The suggested role for assessment in developing "Roadmaps for Learning" has potentially important implications for the learning of second or foreign languages in school, a major concern of applied linguistics. In this response, the authors consider how the findings of a detailed ethnographic study of classroom-based assessment in two foreign language classrooms in Australia can illuminate a number of the issues and suggestions in the article. They also evaluate the success of attempts within language testing so far to map growth along the lines suggested in the article, and the implications this has for the applicability of the suggested approach to "skill-oriented" areas of the curriculum (such as proficiency in the practical use of languages, the current target of school languages curricula), as distinct from the "knowledge-oriented" areas of the curriculum (such as mathematics or science). (Contains 1 table.)