The Impact of Formative Assessment on Learners’ Language Proficiency

Abstract

The current research attempts to shed light on an important issue, which is the impact of formative assessment on learners ‘language proficiency in the Department of English at Biskra University. Our work aims at showing the crucial role of formative assessment in improving the learners ‘speaking skill .In order to test our hypothesis we use the descriptive method , it aims at describing two variables, the formative assessment as the independent variable and its role in improving learners ‘speaking skill as the dependent variable .The data are gathered through the use of two questionnaires .The first one is administered to Eleven teachers , and the second one is provided to thirty –eight students in order to know their opinions about the teaching procedures ,both of them are chosen randomly .The results have shown that formative assessment impact the learners ‘speaking skill positively , and enhance their participation in oral production .On the basis of these results , the hypothesis is confirmed the students need to be assessed formatively in order to develop their speaking skill .Thus the independent variable and the dependent variable are strongly interrelated and did not occur by chance .