1. What is reading?
Reading is a complex cognitive process of constructing linguistic meaning from written symbols.
2. How should we assess reading?
• A student read out loud with the teacher making notes of the mistakes he or she makes. The teacher also listens to how the student orally structures the sentences he or she is reading to see if the reading is fluent.
• Another reading assessment evaluates the student, level of comprehension.
3. Find some example of reading assessment?
Example of reading assessment: by asking questions about a text or by having the student perform actions described in a text, evaluating texts for structure or meaning, developing interpretations of literary texts and linking them to other texts or real-word events, or finding underlying meanings such as irony or humor.
4. What is writing?
Writing is an activity in which a person express this idea, though, expression, and feelings which is used for communicating to the readers in the form of written words.
5. How should we assess writing?
Usually to assess writing there are five components, they are:
• Content refers to substance of writing, the experience of main idea
• Organization refers to the logical organization of the content
• Vocabulary refers to the selection of words those are suitable with the content
• Language uses refer to the use of the correct grammatical and syntactic pattern
• Mechanic refers to the use graphic conventional of language
6. Find some example of writing assessment?
In scoring criteria of the narrative text. The can used in writing includes five aspect of writing.
7. What is alternative assessment?
Alternative assessment is activities that reveal what students can do with language, emphasizing their strengths instead of their weaknesses, because alternative assessment is performance based, it helps instructors emphasize that the point of language learning is communication for meaningful purposes.
8. Why is alternative assessment needed?
Because alternative assessment are based on the idea that students can evaluate their own learning and learn from evaluation process. These methods give learners opportunities to reflect on both their linguistic development and their learning processes (what helps them learn and what might help them learn better).
9. What is alternative assessment are available?
10. Find some example of checklist and rubric?
Checklist :
• using resource list provided by the instructor, students contact and interview a native speaker of the language they are studying, then report back to the class. In the report they are to briefly describe the interviewee (gender, place of birth, occupation, family), explain when and why the interviewee came to the united States, describe a challenge the person has faced as an immigrant, describe how the person maintains a connection with his/her heritage.
• A checklist for assessing students’ completion of the task is shown in the popup window.
Rubrics :
a. Holistic Rubrics
The example: The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTHL) Proficiency Guidelines (1986). The ACTHL guidelines are not appropriate for classroom use, because they are intended for large scale assessment of overall proficiency and are not designed necessarily to align with curricular objectives or classroom instruction.
b. Analytic Rubrics
For example, dimensions for writing performance might include content, organization, vocabulary, grammar, and mechanics. Each dimension is scored separately, than dimension scores are to determine an overall score.
c. Primary trait rubrics
For example, consider a task that requires that a student write a persuasive letter to an editor of the school newspaper.
d. Multi trait rubrics
For example, on an information – gap speaking task where students are asked to describe a picture in enough detail for listener to choose it from a set of similar pictures, a multi trait rubric would include dimensions such as quality of description, fluency, and language control, as the example in the popup window shows.
Minggu, 23 Mei 2010
The answer for 3rd task of Language Testing
1. Find more information about standardized based assessment
1). Standard based assessment,
The standard based learning movement bringing forth a movement for standard based assessment an approach that compares student performances to the standards. With standards based assessment, the students are graded on how well they learned and achieved the standards. There are 4 advantages of standard based assessment: 1) students are compared to a standard that all can reach, rather than artificially ranked into a bell curve where some students must be called, and only a few are allowed to success. 2) a criterion based test is a test worth teaching to, unlike a multiple choice test. 3) students will no longer be created by passing them on to the next grade without obtaining what every child at the grade level must be able to know and do. 4) No longer will schools produced graduates who can not read their own diplomas.
2. Find this material listening and how to used in the class!
Listening is a demanding process involving the listener (listener is an active participant in a conversation and they must concentration), the speaker (speaker is someone who give the material, a speaker`s rate of delivery may be too fast, too slow, or may have many hesitations for a listener to follow ), the content of the message ( content is familiar is easier), and any accompanying visual support (visual support for example: the actual tool, a video, pictures, diagrams, gestures, facial expression, and body language ).
