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As another essay mentions, Teaching and testing are the most important two parts in our educational system (shi al. 1999). They say that the two parts with interrelationship have to interact with each other, in which teaching plays the primary role and testing secondary. However, I think the assessment is crucial as the follow-up activity(shi, 1999) which can inform us a lot about studentsˇ¦ performance and the effectiveness of our teaching. Therefore, we have to put much emphasis on the assessment to decide if the testing tool we select and use is more appropriate in achieving our aims of teaching. This article portrays the general big picture of the purposeful language assessment. Though the idea illustrated by the author may not be specific enough for us to follow, the general process of purposeful language assessment is still worthwhile for us to keep in mind. In so doing, we may reach toward our goals in a more appropriate way. In reading this article, the first question occurred to my mind is the distinction between testing and assessment. We are inclined to mix up the meanings of the two terms or to see them as the same thing. However, these terms actually reveal distinctive ideas. According to what I read from other essay, some scholars suggest the dichotomy: lower testing and higher assessment. Others prefer adding ˇ§evaluationˇ¨ as the highest one in these three.
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