This paper is aimed at providing a comparative overview and critical analysis
of the most important approaches to the assessment of student academic
achievements, first and foremost, the classic psychometric and authentic
assessment. The following are discussed: philosophical/epistemological
viewpoint, nature of knowledge, educational discourse, assessment procedures,
as well as potential possibilities and limitations of the abovementioned
approaches. We provide a concise overview of the most important conceptual
and methodological changes in the field of assessment of student academic
achievements during the last decades of the 20th century. The contemporary
view of assessment implies inevitable changes in the assessment approaches
and practices hitherto, shifting the focus to the very process and context of
assessment, as well as to self-assessment as a part of learning process.
Instead of the usual juxtaposition of the most important approaches to
assessment of student achievements, we argue that each of them, under certain
circumstances, can contribute to the formation of the image about the student
and his/her potentials which would be as objective and comprehensive as
possible.
Interdiscourse as Inherent Characteristic of Institutional Discourse
(on the Example of Educational Discourse)