The uses of listening in the class are:
• Pupils listen attentively for short bursts of time. They use non-verbal gestures to respond to greetings and questions about themselves, and they follow simple instructions based on the routines of the classroom.
• Pupils understand simple conversational English. They listen and respond to the gist of general explanations by the teacher where language is supported by non-verbal, including illustrations.
3. Find some example of listening assessment!
• The teacher gives out a choppy of worksheets.
• She/ He explain to the children that they are going to hear a story about clothes. They have to colour the clothes according to what they hear.
• The teacher tells the story below.
It is winter. Anna and Simon are playing in the yard. They are having a snow-fight. Anna’s red coat is quite wet already, but her brown boots and blue trousers are warm, and she doesn’t want to go into the room. Simon and Anna start making a snowman. They want to dress a snowman with Simon’s green scarf and Anna’s pink hat. The snowman looks beautiful, but the children start feeling cold, and they are running to the house. Later Anna finds out that she has lost her yellow scarf and forgotten her pink hat outside.
• The teacher tells the story again and asks the children to check or complete their work.
FEEDBACK
• The teacher puts an enlarged copy of the worksheet up on the board with the clothing coloured according to the story.
• He/ She goes round checking that the children have coloured the clothes correctly.
ASSESSMENT OF OUTCOME
• One point for each correctly coloured clothing item. If the children do not know the colour they can put a tick on the clothing item and score half a point for getting the clothing. Also they should get half points if they identify the correct clothing item but colour in the wrong colour.
4. Find speaking material and how to use in the class!
Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997). Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specifics points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic competence). Speakers must be able to anticipate and then produce the expected patterns of specific discourse situations. In language classroom, a teacher can select activities from a variety of tasks. They are: Imitative, Intensive, Responsive, Transactional, Interpersonal, and Extensive.
The uses of speaking in the class are:
a. Preparation; choosing appropriate topics for small talk.
b. Presentation; Present several video clips of small talk in casual situation.
c. Practice; give learners specifics information about the participants and the setting of a scenario where small talk will take place.
d. Evaluation; give pairs a teacher-prepared dialogue based their scenario from. Ask them to compare their improvised dialogues with the prepared dialogue, analyzing the similarities, differences, and reasons for both.
e. Extension; learners go individually or in a small groups into various contexts in the community and record the conversations they hear. Ask them to report their findings, and then have the class discuss the findings.
5. Find some example of speaking assessment!
Example of speaking assessment:
There are two methods that used by the teacher in speaking assessment, they are:
a. In the observational approach, the student`s behavior is observed and assessed unobtrusively.
b. In the structural approach, the student is asked to perform one or more specific oral communication tasks.
1). Standard based assessment,
The standard based learning movement bringing forth a movement for standard based assessment an approach that compares student performances to the standards. With standards based assessment, the students are graded on how well they learned and achieved the standards. There are 4 advantages of standard based assessment: 1) students are compared to a standard that all can reach, rather than artificially ranked into a bell curve where some students must be called, and only a few are allowed to success. 2) a criterion based test is a test worth teaching to, unlike a multiple choice test. 3) students will no longer be created by passing them on to the next grade without obtaining what every child at the grade level must be able to know and do. 4) No longer will schools produced graduates who can not read their own diplomas.
2. Find this material listening and how to used in the class!
Listening is a demanding process involving the listener (listener is an active participant in a conversation and they must concentration), the speaker (speaker is someone who give the material, a speaker`s rate of delivery may be too fast, too slow, or may have many hesitations for a listener to follow ), the content of the message ( content is familiar is easier), and any accompanying visual support (visual support for example: the actual tool, a video, pictures, diagrams, gestures, facial expression, and body language ).
The uses of listening in the class are:
• Pupils listen attentively for short bursts of time. They use non-verbal gestures to respond to greetings and questions about themselves, and they follow simple instructions based on the routines of the classroom.
