Shift from Traditional Tests to Performance-Based Assessment in EFL Classroom

In modern EFL(English as a Foreign Language) classroom,communicative language teaching becomes praised and even more and more popular.Teachers are encouraged to utilize communicative methods and make language instruction interactive and relevant to the students’ realworld interests.However,at the same time,the teachers are asked to assess their students with traditional paper-and-pencil test items such as multiple choice questions and fill-in-the-blanks.Both teachers and students become dissatisfied because of the mismatch between traditional tests and the actual performance of language tasks.A shift from traditional tests to performance-based assessment in EFL classroom is on the way.This paper makes an analysis of the disadvantages of traditional tests in EFL teaching and advocates the initiation of performance-based assessment.The benefits of the new assessment process are summarized and the findings show the shift poses positive effects on modern EFL teaching.