CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO LANGUAGE TESTING

            The aim of this chapter is to introduce language testing. Firstly, the relation between teaching and testing are discussed. Then the reason for testing, the content and the standard of tests are presented. Testing language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) and language areas (grammar and vocabulary) are also introduced. Next the writer presents the difference between recognition and production together with the issue of sampling. Finally ways of avoiding traps for the students are suggested. Now please go to page 36 to fill in the first two columns of the table provided before you start studying the chapter.

The following tasks and / or questions aim to help you in understanding the important points in the chapter.

Before You Begin: Try to answer the following questions. Your experiences as a student might help in answering these questions:

-          What is the relation between teaching and testing?

-          Why do we as teachers need to test?

-          What should the teachers test?

-          How should we test language skills?

-          What do “testing grammar”, “testing vocabulary”, and “testing phonology” mean?

-          To what extent should we test language areas? To what extent should we test language skills?

-          What is the difference between recognition and production? Check the meanings of these words in a monolingual dictionary and try to write the difference(s) in your own words.

-          What do you understand from the concept “sampling”? What might be the possible problems of sampling?

-          What are the traps for students in a test?

Now, scan the chapter to compare your answers with the information in the chapter. Write the correct answer if you have answered any question incorrectly.

The aim of these questions was to activate students’ background knowledge. Most of the issues will be covered in the answers of the following question.

While reading the chapter answer the following questions / do the following tasks:

1.1  1.1  Testing and Teaching:

1-      What are the two reasons of testing mentioned in the chapter? How do they affect teaching?

First reason: reinforce learning and to motivate students. Testing is based on teaching as the aim is to find out whether students’ have mastered the content or not

Second reason:assessing students’ performance. Teaching is based on testing. for example there are TOEFL or KPDS courses. In these courses the goal of teaching is to help students gain the skills that will help them in these tests.

2-      Define “mechanical test” and “communicative test” based on the information and samples (item 1 is an example of a mechanical whereas item 2 is an example of a communicative test). What makes a communicative test better than a mechanical test?

Comunicative tests aim to test students’ success in using the language for communication. For this purpose, real life tasks are used for testing purposes. Sample 2 is an example of a communicative test as students are reqýired to select the relevant information according to the  aim of listening. However, the first one is a mechanical test as students are required to listen for irrelevant information just to fill in the blanks.

3-      Have the public examining bodies started using communicative tests?

Yes

4-      What does the writer criticise about public examinations? Why?

Public tests aim to compare candidates performance either with each other or with a certain criteria. The writer critizes this as the aim of test is considered be assessing students’ performance independent of other students. However, comparing students’ performance with each other is inevitable as most of these exams are used for selecting or placing students.

1.2  Why test?

Fill in the blanks given in the table below according to the information provided in section 1.2

Test Type

Aim

Results

External test

1-      Selection

2-      Comparison

 

Classroom test

1- Evaluation of the effectiveness of their teaching

 

Making adjustments in their teaching to help students more in the learning process.

2- Diagnose

 

 Provide remedial work and additional practice

3- Evaluate the effectiveness of the syllabus and materials and methods being used

 Make necessary adjustment for the following year.

4- To motivate the students

Students will be able to see their improvement in doing certain tasks. Also they get feedback on their weaknesses.

 

1.3  What should be tested and to what standard?

1-      What is the effect of modern linguistic theory on testing?

It helped to see the value in analysing language that is tested.

2-      What is “descriptive grammar” and what is “prescriptive grammar”?

 

3-      What is context?

 

When we consider context, we should  think of the speakers (all of the participants), the topic of the conversation, the relation between the speakers, and the place the conversation takes place.

4-      What do you understand from “the standards being set for the foreign language learners”?

“The standards being set for the foreign language learners” is the language proficiency level expected from foreign language learners.

 

1.4  Testing the language skills

A) Fill in the blanks given in the table below according to the information provided in section 1.4

                                              

Skill

In the past

Today

 

 

Aim

Task

Text type

Speaking

Reading aloud/ Telling stories

To communicate fluently

Interview, picture description, role-play, problem solving

diologue

Writing

Re-writing some literary master pieces in their own words

Communicating in writen mode

Writing letters, reports, memos, messages

Text types they are likely to produce in real life like letters

Reading

Questions that require the identification of unnecessary or irrelevant infirmation

 

Reading comprehension

Understanding the gist or the key information in a text

Newspaper article, authentic materials, stories

Listening

Questions that require the identification of unnecessary or irrelevant infirmation

 

Listening comprehension

Understanding the gist or the key information in a text

Short utterances, dialogues, talks and lectures

 

B- Answer the following questions:

1-       What are the responsibilities of the test writer?