• Pupils understand simple conversational English. They listen and respond to the gist of general explanations by the teacher where language is supported by non-verbal, including illustrations.
3. Find some example of listening assessment!
• The teacher gives out a choppy of worksheets.
• She/ He explain to the children that they are going to hear a story about clothes. They have to colour the clothes according to what they hear.
• The teacher tells the story below.
It is winter. Anna and Simon are playing in the yard. They are having a snow-fight. Anna’s red coat is quite wet already, but her brown boots and blue trousers are warm, and she doesn’t want to go into the room. Simon and Anna start making a snowman. They want to dress a snowman with Simon’s green scarf and Anna’s pink hat. The snowman looks beautiful, but the children start feeling cold, and they are running to the house. Later Anna finds out that she has lost her yellow scarf and forgotten her pink hat outside.
• The teacher tells the story again and asks the children to check or complete their work.
FEEDBACK
• The teacher puts an enlarged copy of the worksheet up on the board with the clothing coloured according to the story.
• He/ She goes round checking that the children have coloured the clothes correctly.
ASSESSMENT OF OUTCOME
• One point for each correctly coloured clothing item. If the children do not know the colour they can put a tick on the clothing item and score half a point for getting the clothing. Also they should get half points if they identify the correct clothing item but colour in the wrong colour.
4. Find speaking material and how to use in the class!
Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997). Speaking requires that learners not only know how to produce specifics points of language such as grammar, pronunciation, or vocabulary (linguistic competence), but also that they understand when, why, and in what ways to produce language (sociolinguistic competence). Speakers must be able to anticipate and then produce the expected patterns of specific discourse situations. In language classroom, a teacher can select activities from a variety of tasks. They are: Imitative, Intensive, Responsive, Transactional, Interpersonal, and Extensive.
The uses of speaking in the class are:
a. Preparation; choosing appropriate topics for small talk.
b. Presentation; Present several video clips of small talk in casual situation.
c. Practice; give learners specifics information about the participants and the setting of a scenario where small talk will take place.
d. Evaluation; give pairs a teacher-prepared dialogue based their scenario from. Ask them to compare their improvised dialogues with the prepared dialogue, analyzing the similarities, differences, and reasons for both.
e. Extension; learners go individually or in a small groups into various contexts in the community and record the conversations they hear. Ask them to report their findings, and then have the class discuss the findings.
5. Find some example of speaking assessment!
Example of speaking assessment:
There are two methods that used by the teacher in speaking assessment, they are:
a. In the observational approach, the student`s behavior is observed and assessed unobtrusively.
b. In the structural approach, the student is asked to perform one or more specific oral communication tasks.
Senin, 19 April 2010
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.
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.
Kamis, 08 April 2010
Senin, 05 April 2010
The answer for 1st task of Language Testing
The 1st task of Language Testing
1. Teaching is the activities of educating or instructing; activities that impart knowledge or skill.
2. Teachers and students.
3. Enter the class, greeting, introduction, give the materials, and closing.
4. I have experience when I teach in CLC (Children language Course), I teach for Elementary level, apparently its not easy because I not only teach but I must very patient with them and I must always give they sprit to learn English when they feel bad mood. If they feel difficult to understand the material I must repeat and give explanation again until they understand about the material, so I think teaching for elementary level is more difficult than teaching for junior or senior high school.
5. Assessment is the systematic collection of information about student learning, including activities, and functions
6. Assessment important because it to find out what the students knowledge, to find out what the students can do, to find out how students go about the task of doing their work, to find out how students feel about their work.
7. There are three functions of assessment: (1) diagnostic: tells us what the student needs to learn (2) formative: tells us how well the student is going as work progresses, (3) summative: tells us how well the student did at the end of a unit/task.
