Assessment terms half a century in the making and unmaking: from conceptual ingenuity to definitional anarchy

Cookson, C. J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7488-3016 (2018) Assessment terms half a century in the making and unmaking: from conceptual ingenuity to definitional anarchy. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 43 (6). pp. 930-942. ISSN 0260-2938 doi: 10.1080/02602938.2017.1420138

Abstract/Summary

As the parameters of the field of educational assessment have extended past testing into learning, assessment concepts, too, have evolved and become ever more nuanced. It is frequently lamented in the English language literature that there is insufficient conformity and clarity in the way they are defined and used. This paper offers a survey of the problem over the past five decades and scrutinises conceptualisations of a number of key assessment terms. Additionally, it argues that some of these may not, or no longer, be necessary, and recommends the phrase ‘evaluation for learning’ as the most suitable term for embodying the spirit of using testing for improving learning and teaching. It closes by offering suggestions for tackling the problem.