Test writers’s responsibility is to identify the importance of these skills according to the level of the students as it will vary according to the level and the needs of the learners and to write tests that asses students’  progress in these skills.

2-       Test writers think that the only way of achieving their goal is testing these skills separately. Do you agree? Why? / Why not?

The answer of this question will change from student to student. They will have a better answer after they read about “approaches to language testing”.

 

1.5 Testing language areas

1-       What is the aim of the tests of grammar and usage?

Students’ ability to recognise appropriate grammatical forms and to use them.

2-       What is the aim of the tests of vocabulary?

To test students’ knowledge of meaning of words according to their level and the use of them.

3-       What is the aim of the tests of phonology?

Ability to recognize and pronounce the significant sound contrasts in a language,

Ability to recognize and use stress patterns of a language

Abilty to hear and produce the melody patterns of the tunes of a language

4-       What is the difference between item and question?

Question is interrogative form but item can be a statement also.

5-       What is the difference between active and passive vocabulary?

Active vocabulary includes vocabulary items used while speaking and writing

Passive vocabulary includes the vocabulary items reconized while listening and reading.

6-       Can we assume that students who perform successfully in phonology tests will be successful in speaking?

No

1.6 Language skills and language elements

1-       What is fluency in English?

Fluency is a person’s ability a persons’s ability to express facts, ideas, feelings and attitudes clearly and with ease in speech and writing, and the ability to understand what s/he hears and reads.

2-       Why shouldn’t we test only language areas?

Testing only language areas-grammar, vocabulary and phonology-may have a negative effect on communicative language teaching. As language is learned for communication, language learners are expected to use languge while speaking, writing, reading and listening fluently.

3-       What is the best way of testing mastery of a language? Why?

As language is learned for communication, the best way of assessing mastery in a language is to testis students can communicate successfully in real life like situations.

1.7 Recognition and production

Fill in the blanks given in the table below according to the information provided in section 1.7

 

Recognition

Production

Definition

Tests in which students need to identify the correct answer among the alternatives like multiple choice, matching

Tests in which students need to produce language like completion.

Advantages

Easy to examine statistically

Easy to score

Easy to construct

Appropriate to test ability to produce and use the correct form in real life like situations

Disadvantages

It isn’t appropriate to test ability to produce and use the correct form in real life like situations

Possibility for more than one correct answer

Scoring takes time

 

1.8 Problems of Sampling

Answer the following questions:

1-       What is the relation between the syllabus and the construction of a test?

A clasroom  test should be based on the course syllabus and it  should cover an adequate and representative sample of the language areas and skills coverd by the course syylabus.

2-       What is sampling?

Sampling is including sufficient number of items for each language area and skill covered in a lesson.

3-       What is the relation between sampling and reliability?

The longer the test, the more reliable a measuring instrument; as we cannot write such long tests, for reliability sampling is very important.

4-       How would a shared syllabus or a common mother tongue help teacher in sampling?

Sampling would be based on these

 

Fill in the blanks given in the table below considering what a teacher should do and shouldn’t do in writing a classroom test?

A Teacher should do

A teacher shouldn’t do

Draw up a detailed table of specifications

Considering the language areas and skills covered and the length of time spent on teaching these. Teacher may assign a percentage to each.

Test should reflect the actual teaching

Focus on the language areas and skills which are easy to test

 

1.9 Avoiding traps for the students

1-       What do you understand from trapping students in a test?

For me, trapping means misleading students to the incorrect answer.

2-       How can we trap students in a test?

Including unfamiliar vocabulary or grammatical forms, or unfamiliiar topics in a reading or writing test may be  samples of traps for students.

3-       Why should we avoid traps for students?

The aim of classroom test is to find out the progress of the students; however, traps may prevent this as they cause failure.

Follow up: Go to page 36 again to fill in the third column in the table.

www.iolpgalerisi.com  by Mustafa Baran

 

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