Developing an effective learning environment in an EFL classroom

Assessment has always been a very crucial part of language education, for both teaching and learning. Summative and formative assessments are the two major kinds of assessment used in EFL classrooms and serve different purposes. Although they are used for different purposes, the main focus of assessment is effective teaching and effective learning. There have been various studies on both summative and formative assessments such as; the affects of summative and formative assessment, students' and teachers' perceptions on assessment, using feedback, and the affects of feedback. Unfortunately, although both assessment forms are used in Preparatory Schools in Turkey; there have not been any studies on creating an effective learning environment using both formative and summative assessments as a tool at a Preparatory School of a university. Therefore the purpose of this study is to investigate general attitudes and feelings of the students on assessment and how to create an effective learning environment using the conditions that were suggested in the literature while using both summative and formative assessments as a tool. The participants of this study were the students of Çağ University Preparatory School. The study was conducted with 20 students, 11 females and 9 males. The study has been designed as a case study in which action research and qualitative research designs were used. Interviews, students' diaries, researcher's observations and notes were used as a tool to collect the data. Before starting the action research, students were not motivated; they were stressed and had negative attitudes and feelings towards assessment. With the help of the conducted study, they became aware of their weaknesses and strengths, motivated, and gained some positive attitudes towards assessment.