At a graduation ceremony this summer the dean of the Graduate School of Education at Stanford yelled out the first part of a common aphorism: “Practice makes…” and the crowd yelled “Perfect!” He shouted back: “Not so much!” He went on to explain that they had discovered in their research that the only practice that made significant difference was practice that was accompanied by timely and appropriate feedback where the learner was able to adjust his/her response. He emphasized how learning is a process and that for the experience to be optimized quality feedback was essential.

Every coach, music director and dance teacher know this: without appropriate feedback the learner will not progress as effectively.

We as language teachers are working with students who are being asked to perform constantly: to listen, speak, read and write in order to communicate in the languages we teach. How we approach monitoring and assessing their progress will have a profound effect on their success.

• Are we using assessment tools that encourage learners to improve their performance? 
• Do the tools set limits on the high achievers?