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Current Views & Practices in Language Testing

Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices by H. Douglas Brown

Josephine Fajardo-Loresca MaEd- English

INTRODUCTION

The Report
Purposes

What is a test?

CURRENT ISSUES IN CLASSROOM TESTING

Test

New

Differentiating

Views on Intelligence and Alternative Assessment

Test from Assessment

Development

Traditional

of Language

Computer

ON A STUDENTS POINT OF VIEW IS N O T

The anticipation of a test is almost always accompanied feelings of anxiety and self- doubt..

POSITIVE PLEASANT AFFIRMATIV E

TEST

metho d

which measures a persons ability, knowledge or performance in a given domain.

Language teachers should design tests that serve as motivating learning experiences rather than anxiety-provoking threats.

Test as a

METHOD
The

It is an instrumenta set of techniques, procedures or items that requires performance on the part of the test taker. method must be explicit and structured.
Examples:
Multiple-choice A

questions with prescribed correct answers writing prompt with a scoring rubric oral interview based on a question script and a checklist of expected responses to be filled by the

An

must measure
Test
Some It A test

tests measure general ability while others focus on very specific competencies or objectives. also measures individuals ability, knowledge or performance. measures performance.

Most language tests measure ones ability to perform a language but it is also common to find a test designed to test ones knowledge about the language
Finally,

a test measures a given domain.

A well-constructed test is an instrument that provides an accurate measure of the test-takers ability within a particular domain.

Test Purposes
Placement

tests, as their name suggests, are designed to place students in an appropriate course or class for their language level. testsare usually used within a class to identify areas where a student is having particular difficulty. These tests are most useful at a general

Diagnostic

Achievement

testsare usually related to a syllabus or set of objectives. Their purpose is to establish the level of student attainment based on the syllabus or set of objectives. Achievement tests may be administered at the end of a course of study, or partway through: in the latter case they of course have a formative function as well as an

Test vs. Assessment

TEST ASSESSM ENT TEACHIN G

 ASSESSMENT TEST
1.

Tests are prepared administrative procedures that occur at identifiable times in a curriculum. When tested, learners know that their performance are being measured and evaluated. When tested, learners muster all their faculties to offer peak performance. Tests are a subset of assessment. They are only one among many procedures and tasks that teachers can ultimately use to assess students. Tests are usually timeconstrained

1.

Assessment is an ongoing process that encompasses a much wider domain. A good teacher never ceases to assess students, whether those assessments are incidental or intended. Whenever a student responds to a question, offers a comment, or tries out a new word or structure, the teacher subconsciously makes an assessment of the students performance. Assessment includes testing. Assessment is more extended and it includes a lot more components

2.

2.

3.

3.

4.

4. 5.

5.

For optimal learning to take place, Learners must have opportunities to play with language in a classroom without being formally graded. Teaching sets up the practice games of language learning: the opportunities for learners to listen, think, take risks, set goals, and process feedback from the teacher and then

Kinds of Assessment
1.

They are incidental, unplanned comments and responses. Examples include: Nice job! Well done! Good

INFORMA L

FORMAL

1.

2.

They are exercises or procedures specifically designed to tap into a storehouse of skills and knowledge. They are

2.

4.

Examples of unrecorded assessment:

.marginal

INFOR MAL

4.

comments on papers,
.responding

to a draft of an essay,

Example 1: A students journal or portfolio of materials can be used as a formal assessment of the attainment of

FORMA L

1.

Evaluating students in the process of forming their competencies and skills with the goal of helping them to

FORMAT IVE

Functions of Assessment SUMMA

1.

Aims to measure, or summarize, what a student has grasped, and typically occurs at the end of a course or unit

TIVE

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE TO LANGUAGE TEACHERS? As students went through these exams and survived them, their notion is Thank God its over! The challenge to us teachers therefore is to change this attitude among our students and make them feel that tests are LEARNING EXPERIENCES.

Norm-Referenced vs. Criterion Referenced Test

NORM-

REFERENCE TEST is a test in which the test- takers score is interpreted in relation to a mean (average score), median

CRITERION-

REFERENCED TEST is a test designed to give testtakers feedback, usually in the form of grades, on

 Language

Test Development

From past
TO

present

Historically, language-testing trends have followed the shifting sands of teaching methodology.

During 1950s: It was an era of behaviorism and special attention to contrastive analysis. Testing focused on specific language elements such as phonological, grammatical, and lexical contrasts between two languages.

DISCRETE POINT TEST

During 1970s and 80s: Communicative Theories were widely accepted. There was a more integrative view of testing.

