Thirtieth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

As two teachers who are engaged with English Language Teaching (ELT) from a critical perspective, we have felt discomfort throughout our careers when evaluating students. The prevalence of testing and normative criteria based on structuralist and modern assumptions in our context is not only disconnected from our readings in relation to language, but also has material consequences to our students, such as insecurity and imposterism. Within this background, we turned our attention to assessment and tried to develop a practice that challenged the traditional, hegemonic, and normative paradigms in ELT.. In this paper, our goal is to share and reflect on the approach we took in a collaborative action-research where we explored a different way of doing assessment at a language center for adults during one semester. We start by describing the meetings we had before and during the experience, when we: a) discussed theories such as English as a Lingua Franca, Multiliteractices and Decoloniality; b) planned our assessment practice; c) reflected on the outcomes, difficulties and impressions of the process as it was taking place. Then, we explain the context of our classrooms and present the assessment we developed. We conclude with our thoughts on some of the possibilities and limitations of our intervention, considering critical ELT assessment in online environments, collaborative work among teachers and students’ engagement and agency in their learning process.