(SKKN 2022) Using some teaching techniques to design a test

However, to help students get what they want to be effective, teachers need to use their suitable and effective teaching methods to teach their students.. One of the very important thing

INDEX PAGES

PART 1: BACKGROUND

1.1 Reasons for choosing the topic

1.2 Descriptions of the teaching & learning of English at my school

PART 2: PROBLEM SOLVING

2.1 Theoretical background of your project

2.2 Procedure of my work

2.3 Data analysis

2.4 Major findings and recommendations

PART 3: CONCLUSION

3.1 Summary

3.2 Effectiveness of the outcomes

3.3 Limitations

2 2

2

4 11 15

15 16 16

PART 1: BACKGROUND 1.1 Reasons for choosing the topic

We have been living in the 21st century - the century of science, technology, communication, and informatics So we need a common language in the world It

is English

English is a bridge for cooperation, development and exchange between countries together One important thing is that everyone wants to use English perfectly and fluently They can use it as their "mother tongue" However, to help students get what they want to be effective, teachers need to use their suitable and effective teaching methods to teach their students English is a compulsory & important subject in schools in Viet Nam But in order to learn it well, it is not easy

at all It depends on many factors such as the textbook, teaching aids, teaching methods One of the very important things in teaching methodology is test designing I, therefore, choose this topic

1.2 Descriptions of the teaching & learning of English at my school

My school is a Lower Secondary School It is small in the town of Nong Cong District, Thanh Hoa The foreign language which has been taught in my school is English It is also a compulsory subject in my school My school has 8 classes (Grade 6: 2 classes, Grade 7: 2 classes, Grade 8: 2 classes, Grade 9: 2 classes) There are two teachers of English in my school

All of us are in standard level & good teachers We love teaching & our students These help my students improve English better

We have been teaching English with the new text book of Ministry of Education and Training (New version: 2014) Students in my school are mainly well- behaved and fond of learning They are fond of learning English, too

PART 2: PROBLEM SOLVING 2.1 Theoretical background of my project

a Source of materials

I've studied a lot of books such as "The Practice English Language Teaching" by Jeremy Harmer, "The Methodology Course" by English Language Teacher Training Project as well as combined theory with practice

to design tests, I based on:

- Testing should be a positive learning experience for students which motivates them & shows them how much they have achieved

- Test results should measure students' ability according to a description of language level It's not necessary to 'rank' students' results

- Teachers should test all four skills as well as grammar, vocabulary, and phonology

- Marks from final exams are not the only "true" indicators of learners' achievement Semester tests results and ongoing classroom achievement marks are not just a formality

- It's important to link classroom tests to what has been taught that month.

- When designing a test, it's much better to write out a new test with parallel content and questions than to take the text & questions directly from the textbook

- When designing a test, it's much better to write different test types, but depend on: The level of Ss, the skills teacher wants to test and the language points they want to test

b Qualities of a good test

When designing a good test, it can help students know their real ability, it can also help teacher evaluate their students' real ability So a good test needs reliability, validity, practicality & discrimination

- Reliability: Every test should be reliable In other words, a test should

measure precisely whatever it is supposed to measure

+ Reliability & size

+ Reliability & test item level of difficulty

+ Reliability & marking

+ Reliability & syllabus

- Validity: We should actually measure what we are intending to measure.

Validity is often discussed under the headings:

+ Face validity

+ Content validity

+ Respond validity

+ Statistical or empirical validity

- Practicality: A test must be carefully organized well in advance about:

+ Financial limitations

+ Time constrains

+ Ease of administration

+ Scoring & interpretation

- Discrimination: is identified (by Heaton) as the capacity:

+ To discriminate the different candidates

+ To reflect the difference in the performance of the individual in the group

c Designing & administrating the test.