8. That should we assess are: student work at all stages of development but particularly at the end, student process, acquisition of knowledge and skills, development of sophistication and complexity in student work
9. We can assess: day-to-day observation, tests and quizzes, rubrics, rating scales, project work, portfolios
10. Use it to improve the focus of our teaching, use it to focus student attention on strengths and weaknesses, use it to improve program planning, use it for reporting to parents
11. According to Allen Philips, a test is commonly defined as a tool or instrument of measurement that is used to obtain data about a specific trait or characteristic of an individual or group
12. Assessment is a more general process of gathering data to evaluate an examinee. Test is a thing or product that measures a particular behavior or set of objectives
13. Multiple-choice test, Example: we give the student material of the test then they must do the test with choosing one from A B C or D that they feel correct answer. We give the time for them to answer the question and then we collect again the material the last we will do correction with rule of the result.
14. I have experience about taking a test, when I taking 1st TOEFL test I feel nervous and I am not confident to answer the question because I have not prepare the test and for the moment I always thinking I will get bad score.
The next week when I see the result I am surprise because I get score not really bad than the other.
1. Teaching is the activities of educating or instructing; activities that impart knowledge or skill.
2. Teachers and students.
3. Enter the class, greeting, introduction, give the materials, and closing.
4. I have experience when I teach in CLC (Children language Course), I teach for Elementary level, apparently its not easy because I not only teach but I must very patient with them and I must always give they sprit to learn English when they feel bad mood. If they feel difficult to understand the material I must repeat and give explanation again until they understand about the material, so I think teaching for elementary level is more difficult than teaching for junior or senior high school.
5. Assessment is the systematic collection of information about student learning, including activities, and functions
6. Assessment important because it to find out what the students knowledge, to find out what the students can do, to find out how students go about the task of doing their work, to find out how students feel about their work.
7. There are three functions of assessment: (1) diagnostic: tells us what the student needs to learn (2) formative: tells us how well the student is going as work progresses, (3) summative: tells us how well the student did at the end of a unit/task.
8. That should we assess are: student work at all stages of development but particularly at the end, student process, acquisition of knowledge and skills, development of sophistication and complexity in student work
9. We can assess: day-to-day observation, tests and quizzes, rubrics, rating scales, project work, portfolios
10. Use it to improve the focus of our teaching, use it to focus student attention on strengths and weaknesses, use it to improve program planning, use it for reporting to parents
11. According to Allen Philips, a test is commonly defined as a tool or instrument of measurement that is used to obtain data about a specific trait or characteristic of an individual or group
12. Assessment is a more general process of gathering data to evaluate an examinee. Test is a thing or product that measures a particular behavior or set of objectives
13. Multiple-choice test, Example: we give the student material of the test then they must do the test with choosing one from A B C or D that they feel correct answer. We give the time for them to answer the question and then we collect again the material the last we will do correction with rule of the result.
14. I have experience about taking a test, when I taking 1st TOEFL test I feel nervous and I am not confident to answer the question because I have not prepare the test and for the moment I always thinking I will get bad score.
The next week when I see the result I am surprise because I get score not really bad than the other.
Jumat, 02 April 2010
DESIGNING CLASSROOM LANGUAGE TESTS
DESIGNING CLASSROOM LANGUAGE TESTS
In this chapter we will examine tests type and we will ask design tests and revise existing ones.
TEST TYPES
Defining your purpose will help you choose the right kind of test, and it will also help you to focus on the specific objectives of the test .
Below are the test types to be examined:
1. Language Aptitude Test
2. Proficiency Test
3. Placement Test
4. Diagnostic Test
5. Achievement Test
1. 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
2. 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.
3. 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 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 response to an article. Part 3: multiple choice; students read an essay and identify grammar errors in it.
4. 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.
Ø Test-takers are directed to read a 150-word passage while they are tape recorded.
Ø The test administrator then refers to an inventory of phonological items for analyzing a learner’s production.
Ø After multiple listening, the administrator produces a checklist for errors in five separate categories.
Ø Stress and rhythm.
