Teacher-based assessment of L2 Japanese pragmatics: Classroom applications

In this chapter, the potential utility and limitations of teacher-based assessment are explored in the Japanese-as-a-foreign-language classroom context. Teacher-based assessment constitutes “a more teacher-mediated, contextbased, classroom-embedded assessment practice,” which is situated in opposition to traditional formal assessment that is often externally set and administered (Davison & Leung, 2009, p. 395). Teacher-based assessment is sometimes termed alternative assessment, classroom(-based) assessment, or authentic assessment (e.g., Brown & Hudson, 1998; O’Malley & Valdes-Pierce, 1996; Rea-Dickins, 2008). Despite the rigorous efforts to measure learners’ pragmatic competence (e.g., Ahn, 2005; Brown, 2001; Enochs & Yoshitake-Strain, 1999; Hartford & Bardovi-Harlig, 1992; Hudson 2001; Hudson, Detmer, & Brown, 1992, 1995; Itomitsu, 2009; Liu, 2006; Rintell & Mitchell, 1989; Rose, 1994; Roever, 2005; Yamashita, 1996), their application to everyday classrooms long remained underdeveloped (Hudson, 2001). The assessment of learners’ pragmatic competence in classroom contexts has only begun to be explored recently even though assessment is an integral part of instruction. From a teachers’ perspective, we need to know how to implement effective assessment for L2 pragmatics in the classroom; the same concern is true for researchers and teacher educators if pragmatics is to be promoted in L2 instruction and teacher development.