Topic1a.pdf

INTRODUCTION

1. INTRODUCTION • Test and assessments are part and parcel of education and has been with us for a long time. • Since the effect of testing on teaching and learning is unavoidable, testing is an important part of every language teaching and language learning experience. • It is important to understand the terms test, assessment ,measurement and evaluation.

TEST EDIT IN GOOGLE SLIDES A systematic procedure for measuring a sample of behaviour by posing a set of questions in a unified manner (Linn & Gronlund, 1995: 6).

SYSTEMATIC PROCEDURE • •

there is a planned format in tests. haphazard test would lose much of its credibility.

MEASURES A SAMPLE OF BEHAVIOR •

language proficiency or any language related construct we are interested in.

Items/questions in a test are seen to be unified. - Test items work in the same way by measuring the same construct.

What constitutes a test ? Wesche (1983) suggested four major parts to a test.

STIMULUS MATERIAL • Text or material presented to the learner or test taker. e.g; In a reading comprehension test, the stimulus material could be a reading passage. • The stimulus material would also include the questions themselves.

LEARNER’S RESPONSE Actual demonstration of the student’s ability within the limitations of the stimulus provided by the test. e.g; MCQ question – select the correct answer.

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TASK POSED TO THE LEARNER • Abstract concept, involves determining the mental or cognitive response required by the learner towards the stimulus. • How learners are expected to react to the format of the question and what skills or subskills they are required to utilize in order to complete the task. SCORING CRITERIA • Important aspect of the overall structure of a test. • A test may consist of different types of test items. • Proper justification of weightage assigned to each item is necessary.

• All four components are highly inter related and important in testing. • We are able to make the test easier or more difficult by varying each component of this framework.

ASSESSMENT ■ A variety of procedures used to obtain information on students’ performance. ■ Unlike a test, an assessment is seldom quantitative ■ e.g; a teacher may assess student learning by simply looking at how students respond to instruction. ■ A test is an assessment, but not all assessments need to be tests.

• •

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A numerical description of a particular characteristic. We measure physical objects in terms of their height, weight, and depth Tests, on the other hand, tend to measure behavioural and cognitive aspects which are a lot more abstract. All tests are measurements, but not all measurements are tests.

MEASUREMENT

EVALUATION

Synonymous with assessment. Evaluation is when the results of a test are used for decision making.

You evaluate when you “value” the results in such a way- good or bad- of the performance

Test scores are an example of measurement, and conveying the “meaning of those scores is evaluation.

TYPE OF TEST..

1 PROFICIENT TEST •

“Proficiency tests measure people’s

• Other proficiency tests are

ability in a language, regardless of any

designed “to show whether

training they may have had in that

candidates have reached a certain

•

language.”

standard with respect to certain

•

Content: base on a specification of what

Hughes, A. (2003)

candidates have to be able to do in the

• Content: base on detailed

language in order to be considered

specifications of what candidates

proficient (having sufficient command of

can do

the language for a purpose)

•

specified abilities”.

• E.g. the Cambridge examinations

E.g. test for a United Nations translator,

(FCE, CPE), the Oxford EFL

test for a course of study in a British

examinations (Preliminary and

university, test of arts, test of sciences

Higher)

2 ACHIEVEMENT TEST •

Purposes: measure how successful individual students, groups of students, or the course themselves have been in achieving objectives Two kinds: 1. Final achievement tests 2. Progress achievement tests

•

3 PLACEMENT TEST •

Used to assign students to classes at different levels

•

No one placement test will work for every institution

•

The most successful one are those constructed for particular situations.

4 DIAGNOSTIC TEST Purposes: • identify learners’ strengths and weaknesses •

ascertain what learning still needs to take place

•

Advantages: E.g. Analysis of a learner’s performance in writing and speaking in terms of grammatical accuracy or linguistic appropriacy

•

Disadvantages:

E.g. Difficulty in identifying whether a learner masters the present perfect/past tense distinction

Listening Speaking Reading Writing

Grammar

TYPE OF TESTING..

Direct vs. Indirect testing Discrete-point vs. Integrative testing Criterion-referenced vs. Norm-referenced testing Objective vs. Subjective testing Communicative Language Testing

1. DIRECT vs INDIRECT TESTING Direct Testing

Indirect Testing

• Perform precisely the skill which is measured • The tasks and texts should be as authentic as possible.

• Measure the abilities underlying the skills • E.g. Sentence correction exercises • an indirect measure of writing ability

• Easier to measure the productive skills • E.g. To know how students pronounce a language get them to speak

2. DISCRETE POINT TESTING Discrete point testing refers to the testing of one element at a time, item by item. e.g. form of series of items, each testing a particular grammar structure.

3. INTEGRATIVE TESTING Integrative testing requires a combination of many language elements in a completion of a task. e.g. writing a composition, taking a dictation or completing a cloze passage

EVALUATION

Formative

• • • •

Types of Evaluation

Summative

Learning and teaching are life long processes. A teacher should not quickly come to a conclusion concerning a student’s ability. Evaluation that is performed midway through a course can help teachers adjust, modify and fine tune certain aspects of their instruction.

 Ongoing evaluation, sometimes referred to as continuous assessment.  To see how far students have mastered what they should have learned.  And then to use this information to modify teacher’s future teaching plans.  It can also be the basis for feedback to the students  To check on the progress of their students.  e.g. informal test or quizzes

FORMATIVE EVALUATION

 Evaluation that comes at the end of  an educational program, at the end of the term, semester, or year in order  to measure what has been achieved  both by groups and by individuals.  In most cases grades are assigned on the basis of performance on tests. in addition to classroom performance  E.g : Final Examination

SUMMATIVE EVALUATION