Performance-based Assessment Tasks

What are performance-based assessment tasks and why are they used?

Performance assessments require students to use language in contextualized, real-life situations and are based on performance or the active construction of language rather than a demonstration of passive understanding only. Performance assessment tells students (and teachers) much more than how students did on a test—it tells them how they can perform in real life.

Performance assessment tasks are meaningful, authentic activities that ask learners to use the language to accomplish a specific goal. These assessment tasks show what a learner can do in the language, which provides information about the learner’s abilities you can use to inform future instructional practices and even as evidence in larger programmatic decision-making.