Formative Assessment in University English Conversation Classes

This is an account of one teacher's use of formative assessment in Japanese university EFL conversation classes. Formative assessment was used in these classes in the ways advocated by Clarke (2013) for use in UK primary schools; that is, through the use of decontextualised learning objectives, success criteria for meeting the objectives, student examples, talk partners, and self- and peer-assessment. The ways in which these tools of formative assessment were used and the benefits they brought to the classes are discussed.