Evaluation and Assessment Evaluation is a broad term which involves the systematic way of gathering reliable and relevant information for the purpose of making decisions. Evaluation may focus on different components of a course:

Evaluation focus syllabus teaching methodology appropriateness of the objectives quality of the material s achievement of learners

achievementmethodsmaterials

quantitative test scores qualitative different methods Evaluative informatio n comments/opinions questionnaires, interviews, classroom observation, study of documents, tests, rating

Assessment Assessment involves testing, measuring or judging the progress, the achievement or the language proficiency of the learners. The focus is on the students’ learning and the outcomes of teaching. Assessment may be one part of an evaluation

Forms of assessment summative is used at the end of a term, a or a year to assess how much has been achieved by individuals or groups formative to monitor the students’ progress during a course in the form of informal tests and quizzes and class observation

What’s a test? An educational test is a measurement instrument which is designed to elicit a specific sample of an individual’s language behaviour which can be interpreted as the evidence of the abilities which we are interested in. ( what are these abilities?)

Purposes of testing To measure language proficiency. To discover how successful students have been in achieving the objectives of the course of study. To diagnose students’ strengths and weaknesses to identify what they know and what they do not know. To assess placement of students by identifying the stage of part of a teaching programme most appropriate to their ability.

BACKWASH EFFECTS

Backwash Effects Washback is generally defined as the influence of testing on teaching and learning’ Washback refers to the extent to which the introduction and use of a test influences language teachers and learners to do things that they would not otherwise do that promote or inhibit language learning.

Beneficial washback if it made teachers and learners do ‘good’ things they would not otherwise do: for example: prepare lessons more thoroughly, do their homework, take the subject being tested more seriously, and so on. And indeed, teachers are often said to use tests to get their students to do things they would not otherwise do: to pay attention to the lesson, to prepare more thoroughly, to learn by heart, and so on. then any test, good or bad, can be said to be having beneficial washback if it increases such activity or motivation. The concept is rooted in the notion that tests or examinations can and should drive teaching, and hence learning, and is also referred to as measurement-driven instruction

Negative effects of washback Alternatively, one might wish to consider the possibility of a test, good or bad, having negative effects. The most obvious such effect is anxiety in the learner brought about by having to take a test of whatever nature, and, if not anxiety, then at least concern in teachers, if they believe that some consequence will follow on poor performance by the pupils. The argument would go like this: any learner who is obliged to do something under pressure will perform abnormally and may therefore experience anxiety. Thus pressure produces abnormal performance, the fear of which produces anxiety. In addition, the fear of the consequences of particular performances produces anxiety which will influence those performances. Similarly for teachers, the fear of poor results, and the associated guilt, shame, or embarrassment, might lead to the desire for their pupils to achieve high scores in whatever way seems possible. This might lead to ‘teaching to the test’, with an undesirable ‘narrowing of the curriculum’.

“ THE GOOD TEST IS AN OBEDIENT SERVANT SINCE IT FOLLOWS AND APES THE TEACHING” DAVIES, 1968

Validity and reliability Beneficial washback Practicality Comprehension Relevance Balance Economy Difficulty Clarity Objectivity Time C r i t e r i a o f g o o d t e s t s

1. Validity A test is said to be valid to the extent that it measures what it is supposed to measure, For example, a test is designed to measure control of grammar becomes invalid if it contains difficult vocabulary.

2. Reliability Reliability refers to the consistency with which a test can be scored, that is, consistency from person to person, time to time or place to place. In other words, if the same test is given twice to the same pupils, it should produce almost the same results.

3. Practicality Practicality refers to the efficiency in terms of the necessary equipment, the time needed for setting, administering or marking the test, that is how easy and quick it is to set or score the test, how much it costs, how simple it is, how much equipment is required to administer it.

4. Comprehension A good test should be comprehensive, covering all the items which have been studied. This enables teachers to know accurately the extent of the pupils' knowledge

5. Relevance. The items of an effective test should measure reasonably well the desired objectives or achievement.

6. Balance A practical test evaluates both linguistic and communicative competence. That is, the items of the test must reflect the pupils' real command of the language with regard to appropriateness and accuracy.

7. Economy An efficient test makes best use of the teacher's limited time for preparing and grading, and of the pupil's assigned time for answering all the items. Thus oral exams with classes of thirty or more pupils are not economical since they require too much time and effort.

8. Difficulty. The test questions should be appropriate in difficulty, neither too hard nor too easy. Moreover, the questions should be progressive in difficulty in order to reduce stress and tension.

9. Clarity. It is essential that all questions and instructions should be clear so as to enable pupils to know exactly what the examiner wants them to do.

10. Objectivity. The questions and answers should be clear and definite so that the marker would give the score a pupil deserves.

11. Time. A good test is one that is appropriate in length for the allotted time

TEST TYPES

1. Proficiency test These tests are designed to measure the test takers’ ability in a language, their present level of mastery regardless of any previous training

2. Diagnostic tests They are used to identify students’ language problems, weaknesses or deficiencies with the purpose of obtaining information of which language areas require further teaching in order to plan future teaching priorities.

3. Progress tests They are very similar to achievement tests, in as much that they assess how much of what has been taught has been learnt, but they look back to a shorter period e.g. a teaching unit, a chapter of a textbook and they intend to measure the progress that the students are making.

4. Achievement tests They look back over a longer period to check how much of the language syllabus has been acquired by the students, whether they have achieved the course objectives.

5. Placement tests They measure the students’ general knowledge of the language, test their previous language-learning experience in order to separate them into different levels of language proficiency so that they can be arranged in groups or language classes of the appropriate level.

6. Aptitude tests With the help of aptitude tests we can predict how good language learners students are likely to become. These are given before the start of a language course.

Common Test Techniques