American International Journal of Education and Linguistics Research; Vol. 3, No. 2; 2020 ISSN 2641-7987 E-ISSN 2641-7995 Published by American Center of Science and Education, USA 7 Effects of Alternative Assessment in EFL Classroom: A Systematic Review Wali Khan Monib Lecturer Department of English Faculty of Languages and Literature Shaikh Zayed University, Khost, Afghanistan walikhan.af@gmail.com Abdul Qudos Karimi Lecturer Department of English Faculty of Education Paktika University, Paktika, Afghanistan E-mail: abdulqoduskarimi@gmail.com Nazifullah Nijat Lecturer Department of English Faculty of Education Paktika University, Paktika, Afghanistan E-mail: nazifullahnijat@gmail.com Abstract Alternative assessment has been the focus of many educational researches in EFL classroom. This study was carried out to highlight the definition, characteristics and effects of alternative assessment in EFL context by reviewing current research on assessment. The research consisted of a systematic review of the empirical studies on alternative assessment in EFL classroom. Focusing solely on online search, many studies were found but only (n=24) met the inclusion criteria involving a total of (n=1588) participants. Also, it aimed to scrutinize the methods, participants and findings of the selected studies as well as the locations where they were conducted. The findings indicated that most of the studies (18 out of 24) reported positive effects of employing alternative assessment on language learning skills in EFL classroom. The results also show that the dominant method employed in the articles was quantitative where students were the main focal point involved in the research as their participants. The study is further concluded with a discussion on definition, characteristics and effects of alternative assessment in EFL context. Keywords: Alternative Assessment, Systematic Review, Language Skills, EFL Context. 1. Introduction Recently, a reform took place in the field of evaluation in terms of a paradigm shift from traditional testing to assessment (Charvade, Jahandar & Khodabandehlou, 2012). In education field, innovations have been witnessed in procedures to assess students’ performance where summative assessment is gradually changing to formative assessment (alternative assessment). According to Al-Mahrooqi and Denman (2018), alternative assessment is a blanket term employed to cover a set of various alternatives to traditional or standardized form of assessment. Moreover, these alternatives emerged with regards to the perceived deficiencies of traditional assessment methods. To Worthen (1993), alternative assessment is a universal term used for several types of assessments such as authentic assessment, performance assessment and direct assessment. Alternative assessment employs various forms of assessment involving different tasks whereby learners are required to get use of high-level thinking skills in real life situations or the use of these skills in authentic context (Al Ruqeishi, 2015). In alternative assessment or criterion-referenced assessment, an individual’s performance is measured against specific learning objectives or