Applying the ILTA Guidelines to Classroom-based Assessment in a Japanese University

Classroom-based assessment is taking an increasingly prominent place in the testing literature. Testing organizations such as ILTA are taking a lead in addressing issues arising from this shift, but there is a mismatch between some concepts and psychometric language used by assessment experts on the one hand, and the everyday experience of teaching on the other. The warrants and rebuttals of a classroom validity discussion need to be grounded within the specifics of a context. The goal of this presentation is to look at such a specific setting, with reference to how the ILTA Guidelines for Practice affect classroom assessment. Beginning with an overview of the Guidelines, including their goals and origins, the paper then introduces the Japanese educational context. Discussion of the Guidelines centres on EFL classes at a large private university in Japan, and how teachers of those classes may use such guidelines to construct grades, as well as how those grades may be interpreted. The discussion concludes with a reframing of the technical debates of validity and reliability, particularly looking at the issue of constructing language that can be used by both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Following reflection on the strengths and shortcomings of the guidelines, it is hoped that readers will explore their own roles in the construction of grades, and what guidelines may be helpful in their own context.