In order to succeed in demanding job market and life, students should possess 21^st century skills (Saleh, 2019). The concept of implementing 21st century skills into the classroom is widely discussed in educational literature. However, applying four C’s of 21^st century skills into EFL local assessing techniques leads to challenges and difficulties for EFL teachers. The main focus of the presentation is given to the paradigm shift of assessment from traditional into performance-based assessment. The presenter shares the results of action research conducted with university students and talks about the ways of improving students 21^st century skills with the help of performance-based assessment techniques.