INTEGRATIVE TESTING

 DISCRETE POINT INTEGRATIVE

TESTING TEST

This

is where language is divided up so that components of it may be tested. Discrete point tests aim to achieve a high reliability factor by testing

Such

tests usually require the test- takers to demonstrate simultaneous control over several aspects of language or combine many language

AFTER MID THE EMERGENCE OF 80S

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TESTING

The problem that language assessment experts faced was that TASKS tended to be artificial, contrived and unlikely to mirror language use in real life. quest for authenticity was launched, as test designers centered on communicative performance. tests such as cloze tests only tell us about a candidates linguistic competence. They do not tell us anything directly about a students performance ability. (Knowledge about a language, not the use of language) supporters emphasized the importance of strategic competence (the ability to employ communicative strategies to compensate for breakdowns as well as to enhance the rhetorical effect

Integrative

The

The

Rising of
BASED

PERFORMANCE-

ASSESSMENT Performance-based

assessment of language typically involves oral production, written production, open-ended responses, integrated performance (across skill areas), group performance, and other interactive tasks. problem? Such assessment is time-consuming and therefore expensive, but those extra efforts

Any

Take note!
In an English language-teaching context, performance-based assessment means that a teacher IN PERFORMANCE-BASED should rely a little less on formally structured ASSESSMENT: tests and a little more on evaluation Tests (speaking, are Interactive while students performing various tasks. requesting, responding, etc.) IN RESULT: Paper-and-pencil Tests OUT

In performance-based assessment,

To summarize,
let us use the materials produced by Dr. Shirley Chan and Co. of the HKIED

CURRENT TRENDS IN LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

Sociolinguistic/Integrative

Assessment Form
Discrete

to Integrative Assessment

Forms to Direct or Authentic Assessment Forms Materials jointly developed by Dr. Shirley Chan, Dr.Kathie Young & Ms Clairine Chan of
Indirect

IMPLICATIONS RISING FROM THE

CURRENT TRENDS
To obtain more qualitative information about students' learning, we should not rely solely on the use of test types that require a single response. by Dr. Shirley Chan, Dr.Kathie Young Materials jointly developedThere is a range of& Ms Clairine Chan of

CURRENT ISSUES in classroom testing

There are three issues which are helping to shape our current understanding of effective assessment.
1.

2.

3.

The effect of new theories of intelligence on the testing industry The advent of what has come to be called alternative assessment The increasing popularity of computer-based testing

IN THE PAST:
Intelligence was once viewed strictly as the ability to perform linguistic and logicalmathematical problem solving.

RECENTLY:
Together with the traditional conceptualizations of linguistic intelligence and logicalmathematical intelligence on which standardized IQ (Intelligence Quotient) tests are based, 5 other frames of mind have been included. What are they? Spatial intelligence, musical intelligence, bodily-kinesthetic intelligence interpersonal intelligence intrapersonal intelligence

More recently, a concept of EQ (Emotional Quotient) has spurred us to underscore the importance of the emotions in our cognitive processing.
Those who manage their emotions tend to be more capable of fully intelligent processing, because anger, grief, resentment, self-doubt, and other feelings can easily impair peak performance in everyday tasks as well as higher-order problem solving.

In the past, our challenge was to test interpersonal, creative, communicative, interactive skills, and in doing so to place some trust in our subjectivity and intuition.

TRADITIONAL
1.

ALTERNATIVE
1.

One-shot, standardized exams Timed, multiple-choice format

ASSESSMENT

Continuous long-term assessment

ASSESSMENT

2.

2. 3.

Untimed, free-response format Contextualized communicative tests Individualized feedback and wash back Criterion-referenced scores Open-ended, creative answers Formative Oriented to process Interactive process Fosters intrinsic motivation

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

De contextualized test items Scores suffice for feedback Norm-referenced scores Focus on the right answer Summative Oriented to product Non-interactive process Fosters extrinsic motivation
4.

5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Uses

activities that reveal what students can do with language, emphasizing their strengths instead of their weaknesses. instruments that are not only designed and structured differently from traditional tests, but are also graded or scored differently.

Alternative Assessment

Uses

Computer Based Testing

Computer-Based

Testing has been increasing in recent years. Some computer-based tests are small-scale. Others are standardized, large scale tests (e.g. TOEFL, TOEIC, IELTS) in which thousands of test-takers are involved. specific type of computerbased test (Computer-Adaptive Test / CAT) has been available for

Advantages

of Computer-Based

Testing:

Classroom-based testing Self-directed testing on various aspects of a language (vocabulary, grammar, discourse, etc.) Practice for upcoming high-stakes standardized tests Some individualization, in the case of CATs. Scored electronically for rapid reporting of results.

Disadvantages

of Computer-Based

Testing:

Lack of security and the possibility of cheating in unsupervised computerized tests. quizzes that appear on unofficial

Home-grown

Conclusion
Assessment In

is an integral part of the teaching-learning cycle. an interactive, communicative curriculum, assessment is almost constant. which are a subset of assessment, can provide authenticity, motivation, and feedback to the learner. are essential components of a successful curriculum and one of several partners in the learning process.

Tests,

Tests

 Periodic

assessments, both formal and informal, can increase motivation by serving as milestones of student progress. assessments aid in the reinforcement and retention of information. can confirm areas of strength and pinpoint areas needing further work. can provide a sense

Appropriate

Assessments

Assessments

God Bless!
Josephine Fajardo-Loresca MaEd- English