Chapter # 2: Techniques for Testing

Synopsis

By Licda. Guiselle Weelkly

Chapter 2

" Techniques for Testing " 

  

Constructing test items are task filled with challenges for anyone because they are the foundation of tests and the backbone of most assessment instruments, said Hubley (2007).

There are several ways  of classifying  test items, two basi ones are:

* Selection in this case the student selects the correct answer from a number of posibilities. Some examples are: true/false,  multiple choice,  matching, numbering sequence.

* Supply  in this case students must supply or develop the correct answer,  it can be cloze or gap-fill( no response provided), essay questions, short answer or completion.

 In techniques for testing you can also find that there are two types of questions:

Subjetive Questions:  here it requires students to produce longer, more opened responses, therefore,  the  emphasis here is on production.  They are time consuming although.

Objective Questions:  they are usually short answer-closed response items and most of the times it test recognition.They are easy to evaluate.

Multiple Choise Questions:  it takes many forms, but the popular one is the stem and response and usually the stem is written as a question or an incomplete statement.

As like in everything you can find disadvantages in the MCQs  some are:

1.  Do not manage communication.

2.  Encourage guessing.

3.  They are often used to test recognition.

4.  It is a challenging and time comsuming to write plausible distractors and produce good items.

As teachers we must design tests tasks taking into account what was studied in class and the adequation students need, because all are unique and gifted children.

Chapter # 1: The Process of Developing Assessment

Synopsis

By Licda. Guiselle Weelkly

Chapter 1

" The Process of Developing Assessment "

Developing assessment might be for some teachers complicated, time consuming and stressing while for others it will mainly be constructing informal assessments for their own classes. However,  if language learners understand the benefits  that this involve,  things will be easy going for them.

Assessment includes six phases  and all six depends on the teaching load or other professional responsabilities,  those phaces  are:

• Planning
• Development
• Administration
• Analysis
• Feedback 
• Reflection 

Like in all that we do, correct planning is essential, and it is also for the correct process of assessment. Several steps are very important in planning assessment according to Coombe( 2008) let us see:

1. Why are you assessing?

2. What is the purpose of this assessment?.

3.  What kind of information do yo need to get from it?

4.  What  abilities do yo want to measure?

5. What kind of mental model do you have of these abilities?.

Another important fact,  said Bachman ( 1996)  is that  teachers need to take the target language  use into account in the initial stages of their assessment planning and choose assessment tasks  that reflect TLU domains in realistic or authentic ways.

There are two modes by which students particularly takes active part as they are assessed, these are:

• Elicitation Modes:  refer to ways in which responses are prompted.
• Response Modes: refer to ways a student can respond to a question.

Since we know that specification is a detailed description of exactly what is being assessed and how it is being done,  as  ELL we should make it our duty to use it because  they provide opportunities  to clarify the assessment decisions.

Constructing the assessment requires maturity,  requires also that the items that was selected be scrutinized and carefully examined by the colleagues, with the intention to better our lanching out and help students to give the highest of their capacity.  Therefore,  it is important to practice with the students, preparing them for the test, be transparent with ourselves as well as with the students.

English viewed as an international language means that we no longer focus on native-speaker standards and imparting cultural information about places where English is the primary language.  Insteadm  our focus is on clear communication in a global context,  so clearly, assessment is a useful tool for evaluating program aims, said Folse( 2008).

Introduction to Issues in Language Assessment and Terminology

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Licda. Guiselle Weelkly W.

Introduction to Issues in Language Assessment and Terminology

"Good assessment mirrors good teaching-they go hand in hand" said Coombe (2007).

As part of the CONARE-MEP-UCR, english teachers throughout Costa Rica have been taking a training on learning assessment that will give them the faculty to determine how much material the students doesn't know or hasn't yet mastered as well as to guide the teachers to practical ways of assessing their pupils taking into account aspects that we will be mastering throughout each English Language Learner encounter.

As teachers it is important to realize that everyone learns differently, so placing students in the right level of classroom instruction is an essential purpose of assessment, said Coombe (2008).  In addition to that very important point, she adds these guidelines that will be essential to follow as ELL, and they are:

• Apply diagnosys to determine level of domain.
• Identify student's  language proficiency.
• Evaluate students academic performance.

According to Hubley ( 2008 ) teachers must participate in different assessment activities for accountability purposes,  in other words; "teachers must provide educational authorities with evidence that their intended learning outcomes have been achieved".

 There are three terminologies that as  english language learners we must be familiar with:

1. Evaluation  is all - inclusive and it involves looking all factors that influence the learning process. 
2. Assessment it is concerned with the student and what the student does, you collect information on a learner's  achievement.
3. Testing is the procedure we use to gather information about student's  behavior,  it can be formal or systematic.

As language teachers we must be aware of the types of tests that we will be applying to our students in order to gather information about them.  Children learn in particular ways, as language teachers we are responsable of selecting the proper ones according to the type of group we manage and their necessities.

Types of Test

* Placement       Test

*Aptitude           Test

*Diagnostic        Test 

*Progress           Test 

*Achievement   Test 

*Proficiency      Test 

 

Tests usually are categorized by the point in the instructional period at which they occur, for example: Aptitude, admissions and general proficiency test often take place before or outside of the program.

Placement and diagnostic tests often occur at the start of a program.

The Cornerstones of Testing

In order to  test language at any level it is important that we take into consideration both theory and practice.  According to Folse ( 2008) the nine guiding principles that govern good tests are:

1. Design
2. Development
3. Analysis and usefulness            
4. Validity
5. Reliability
6. Practicality
7. Washback
8. Authenticity
9. Transparency and security.

It has never been easy for  language teachers nor it will be now, but one thing is sure, if the teacher does his or her part faithfully and following good guidelines,  the probability of excellency is sure, indeed.