Studying this helps me know the steps in planning a test, know how to make

a fair test, marke & administrate the test and how to teach the test

- Planning the test, I did the following steps:

+ Planning the test

+ Determining the purpose of the tests

+ Selecting items & task

+ Administering the test

+ Scoring & rating

+ Analyzing the test items & task

+ Report the test result

+ Improving the course & teaching methods

- Designing the test

When designing a test should have validity, clarity and do- ability

- Marking tests

+ This is an important part but a complicated part in the testing structure, the last step of the whole test designing process to enable the tester to have the extract

& true valuation of the testees' performance in the test

+ Closely related to all criteria of a good test

+ Contain the keys, marking instructions, marking scale needed for each item & the whole test

- Ways of marking

+ Subjective (requires subjective judgment of the markers)

+ Objective (not require subjective judgment of the markers) depending on the test designer's intention

+ The balance of marks distributed to the different parts of a test should reflect the balance of the syllabus

+ The weighting of marks should take into consideration the difficulty of a test item

+ The proportion of the overall test time

+ Giving careful proportion of the total marks for the test, & the criteria to

be used for assessing the element which has to be marked subjectively

+ Marking should be done according to guideline of one form or another

- Making fair tests

+ Ask enough questions to test accurately

+ Write clear directions for the test & use examples

+ Test what has been taught in class

+ Write clear test items

+ When writing multiple choice questions, use realistic distractors

+ Score tests consistently with a key

+ Avoid traps for Ss

2.2 Procedure of my work

I have been a teacher for 16 years, so I have designed a lot of different tests for my students At the beginning I had a lot of difficulties in choosing how to design a good test for my students because my school didn't have good teaching aids as cassettes, videos … Besides, there were 4 or 5 students sitting on a stool,

it was easy for my students to copy each other Therefore, the real quality of my students was very low Moreover, my students did not appreciate English, it did not use to be regarded as a main subject at schools, they didn't try to study hard That was my anxiety

But now my country's policy of education has been changed and so have people's view points My students parents are more interested in English This is a motivation for me to try harder in my teaching I like teaching & I am interested in teaching much more This concludes designing good tests I have found out & made a lot of experiments in designing tests Finally, I have found the way to make

a good test for my students and for my school's conditions

The following tests are examples of my test designing for the 6th grade students in my school in the first term of this school year

1 Period: 24 45 minute written test

I Objectives:

Check students’ knowledge about:

* Language focus:

+ Do exercises using the present simple tense and the present continuous tense

+ Pronunciation: distinguish some different sounds

+ Some phrases, prepositions, in Unit 1,2,3

* Reading: Read and do exercises True or False and answer the questions.

* Writing: Describe one of the rooms in the house.

* Listening: Listen to the tape and choose the right pictures and do T/F.

II Matrix:

Theme Knowledge Understanding Application Total

Listening 5 1 5 1 10 2

A LISTENING

Question 1: Listen and choose the right pictures (5 marks)

1 Which is Ba’s dream house?

2 Which sports does Lan like?

3 Where did Hoa go last night?

A B C

4 Which is Nga’s favorite TV program?

Question 2: Listen and answer T/F (5 marks)

1 In the USA, New Year is the most important

2 Few people go to the parties on New Year’s Eve

3 People often give their friends and relatives wishes on New Year

4 Children usually dress as witches or ghosts on New Year’s Eve

5 Children often go from house to house asking for money

6 The children usually play a trick on the people

B PHONICS

I Choose the word having the underlined part pronounced differently from

the others (5 marks)

1 a great b beautiful c teacher d means

2 a wet b better c rest d pretty

3 a horrible b hour c house d here

4 a party b lovely c sky d empty

5 a stove b moment c sometime d close

C VOCABULARY & STRUCTURE

I Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form (6 marks)

1 He often (play) ……… volleyball in his free time

2 Mai (do) ……… her homework at the moment

3.Trang (not be)…… in her room at the moment She……… (cook) in the kitchen

4 You (be) ………… free next Sunday morning , Tan ?

-No I and my brother………… (visit) our grandmother

II Choose the best answer (10 marks)

1 Would you like……… volleyball?

A play B playing C to playing D to play

2 The doctor takes care sick children

A.on B.of C in D at

3 I live 24 Tran Hung Dao street.

A on B of C in D at

4 Her new shool is than her old school

A very big B big C biggest D bigger

5 is it from your house to school?

