Contextualized and Decontextualized Assessment

In contextualized assessment, the focus is on the students' construction of functioning knowledge and the students' performance in application of knowledge in the real work context of the discipline area. Assessment tasks reflect the goal of learning. It uses performance-based tasks which are authentic in nature. In addition, it describes assessment practices which measure skills and knowledge in dealing with specific situations or perform specific tasks which the students have identified as important and meaningful to them. Application of the skills and knowledge must be in the context of the real world as possible.

On the other hand, decontextualized assessment includes written exams and term papers which are suitable for assessing declarative knowledge, and do not necessarily have a direct connection to a real-life context (Biggs, 2011). It focuses on declarative knowledge and / or procedural knowledge in artificial situations detached from the real work context.

Both contextualized and decontextualized learning and assessment has its role in evaluating learning outcomes. In practice, decontextualized assessment has been overemphasized compared to the place declarative knowledge has in the curriculum. Both must be assessed appropriately. A common mistake is to assess only the lead-in declarative knowledge, not the functional knowledge that emerges from it (Biggs and Tang, 2011).