ABSTRACT

Manageable and sensitive ways of dealing with assessment and the monitoring of progress in primary MFL will be explored in this chapter, bearing in mind the need to respond to the diverse needs of learners, and taking into account statutory requirements and expectations. The chapter considers ways of recording progress and acknowledges the debate and concern of some teachers about whether there should be any kind of assessment at all in primary MFL. The emphasis will be on assessment for learning defined by Black and Wiliam (1998: 2) as 'All activities undertaken by teachers, and by the students themselves, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged.' This does not dispense with elements of summative assessment, simply described by Black and Wiliam as 'any assessment made at the end of a period of learning to evaluate the level of understanding or competence'. Assessment will be considered as an aid to learning, and the development of self-learning and pupil autonomy in some aspects of their language learning, thereby sowing the seeds of lifelong language learning capability.