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as we teach we need to monitor progress. Testing and teaching are very closely interrelated but they do not have the same focus. Tests focus on assessing the products of learning and teaching concentrates on enabling students to succeed in the process of learning.
Tests try to assess a students previous learning. A teacher is to ensure that learning takes place and tests are one of the tools to help a teacher to do so. A test is only a sample of what the student is suppose to know as it picks out the most important aspects of the skills that have been
taught. The performance of the given tests is a way of measuring a students mastery of the language areas he is tested on.
be the most important things to teach and it influences what is taught (backwash effect of a test). In practice, a test is not always the best guide as it often leaves out important skills because of practical constraints. For example, the UPSR & PMR examination do not have the Listening and Speaking component. Therefore, the teachers do not pay sufficient attention to these important skills.
for teaching purposes so as to help students to pass examination. This is wrong as what is taught should be decided by reference to how important the skill is to a students present and future life. A test usually seeks the most economical way of determining what the student already knows. Therefore leaving out many important content which are used for communication and normal language used.
Purpose of Testing
A teacher needs a test in order to:
- put students into groups according to their abilities. - to find out whether a student has learnt what he has been taught. - to discover if students seem to be able to cope with the curriculum and to evaluate the effectiveness of the methodology - to compare the performance of one student against the performance of their peers
Types of Test
Tests fall into 2 categories:
Formative Tests
Formative Tests are used during a course to monitor the progress of the students. The most common formative tests are informal. Formal test are also sometimes designed. Type of Formative Test 1. Topic/ Progress Tests - to test how well pupils have learnt what has been taught - to test at the end of each topic to be covered. For example: at the end of each unit or module to find out if students have mastered what was taught.
- To evaluate effectiveness of teaching and teaching material. - To obtain information about individual pupils level of mastery of skills taught. 2. Diagnostic Tests - attempts to diagnose areas of difficulty - help teachers in deciding for whom and what areas of remedial work needs to be given.
- to obtain information about pupils strengths and weakness in a specific area. - This information would be an important input for decisions on material design, provision of remedial classes, etc.
in a course. It usually comes at the end of the course or at the end of each year of the course. End-of-year examination is a summative test. Type of Summative Test 1. Achievement tests - which tests what has been taught throughout the course/year.
2. Placement Tests - are used to help group the students according to overall entry-level proficiency of students. - to assess all that a student knows at the point he begins a new course of study
3. Proficiency Tests - it is important but not often used in schools. - it is not pegged to any syllabus or course. - it attempts to assess a students future performance in a specific area of learning or work. - it is intended for students from all kind of background
Types of Tests
Norm-Referenced Tests
- if the scores are used to compare a students performance with peers. - a student is considered average when his results are compared to results of excellent students, and appear to be excellent when compared to another group that is less proficient. - good and poor are relative concepts in this kind of evaluation.
Types of Tests
Criterion-Referenced Test
- when a student is required to achieve a pre-determined level of proficiency in doing a specific set of tasks, his performance is measured not against the performance of his peers but in terms of whether he is able or not to achieve the stipulated, fixed standard
Types of Tests
Discrete Point Tests
- relate to how this test is constructed - it aims at testing one and only one point of grammar, phonology, vocabulary, or etc. at a time. Integrative Tests - seek to test global proficiency - may isolate discrete features like pronunciation, fluency and so on. - dictation, cloze and all tests based on communicative tasks
Types of Tests
Communicative Tests
- are based on activities which a person would recognize as relevant to the use of the target language - giving directions in English is a communicative test ( would have to do outside a classroom)
Practical
Face
Content
Accurately reflects the syllabus it is based on Predictive Accurately predicts future performance Concurre Gives similar results to already nt validated tests or other immediate external criteria (eg: teachers subjective assessment) Construct Reflects closely a valid theory of foreign language learning that it takes as its model
performance bands which describe as accurately as possible, the language behaviour at each performance band. - unreliability is also sometimes discovered in the marks awarded by the same examiner which is called intrarater variability. - it is often caused by factors such as fatique after long hours of marking, long intervals between periods of marking, personality factors such as mood of examiner at different periods in the marking, etc
Activity
Comment on the validity, reliabilty and practicality of the following tests. 1. A group of waiters being assessed while they are working in a restaurant after they have completed a course on English for Waiters. 2. A national level essay test. 3. An oral component in monthly tests at school. 4. Reading aloud as a test of oral proficiency 5. National level testing of oral proficiency using language laboratories for candidates to record their oral responses to taped questions
Test Specifications
What to test? Why you need to test? How you want to test? You need to spell out the details of your test: - what kind of sub-tests and how many - what formats you want to use, etc - what skills will be tested (eg: reading, writing/ listening) - what sub-skills will be focused on
Test Specifications
Sectio n Skill
Sub-skills/ Elements
Guessing meanings of words using contextual clues; Distinguishing main point from supporting ideas; inference
Reading
C D
Grammar Conjunction Past Tense Formal and Informal Expressions Vocabulary Words related to animals, occupations and family Writing Descriptions of people
Grammar
Close-ended and open ended test items - it is called according to how much freedom the testee has in deciding on the scope and quality of the answer. - a close-ended item has a predetermined answer or set of answers which are usually short. - open-ended items- an essay test, an oral interview, a reading or listening comprehension question that expects students to answer using their own words
Activity 2
State whether the items on the test are objective, structured or open-ended. 1. Fill in the blanks in each of the following sentences. Ali jumped .......... The river. 2. Write an composition on the topic , My Mother. 3. Combine the following sentences using the word in brackets. 4. Read the following text and answer the comprehension questions that follow: a. The cat was weak and thin. (True or False) b. Do you think the cat in the story is well-cared for? Give reasons for your answer. c. We know the cat was hungry from the fact that it ...
personal judgement. - The method of scoring distinguishes objective from subjective test.
Types of Test Items.... Subjective & Objective Tests Objective Test Strengths - Easy to mark. - Can be used for mass testing because computer marking is possible. - High reliability - Item banking for recycling is possible Weaknesses - Difficult to construct. - Low validity - Sometimes skills and areas tested because they are testable not because they are important
Strengths - Easy to set - High validity - Can assess affective and interpretive aspects of language skills Weaknesses - Marking is time-consuming - Reliability is low
Methodology Principle & Practice TOPIC : Testing and Evaluation Page 330 349 for your further reference and preparation for your Tutorial & Practical Presentation.
TUTORIAL
In pairs, analyse test items in sample UPSR
exam papers.
Workshop: Testing and Evaluation Using UPSR exam papers as samples, prepare test specifications. Design the following to assess listening and speaking skills: - Multiple Choice Questions - Blank Filling - Text Completion - Structured Questions Present the workshop materials on testing and evaluation.
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