Ø Intonation,
Ø Vowels,
Ø Consonants, and
Ø Other factors.
5. 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.
· Some practical steps in constructing classroom tests:
Ø Assessing Clear, Unambiguous Objective.
Before giving a test; examine the objectives for the unit you’re testing. Your first task in designing a test, then, is to determine appropriate objectives.
Example: “ students will recognize and produce tag question, with the correct grammatical from and final intonation pattern, in simple social conversation.“
Ø Drawing Up Test Specification
Test specifications will simply comprise
v A broad outline of the test
v What skill you will test
v What the items will look like
This is an example for test specification based on the objective stated above:
“Student will recognize and produce tag questions, with the correct grammatical form and final intonation pattern, in simple social conversation.”
Test specification
1. Speaking (5 minutes per person, previous day)
Format: oral interview, T and S
Task: T ask question to S
2. Listening (10 minutes)
Format: T makes audiotape in advance, with one other voice on it
Tasks: a. 5 minimal pair items, multiple choice
3. Reading (10 minutes)
Format: cloze test items (10 total) in a story line
Task: fill inn the blanks
4. Writing (10 minutes )
Format: prompt for a topic: why I like /didn’t like a recent TV sitcom
Task: writing a short opinion paragraph
Ø Devising Test Task
As you devise your test items, consider such factors as
v How students will perceive them (face validity)
v The extent to which authentic language and contexts are present
v Potential difficult caused by cultural schemata
Ø Designing Multiple-Choice Test Items
There are a number of weaknesses in multiple-choice items:
v The technique tests only recognition knowledge.
v Guessing may have a considerable effect of test scores.
v The technique severely restricts what can be tested.
v It is very difficult to write successfully items.
v Wash back may be harmful.
v Cheating may be facilitated
Some important jargons in Multiple-Choice Items:
1. Multiple-choice items are all receptive, or selective, that is, the test taker chooses from a set of responses rather than creating a response. Other receptive items types include true-false question and matching lists.
2. Every multiple-choice item has a stem, which presents several option or alternatives to choose from.
SCORING, GRADING AND GIVING FEEDBACK
A. Scoring
As you design a classroom test, you must consider how the test will be scored and graded. Your scoring plan reflects the relative weight that you place on each section and items in each section.
Production 30%, listening 30%, reading 20% and writing 20% .
B. Grading
Grading doesn’t mean just giving “A” for 90-100, and a “B” for 80-89.
It’s not that simple . How you assign letter grades to a test in a product of
v The country, culture, and context of the English classroom,
v Institutional expectations (most of them unwritten),
v Explicit and implicit definitions of grades that you have set forth,
v The relationship you have established with the class, and
v Student expectations that have been engendered (cause) in previous test and quizzes in the class.
C. Giving feedback
Feedback should become beneficial wash back. Those are some examples of feedback:
1. A letter grade
2. A total score
3. Four sub scores (speaking, listening, reading, writing)
4. For the listening and reading sections
§ An indication of correct/incorrect responses
§ Marginal comments
5. For the oral interview
§ Scores for each element being rated
§ A checklist of areas needing work
§ A post-interview conference to go over the results
6. On the essay
§ Scores for each element being rated
§ A checklist of areas needing work
§ Marginal and end –of-essay comments, suggestions
§ A post-test conference to go over work
§ A self-assessment
7. On all or selected parts of the test, peer checking of results
8. A whole-class discussion of results of the test
9. Individual conferences with each student to review the whole test
group task
DESIGNING CLASSROOM LANGUAGE TEST
Created by
Name: Despita (0711040043)
Estiana (07110400..)
Mita Murtafi’ah (0711040032)
Major: English Education Departement
Semester: VI/A
Subject: Language Testing
Lecturer: Prof. DR. Idham Khalid M.Ag
Winarno S.Pd M.Pd
TARBIYAH FACULTY
THE STATE INSTITUTE OF ISLAMIC STUDIES (IAIN)
RADEN INTAN LAMPUNG
2010
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