What is the difference between testing and Portfolio Based Language Assessment?
What is the difference between testing and PBLA? Testing can be used as a formative or summative assessment while Portfolio Based Language Assessment (PBLA) is formative in nature. That’s not to say that PBLA could not be used as a summative assessment but it leans more towards an update on student’s progress rather than an end of unit assessment. PBLA is often seen as something that is cyclical while testing is much more linear. A testing classroom will learn the unit and then have a test and this will continue until the end of the program. For PBLA, it is a more detailed cycle of planning for learning, assessment and engagement followed by skill-building, transparent assessment, action-oriented feedback and future planning. I believe that PBLA has many merits, it offers a much more learner-involved process not only in planning for learning but also in the assessments and criteria. PBLA also focuses on authentic learning tasks which will, in my opinion, translate better to real-wo...