ARUGAY, GERALD C.

BOOK REVIEW
ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY MA ELLT-I
PROF. IRENE BENITEZ EN 203

A CLOSER LOOK ON THE PRACTICALITY AND USABILTY

OF H.D. BROWN’S “LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT: PRINCIPLES AND
CLASSROOM PRACTICES” AMONG LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Assessment plays an important role in the teaching and learning process. This
therefore demands attention in the pedagogical field just like how teaching strategies and
content pedagogy are given time and effort. With this reality, a well-written and well-
researched blueprint must be written to guide teachers in providing appropriate form of
evaluation and assessment inside their classrooms. To aid the need for this matter, a book
titled, “Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices” was written by Professor
H. Douglas Brown. It was penned and published to provide assistance to the classroom
teachers in the assessment phase of their day-to-day teaching work. The author claimed that
the book was a product of his “many years of teaching language testing assessment” in his
own classroom. This then makes the book more applicable and realistic inside the classroom
because the contents are from the grassroots of classroom teaching. By simply considering
these factors, I am giving five out of five (5 of 5) stars for this book because of its relevance
to the ESL classroom, detailed contents, practicality, usability and simplicity of diction, thus
is highly recommended.
The book was written comprehensively and clearly as it provides all the features of
language assessment. It consists of 364 pages divided into 11 chapters. It tackled theories
and principles of testing, assessing and teaching in the language classroom on its first two
chapters. While the following chapters focused on designing classroom language tests,
standardized testing, assessing the macro-skills: speaking, listening, writing and reading. The
book ends with its last two chapters discussing alternative assessment and guides in
evaluating students’ performances. The contents are written in a way that language teachers
can easily understand and use. It is commendable that besides theories, applications were
also included. Each chapter also ends with self-evaluation for teachers and provides
suggested texts for further readings. The book also offers sample items and tasks that can be
used in language assessment. It also specifies discussions and samples of commercial tests
like Testing of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), International English Language
Testing System (IELTS) and Test of English fort International Communication (TOEIC).
On a personal note, I like how H.D. Brown highlighted both the weaknesses and
strengths of all the forms of assessment. He gave a critical look and reality that one-size-
does-not-fit-all principle is also applied in assessment especially in a language class. I also
like the idea that the author gave an introduction of assessment through the first chapter. He
gave clear distinction between formal and informal assessment, formative and summative
assessment and between norm and criterion referenced tests.
By taking a closer look on the content of the book, I can say that the author was
critical and was very detailed in presenting current issues in classroom testing like the “new
theories of intelligence”, alternative assessment and the advent of computer-based testing. I
also like how clear the transitions of assessments are from the early years up to the 21st
century. The book further teaches its readers that traditional approaches of assessment are
“time tested” and the new ones suit to kind of learners we have today.
 As a support to the first chapter, the author discussed all the jargons in assessment on
the second chapter. It is estimable that reliability, validity and authenticity were
comprehensively discussed to give importance to the core elements of assessment. The fact
that the author put self-assessment at the end of each chapter says a lot about how concerned
the author was towards the understanding of the readers on the book. The checklist is also a
“plus factor” of the book.
Another strength and worth reading part of the book is the chapter where Brown
discussed step by the step the ways in constructing a test, not to mention the principles
behind them. He covered the rule of thumb in creating different types of test like language
aptitude tests, proficiency tests, placement tests and achievement tests. Also, it is on this part
where I had a clear grasp of what a Table of Specification (TOS) is and why it matters in the
assessment phase.
Moreover, the author also put emphasis on the “end part” of assessment, which dealt
with grading, scoring and giving feedback. This only shows that the book really covers all
phases of assessment from its preliminaries to the “during” phase up to the post-phase of
assessment.
Further, the author did not forget to include few of the most important topics in the
language assessment. These are assessing listening, speaking, writing and reading. This is
very important especially in the context of Filipino language Teachers. Personally, I find it
very useful and very helpful because all these macro-skills are non-negotiable in the
curriculum that we follow in our school. The discussion of each skill was very wide-ranging
because a chapter was allotted or used for each. The book provided the theories and the
science behind assessing the aforementioned skills.
In the last two chapters of the book, H.D. Brown made claims and discussed the
importance of alternative assessments. He clearly stated that there are times that alternative
assessments are needed in the classroom. He also also talked about the dilemma of
maximizing both practicality and washback of this type of assessment. I like the idea that the
author was not bias and one sided in presenting each type of assessment.
Thus, H.D. Brown’s Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices
provided a very clear discussion on language assessment can enhances the skills and abilities
of language teachers in assessing their learners. It also paved the way to what is called to be
“paradigm shift” in designing different forms of assessment among teachers.
Having laid the all the features of the book, I, as a reader and a teacher as well, avow
that the author of the book achieved its goal in enlightening language teachers on assessment
issues by presenting realities in figuring out the “best way” in assessing the learners’ ability
and by giving suggestions on the most practical assessment instruments that can be used
inside the classroom. H.D. Brown, through this book, gave answers on questions like “Are
current standardized tests of language proficiency accurate and reliable?”. Also, one can
learn a lot from this book about ways in making classroom tests measure learners’
achievement and performance with utmost authenticity and meaningfulness.
So, if you are the kind the language teacher who wants to learn more about
assessment and/or a kind of teacher who wants to validate why most of the time assessment
is context-dependent, this book is for you. This book is highly recommended for all the
language teachers because this is a good guide for them to relearn, learn and unlearn things
related to assessment.

Reference:

Brown, H. Douglas. (2010) Language assessment: principles and classroom practices White
Plains, NY: Pearson Education.