid in the next tasks as well as making some special mention of the
improvements in the work. If feedback is accompanied by efficient teaching in classrooms,
it can be very powerful in enhancing educational process (Hattie and Timperley, 2007).
For the purpose of analysis, several segments were identified as crucial. The
important subsequent principles are followed when the formative assessment for this
written task is accomplished:
Fairness is crucial in assessment as all learners should have the same opportunity
to get a positive mark, no matter with what level of knowledge they started a course. The
students of this group started the course with different levels of knowledge, but the
progress in their study should be evident and the quality of the final work should meet the
requirements which are identified for the given type of work.
The principle of validity is observed when the learners are asked to accomplish the
tasks related to the material that has been covered in the course and the level of complexity
of the task is appropriate for these students. The learners were explained and practiced
outlining the paragraph during the classes and they know how to cope with this
assignment.
The principles of reliability are realized when the criteria or writing descriptors are
identified and transparent for checking and marking. These descriptors should be
distributed among the learners at the beginning of the semester. The assessors and
teachers of our department have the same criteria for checking this type of work so that
they can follow the unified criteria of assessment.
Xorijiy lingvistika va lingvodidaktika – Зарубежная лингвистика
и лингводидактика – Foreign Linguistics and Linguodidactics
Special Issue – 4 (2025) / ISSN 2181-3701
29
As this task is subjected to a formative assessment, it can be categorized as a
redeemable one. If a learner fails to succeed with the organization of the paragraph, he or
she can have another chance to accomplish it after getting the feedback. We would agree
with Volante (2006) that teachers can develop motivation for learning when they rely
greatly on the procedures of formative assessment.
Intrinsic motivation is important as it can push students for learning. The assurance
of getting the constructive feedback by students as well as their strong believes in the
success of their study makes the learning process more efficient. Students become more
motivated when they see the results of their work and positive motivation as well as self-
esteem provided by the feedback of the assessment that can boost the learning process.
The inclusivity for the assessment of this task can be reached by several factors such
as: variability presented in the task, a diversity of level of knowledge of students, a broad
range of methods of assessment such as self-assessment, peer-assessment as well as the
teacher’s assessment. Gravells (2014) emphasizes that educators do not just teach the
same age learners gathered in one classroom, but they work with people who possess
diverse knowledge, talents and necessities. This fact should be acknowledged and
esteemed.
Variability or diversity of the topics which the students can cover while composing
a paragraph can give a chance to any student to demonstrate his or her ability to write
critically without limitation of their opportunities that can happen due to lack of
background knowledge on a topic as there are a number of choices for their preference.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
This study has raised important questions about the multilevel nature of
educational process. The level of students’ knowledge in one group can vary greatly, but
all students can accomplish this task because the learning objective for this task is to
understand the structure of a paragraph and employ it in their writing. In this task the
main attention is focused on the structure of a paragraph rather than grammar or
vocabulary range, it can give chance any student to cope with it.
According to Warren (2005) the teacher should know the learners. It means that he
or she should know them not only as a group of students, but also as know them as
individuals. It can help teacher handle the group, find appropriate tone for communication
and more effective strategies for working. Effective managing can help students to reach
deep learning.
As this type of assessment is a formative one, the students can choose a manner how
it can be done. For example, a peer of even a group assessment that precedes a teacher’s
assessment can be appropriate for some students. On the other hand, some students prefer
self-assessment rather than peer-assessment. The choice depends on individual
characteristic, but it should be negotiated before. Any option can be acceptable for the sake
of good results of their work.
Another promising finding was that the task is student-focused. It is possible to say
about student-centeredness of a process when the students are actively involved in a
process of learning and facilitated by the teacher. The learners are set the objectives; they
get the feedback as well as quickly respond to it on a regular basis. Setting objectives and
providing feedback work in tandem (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). The learners are
interested in their study and the learning outcomes which can be reached in case of
their success. When the learners can see the teachers’ attention to their achievements
Xorijiy lingvistika va lingvodidaktika – Зарубежная лингвистика
и лингводидактика – Foreign Linguistics and Linguodidactics
Special Issue – 4 (2025) / ISSN 2181-3701
30
and when the teacher becomes an active partaker of the process, the process of
learning is boosted. Boynton (2005) notes that if students feel that the teacher
believes in them, they will be inspired by that.
In this section, we will illustrate some experimental results. Taken together,
these results suggest that there is an association between our investigation and
information presented by Randall and Zundell (2012) that assessment is more
significant than grading. The assessment of this written task proves this idea because
this written task is not marked and provided for the formative assessment. The
feedback serves for the betterment of the quality of organization of the paragraph.
The feedback is received not once, but several times which can really improve the
quality of a final work. Moreover, if a student fails in understanding the structure of a
paragraph or has some misunderstanding of it, the constructive feedback can guide
his or her work in the right direction and the learners can get better result.
Peer checking which is an optional for getting feedback is another example of
using student-focused approach to learning. Students can communicate effectively
while getting and giving feedback on the written task. Using the assessment criteria,
peers can identify what are problematic issues in the structure of a paragraph and
whether the cohesive components are properly used. Spiller (2012) noticed that
learners who receive peer’s feedback are likely to generate a great number of fresh
ideas about their work. It gives promotion to their progress and further achievements.
It also encourages student involvement in the process and increases students’
responsibility.
CONCLUSION
This allows the conclusion that problematic zone that raised a great number of
questions and caused much uncertainty was the issue of principles of assessment.
Diagnostic assessment helps to identify and understand the initial level of knowledge
of learners. A formative assessment is essential in the process of getting knowledge,
as it assists a teacher as well as a student to form or shape the knowledge by means
of regular checking and giving constructive feedback about the progress in study.
Summative assessment is given as a final evaluation of the knowledge gain in the
course that reflects the current situation. These three categories are interrelated and
promote students’ progress. In conclusion, students’ performance seems to improve
due to the fact that their written works were checked by the teacher who followed the
principles of validity, inclusivity and reliability for the written tasks.
Another aspect is learner-centeredness. In our rapidly changing world, teachers
are increasingly facilitators of the learning process. They foster innovative
educational opportunities, employing both direct and indirect guidance to support
and enhance learner achievement (Goodyear & Dudley, 2015). Teachers guide and
direct learners, providing assistance as needed. Their most crucial task is to provide
relevant and constructive feedback. Consequently, adherence to the principle of
learner-centeredness allows students to demonstrate practical knowledge application
and develop critical thinking skills.
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discipline problems. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Xorijiy lingvistika va lingvodidaktika – Зарубежная лингвистика
и лингводидактика – Foreign Linguistics and Linguodidactics
Special Issue – 4 (2025) / ISSN 2181-3701
31
2. Brown, S., & Glasner, A. (1999). Assessment matters in higher education. Marston
Book Services.
3. Gravells, A. (2014). The award in education and training (1st ed.). Learning
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4. Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational
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