Formative assessment is a means of guiding the processes of learning and teaching in relation to the content of the learning programme and learners’ progress. It is a process that involves giving feedback to the learners so that they can assess where they are and make progress. Formative assessment fosters awareness of the advantages and possibilities of plurilingual communication (including language varieties) as well as self-awareness. It encourages enhancement of one's plurilingual repertoire, and thus one’s progress in the development of language skills through contact and/or learning in different learning contexts, both formal and informal.
References:
"Formative assessment is a process of continuous evaluation aimed at guiding pupils in their schoolwork and in identifying their difficulties in order to help them and give them the means to progress in their learning" (Cuq, 2003, pp. 90-91, own translation).
Source:
Cuq J-P. (2003),
Dictionnaire de didactique du français langue étrangère et seconde, CLE International.
"Within the process of learning, formative assessment involves gathering information
and providing feedback for learners and teachers alike. Such feedback is effective to
the extent that those receiving it are able to make use of it, particularly being able to
understand it, to take it into account, and to profit from it. To do so, people need to
develop a metalanguage about assessment, which may require specific training and
development of awareness, which may in turn increase their motivation. As already
stated, these forms of assessment are at either ends of a continuum and are
complementary." (Piccardo E. et al., 2011, p. 50)
Source:
Piccardo E., Berchoud M., Cignatta T., Mentz O. and Pamula M. (2011),
Pathways through assessing, learning and teaching in the CEFR, Council of Europe (European Centre for Modern Languages), available at
www.ecml.at/Resources/ECMLresources/tabid/277/ID/28/Default.aspx.
Formative assessment is assessment "which takes place during learning or training, and which enables the pupil or student to become aware of what they have learnt and the difficulties they have encountered, and to discover for themselves how they can improve." (Bennett, 2011)
Source:
Bennett R. E. (2011), "Formative assessment: a critical review",
Assessment in education: Principles, policy & practice, Volume 18, Issue 1, 2011, pp. 5-25, available at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0969594X.2010.513678.
"The function of formative assessment is to help regulate the teaching and learning in progress; it is used within a school curriculum" (Mottier Lopez, 2015, p. 21, own translation)
Source:
Mottier-Lopez L. (2015),
Évaluations formative et certificative des apprentissages – Enjeux pour l'enseignement, De Boeck.