Language Culture and Curriculum
Editor and Book Reviews Editor: Eoghan Mac Aogain (St Patrick's College)
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Volume: 13 Number: 3 Page: 306–317
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Assessment of Young Learners' Achievement in ESL Classes in the Lebanon
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Kassim Shaaban
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This paper discusses student evaluation policies and practices that should go hand in hand with the new Lebanese English language curriculum that was introduced in 1997. The focus of the paper is on new
methods and techniques of assessment in pre-school and elementary school classes. The main argument in the paper is that the evaluation of the achievement of young learners in ESL classes has to reflect
the objectives of the curriculum and its suggested methods of teaching. As the curriculum has adopted a thematic content-based approach whose major features are integration of language and content as well
as language skill integration, the traditional paper and pencil tests cannot cover the great variety of activities and performance tasks that take place in the elementary ESL classroom. Therefore, this
paper considers alternative forms of assessment, mainly performance-based assessment and portfolios, which, in congruence with the principles and dynamics of the new curriculum, treat assessment as an integral
part of teaching culminating in formative rather than summative evaluation.
© Multilingual Matters 2000
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