Chinese EFL Students’ Perspectives on the Integration of Technology

Abstract

This paper considers uses of technology in educational assessment from the perspective of innovation and support for teaching and learning. It first examines large-scale testing contexts where the applications are focused mainly on logistics such as test development, administration, scoring and reporting. It contrasts these cases with more innovative assessment cases from both large-scale testing and classroom based contexts where attempts have been made to harness the power of technology to provide rich, authentic tasks that elicit aspects of integrated knowledge, critical thinking, and problem solving. The latter aspects of cognition are seldom well addressed by traditional testing programs and approaches. Strategies for developing balanced assessment systems are also considered and these involve articulating curriculum-embedded, benchmark, and summative assessments across classroom, district, state, national, and international levels. The paper concludes with perspectives on the potential of technology to launch a new era of integrated, learning-centered assessment systems.