A.How far B.How high C How long D How old

6 That apartment is of the three

A.a cheapest B.the cheaper C.the cheapest D cheaper

7 I’m a new student -

A So am I B I am so C Yes, I am D I do,too

8 What awful party!

A an B the C a D some

9 They will .soccer next Sunday

A play B to play C playing D plays

10 What is your date ……… birth, Nam?

III.Fill in each blank with the correct form of the word given in capital ( 4 marks ):

1 There are about 200 ……….in this company

EMPLOY

2 She often feels ………when she gets bad marks

HAPPY

3 My sister is a stamp ………

COLLECT

4 I have time to play than my friends

LITTLE

D READING Read the passage and do the tasks below.

John Robinson is an English teacher from the USA He teaches English in a high school in HaNoi Now he is looking for an apartment near the school There are three empty apartments The first one is a big apartment It’s comfortable,but it’s very expensive.the second one is also a lovely apartment,but it’s quite expensive ,too.The last one is smaller than the other two,but it’s the cheapest of the three It has a bright living room,two bedrooms and a large,mordern kitchen Mr Robinson thinks the third apartment is the most suitable for his family

I Answer the questions (5 marks)

1 What does Mr Robinson do ?

………

…

2 Where is he from ?

…

3 What is he looking for ?

………

…

4 Which is the cheapest apartment ?

………

…

5 Which is the most expensive ?

………

…

II Decide whether the sentences are T (true) or F (false) (5 marks)

1 John Robinson is an English teacher from the USA ………

2 He teaches English in a secondary school in HaNoi ………

3 Now he is looking for a house near the school ………

5 He chooses the last one because it’s not expensive ………

E WRITING

I Rewrite the following sentences, beginning with the words given (5 marks)

1 We have a two-month summer vacation

- Our summer vacation lasts………

2 It takes me about two hours each day to do my homework

- I spend……… 3.Hoa is a hard student

- Hoa studies ………… 4.How lovely the dress is!

- What .! 5.Tuan is more intelligent than any students in his class

- Tuan is the

2 Period: 41 45 minute written test

I Objectives:

Check students’ knowledge about:

* Language focus:

+ Do exercises using the present simple tense and the present continuous tense

+ Pronunciation: distinguish some different sounds

+ Some phrases, prepositions, in Unit 4, 5

* Reading: Read and do exercises True or False and answer the questions.

* Writing: Rewrite the sentences and reorder the words into the right sentences.

* Listening: Listen to the tape Number the pictures and choose the best answers.

II Matrix:

A LISTENING

Question 1: Listen and number (5 points)

Example :

0 a.

b c d e f

1 2 3 4 5

Question 2: Listen and circle the correct answers There is an example (5 points)

0 Susie is ………… years old

1 Susie ……… …… being at a girls’ school

2 Susie’s favourite teacher is her ……… teacher

a

3 Today , Susie ……… ……

A is wearing her uniform

B isn’t wearing uniform

C wears her uniform

4 Susie studies ………… For three hours a week

5 Susie does her homework ……….……

A at break time B in the morning C in the evening

B PHONICS

I Choose the word having the underlined part pronounced differently from

the others (5 points)

1 A houses B misses C glasses D mixes

2 A chicken B coach C orchestra D change

3 A relax B lazy C teenager D vacation

4 A teenager B Together C guess D.regular

C VOCABULARY & STRUCTURE

I Put the verbs in brackets into the correct form (5 points)

1 Where are you? + I am upstairs I (have)……… a bath.

2 I will send him the message as soon as he (return)………

3 Trang ( not be )………… in her room at the moment She (cook) ……… in the kitchen

4 She ( not play )……….games very often

II Choose the best answer (10 points)

1 My father takes care……….sick children

2.We learn………… to use a computer

3.Vietnamese students have ………….vacations than American students

4.My father is the in my family

A tall B taller C tallest D most tall 5.Washington DC is the of the USA

A city B capital C country D street 6.Would you like to play basketball? Good idea!

A I like B I love it C I’d love to D I want 7.It me about 2 hours a day to do my homework

A takes B has C have D gives

8 I will Uncle Ho’s Mausoleum next year

A visiting B to visit C visit D visits