ABSTRACT
Assessment for learning (AfL), a concept first used in the UK in the late 1980s, and widely promoted through the work of the Assessment Reform Group (Assessment Reform Group, 1999, 2001; Black & Wiliam, 1998), refers to any assessment in which the primary purpose of the information being collected is to improve learning. AfL has been adopted as educational policy in a wide range of educational systems around the world, including in English language education. However, the process of initiating and implementing such innovative assessment approaches, especially in very traditional exam-oriented educational systems, can pose particular challenges.
