INTRODUCTION TO EVALUATION

When talking about Second language Evaluation is necessary to consider that tests are not the only way to assess students' performance, because the acquisition of a second language involves a variety of factors and integrates different objectives, skills, components and purposes. It is showed in the reading that, second language evaluation is about making decisions, and for making decisions is necessary to collect evaluative information through observation of students' behavior, work habits, learning styles, notes in students' journals, and give it a meaningful interpretation to consider what changes to make or what actions to take.

In the evaluation process is important for teachers to know, analyze and implement different kinds of objectives that would be useful in the process. First of all, we find the instructional objectives which provide direction for planning and criteria for assessing the outcomes. The types of instructional objectives are language, strategic, socioaffective, philosophical, methods and process. But not all of them can be implementing in our classroom, as teachers we need to determine what of those objectives are going to be useful when assessing students.

The instructional plans are also mention in the reading and they are related to the syllabus designed for each second language course in which is included a complete plan to develop during  a set of lessons. However, a teacher can decide if the syllabus is appropriate for their students and for doing so, is necessary to take into consideration factors such as students’ needs, background characteristics and goals. It is valuable to be critical and assess students fairly because the majority of the time what is supposed to happen is not what actually happens in class.