TLBD-TESTING & ASSESSMENT

Innovation/Change in Testing In traditional language teaching, formal and informal tests are given to students by their teachers.. Reliability depends on - making the test instructions

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TESTING & ASSESSMENT

 Questions for discussion

1.State what you know about innovation/change in testing and assessment

2.List some test types you usually give your 12-grade students.

3.Suggest what should be done to make fair tests.

 Follow-up activity

In groups, choose one point to be tested (either

language skills or vocabulary or grammar or

pronunciation) Design a 45-minute test with key answers.

Innovation/Change in Testing

 In traditional language teaching, formal and informal tests are given to students by their teachers

 Nowadays, based on student-centered approach, language testing includes tests, continuous/continual assessments

- Formal tests are given to students at the end of a semester/ school year, marked, and assessed by teachers

- Continuous/continual assessments are informal tests given regularly to students during the course They are assessed by teachers( teacher assessment), or classmates (peer

assessment), or the student himself/ herself (self-assessment

or individual assessment)

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD TEST

VALIDITY & RELIABILITY

 Validity

A test is valid

- if it tests what is supposed to test (e.g test writing

ability with essay question that requires specialist knowledge of history or biology)

- if it produces similar results to some other measure

(i.e Test A gives the same kind of resuts as Test B).

- when there is validity in the way it is marked(e.g test

listening ability but scoring the answers for spelling and grammar  not a valid test of listening)

VALIDITY & RELIABILITY

 Reliability

A good test should give consistent results (i.e same test same results on each occasion).

Reliability depends on

- making the test instructions clear;

- restricting the scope for variety in the answers;

- ensuring test conditions remain constant;

- the scorers in particular (i.e a test is unreliable if the result depends to any large extent on who is marking it.)

Testing and Assessment

 “…Testing is one kind of assessment One which is typically used at the end of a stage of instruction to measure student achievement Assessment is a broader concept: it is part of the whole educational process of teaching and learning…”

 “…Whilst tests can be used as a ‘bolt-on’ procedure at

end-points in a learning program, assessment is integral to the

whole process of teaching and learning…”

 Assessment is undertaken and for different purposes The first

purpose is pedagogically motivated, i.e formative

assessment The second one is to measure learner

achievement, i.e summative assessment.

Source: Hedge, T (2000) Teaching and Learning in the

Language Classroom, OUP (pp 336-337)

Formative versus Summative Assessment

Source: Hedge, T (2000) Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom, OUP (pp 336-337)

Formative assessment

 is prepared and carried out by

the class teacher as a routine

part of teaching and learning.

 is specifically related to what

has been taught, i.e content is

in harmony with what has been

taught.

 the information from the

assessment is used

diagnostically; it focuses on the

individual learner’s specific

strengths and weaknesses,

needs, etc.

Summative assessment

 is not necessarily prepared and carried out by the class teacher.

 does not necessarily relate immediately to what has been taught.

 the judgement about a learner’s performance is likely to feed into record-keeping and be used for administrative purposes, e.g checking standards and targets.

 is frequently externally imposed, e.g by institution or a ministry of education.

Some test types

Teachers might use a variety of test types which will depend on

a) The level of students

b) The skills they want to test

c) The language points they want to test

A Listening tests

1 Multiple choice questions

2 True-False statements

3 Open-ended questions

4 Grid-filling/ Completing charts with facts & figures

5 Gap-filling

6 Identifying objects/people/speakers’ tones

Some test types (cont.)

B Reading tests

1 Multiple choice questions

2 True-False statements

3 Open-ended questions

4 Grid-filling

5 Gap-filling/ Cloze

6 Matching (jumbled headings with paragraphs/written

descriptions with pictures of the items or procedure they

describe)

7 Transferring written information to charts, graphs, maps,etc

8 Choosing the best summary of a paragraph or a whole text

Some test types (cont.)

C Speaking tests

1 Prompts/Picture prompts

2 Asking & answering questions(Interview)

3 A set of topics

4 Role-plays

5 Information gap activities (e.g describe and draw/ describe and arrange)

6 Decision-making activities (e.g show ten photos of people and ask candidates to put them in order of the best and worst dressed.)

7 Using pictures for candidates to compare and contrast (e.g to find similarities & differences)

Some test types (cont.)

D Writing tests

 Guided writing tests:

- Gap-filling

- Punctuating a text

- Re-ordering words/sentences

- Summary writing based on texts

 Free writing tests:

- Sentence writing (e.g a set of instructions for some common task)

- Paragraph writing (e.g writing leaflets/brochures)

- Letter writing (e.g transactional letters)

- Essay writing (e.g writing compositions and stories)

Types of test item

 A test item is direct if it asks testees to

perform the communicative skill which is

being tested Direct test items try to be as

much like real-life language as possible.

 Indirect test items try to measure a student’s knowledge and ability through more

controlled items such as multiple-choice

questions or grammar transformation items.

Some suggestions for making fair

tests

Before designing a test and giving it to students

teachers should take these things into

considerations:

 Assess the test situation.

Teachers should remind themselves of the context, the allotted time, the place test will take place, time for marking

 Decide what to test

Language skills/vocabulary items/ grammar points/ appropriate topics?

Some suggestions for making fair

tests

 Balance the elements.

Balancing elements involves estimating how long teachers want each section of the test to take and then writing test items within those time constraints.

 Weigh the scores.

Give more marks to more important questions.

 Make the test work.

Try out individual items or whole tests on colleagues

or other students before administering them to the real testees

Some suggestions for making fair

tests

 Ask enough questions to test accurately.

A test will be less reliable if it has too few questions

With more questions, one question will not cause too much a problem.

 Write clear instructions/directions for the test

and use examples.

Clear instructions will help students understand the

questions, know how to answer, and answer the

questions accurately.

Some suggestions…

 Test what has been taught in class.

A test based on what has not been taught in class would not be a reliable test.

 Write clear test items.

Compare the following:

Item 1: Directions: Choose the best response.

Today it is rather cloudy.

A It will probably rain.

B Yesterday the weather was nice.

C Yes, I think so, too.

Some suggestions…

Item 2: Directions: Choose the letter for the answer

which means the same as the statement.

Today it is rather cloudy.

A The clouds are dark.

B It is not too sunny today.

C It might snow tomorrow.

Which item is clear?

Item 2 is clear; Item 1 is unclear.

Some suggestions…

 When writing multiple choice questions, use realistic distractors Distractors are wrong answers A test will not be reliable if impossible

distractors are used.

Consider the following question:

What color is the sun?

A Yellow ( This is intended correct answer)

B Orange ( too close to the correct answer)

C Soft (not a color & too far from the correct answer)

D Yes (It is a bad distractor because this is an answer to a yes/no

question)

A better set of answers to test knowledge of colors would

simply be a list of colors:

A blue B green C yellow D black

Some suggestions…

 Score tests consistently with a key.

When scoring, use a key that will help teachers grade

objectively The key should have examples of correct answers ( though other correct answers should be accepted) and the

appropriate points/marks as well

 Avoid traps for students

A good test should never be constructed in such a way as to trap the students (testees) into giving an incorrect answer All tests should be constructed primarily with the intention of

finding out what a student knows _ not with trapping him