The answers for 2nd task of Language Testing

1. There are five types principles of language assessment :
 PRACTICALITY
A practical test
• Is not excessively expensive,
• Stays within appropriate time constraints,
• Is relatively easy to administer, and
• Has a scoring/evaluation procedure that is specific and time-efficient.

Furthermore
For a test to be practical
• Administrative details should clearly be established before the test,
• Students should be able to complete the test reasonably within the set time frame,
• The test should be able to be administered smoothly all materials and equipment should be ready,
• The cost of the test should be within budgeted limits,
• The scoring/evaluation system should be feasible in the teacher’s time frame.
• Methods for reporting results should be determined in advance.




 RELIABILITY
A reliable test is consistent and dependable. The issue of reliability of a test may best be addressed by considering a number of factors that may contribute to the unreliability of a test.
Consider following possibilities: fluctuations
 In the student (Student-Related Reliability),
 In scoring (Rater Reliability),
 In test administration (Test Administration Reliability), and
 In the test (Test Reliability) itself.

 VALIDITY
Arguably, validity is the most important principle. The extent to which the assessment requires students to perform tasks that were included in the previous classroom lessons.
How is the validity of a test established?
There is no final, absolute measure of validity, but several different kinds of evidence may be invoked in support.

 AUTHENTICITY
In an authentic test
• the language is as natural as possible,
• items are as contextualized as possible,
• topics and situations are interesting, enjoyable, and/or humorous,
• some thematic organization, such as through a story line or episode is provided,
• tasks represent real-world tasks.
 Reading passages are selected from real-world sources that test-takers are likely to have encountered or will encounter.
 Listening comprehension sections feature natural language with hesitations, white noise, and interruptions.
 More and more tests offer items that are “episodic” in that they are sequenced to form meaningful units, paragraphs, or stories.

 WASHBACK
Washback includes the effects of an assessment on teaching and learning prior to the assessment itself, that is, on preparation for the assessment.
• Informal performance assessment is by nature more likely to have built-in washback effects because the teacher is usually providing interactive feedback.
• Formal tests can also have positive washback, but they provide no washback if the students receive a simple letter grade or a single overall numerical score.
• Classroom tests should serve as learning devices through which washback is achieved.
• Students’ incorrect responses can become windows of insight into further work.
• Their correct responses need to be praised, especially when they represent accomplishments in a student’s inter-language.
• Washback enhances a number of basic principles of language acquisition:intrinsic motivation, autonomy, self-confidence, language ego, interlanguage, and strategic investment, among others.
• One way to enhance washback is to comment generously and specifically on test performance.
• Washback implies that students have ready access to the teacher to discuss the feedback and evaluation he has given.
Teachers can raise the washback potential by asking students to use test results as a guide to setting goals for their future effort.





2. As I know :
 Language Aptitude Test
• A language aptitude test is designed to measure capacity or general ability to learn a foreign language.
• Task in MLAT includes: Number learning, phonetic script, spelling clues, word in sentence, and repaired associates.
• There’s no unequivocal evidence that language aptitude test predict communicative success in a language .
• Any test that claims to predict success in learning a language is undoubtedly flawed.

 Proficiency Test
• A proficiency test is not limited to any one course, curriculum, or single skill in the language ; rather , it test overall ability.
• It includes: standardized multiple choice items on grammar, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and aural comprehension.
• Proficiency test are almost always summative and norm-referenced.
• They are usually not equipped to provide diagnostic feedback.
• Their role is to accept or to deny someone’s passage into the text stage of a journey.

 Placement Test
• The ultimate objective of a placement test is to correctly place a student into a course or level.
• A placement test usually includes a sampling of the material to be covered in the various courses in a curriculum.
• In a placement test , a student should find the test material neither too easy nor too difficult but appropriately challenging.
• The English as a Second response to an article. Part 3: multiple choice; students read an essay and identify grammar errors in it. Language Placement Test ( ESLPT ) at San Francisco State University has three parts, part 1: student read a short article and then write a summary essay. Part 2: student write a composition in.


 Diagnostic Tests
• A diagnostic test is designed to diagnose specified aspects of a language.
• A diagnostic test can help a student become aware of errors and encourage the adoption of appropriate compensatory strategies.
• A typical diagnostic test of oral production was created by Clifford prator (1972) to accompany a manual of English pronunciation.

 Achievement Test
• An achievement test is related directly to classroom lessons, units, or even a total curriculum.
• Achievement tests should be limited to particular material addressed in a curriculum within a particular time frame and should be offered after a course has focused on the objectives in question.
• The primary role of an achievement test is to determine whether course objectives has been meet – end of a period of instruction.
• Achievement test are often summative because they are administered at the end f a unit or term of study. But effective achievement tests can serve as useful wash back by showing the errors of a students and helping them analyze their weaknesses and strengths.
• Achievement test range from five-or ten-minutes quizzes to three hour final examinations, with an almost infinite variety of item types and formats.