Testing Grammar Tuba DEMİR

WHY DO WE NEED TO TEST GRAMMAR? Because …. To measure students’ profeciency in every field of language from inflections to syntax like word order, use of negative and questions

What are the components of grammar?

Language Areas/Fields Vocabulary Grammar Pronunciation Which one is the most popular of all? GRAMMAR WHY??????

Reasons for Grammar to be POPULAR How do you teach English? Mainly grammar-based teaching Do the teachers agree on what to test or ask? General agreement on what to test

Reasons for Grammar to be POPULAR *Is it possible to tailor grammar to every level? - Easy to adjust to according to every level *Are grammar items and errors easy to be taught? -Quickly spotted and counted grammar errors -Easy identified grammar items

Reasons for Grammar to be POPULAR *Is it possible to assess active and passive skills with grammar? - Easy to check other skills with grammar How???? Ask dialog completion question to see speaking&writing skills ;) TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE ;) Reasons for Grammar to be POPULAR

Reasons for Grammar to be POPULAR *measure the progress of students *diagnose students’ needs

Different Approaches to Testing Grammar 1-Limited Response 2- Multiple –Choice Completion 3- Simple Completion 4- Cloze Tests

1- Limited Response For which level students is “Limited Response” suitable? Beginner Level * How can “Limited Response” be applied to students? = What are the possible ways to apply “Limited Response”? 1- Test them one at a time 2- Test them in groups

1- Limited Response – Individual Testing *Who is it for??? =======Beginners ;) *What are beginner students expected to do? Answer simply by touching and pointing to the objects = not good at speaking

1- Limited Response – Individual Testing How can we test students individually with “Limited Response”? *Basic commands - Ask for non-verbal actions - Use oral requests

1- Limited Response – Individual Testing Ask for easy spoken replies Accept answers in their own language Use familiar vocabulary and structures – living room-tea Use pictures to test students both individually and in groups

1-Limited Response (LR) – Group Testing How can we apply “LR” to groups of students? * Use a drawing activity to teach prep. * Use pictures to check their understanding *Check them with yes-no answers *By checking them with true-false sentences

1-Limited Response (LR) – Group Testing Check them nonverbally + BUT is it easy to apply it to the group easily? WHY? *NOT PRACTICAL- TIME CONSUMING Drawing act. – Yes-No Q- Using pict.-True/False and Non-verbal Is it acceptable to mix all questions at the same time for this level? NO-Just ONE of them- PLEASE ONE AT A TIME

1-Limited Response- ADVANTAGES 4 main advantages = Limited Response helps 1- avoid unnecessary stress by putting them at ease 2-avoid skills not totally acquired or learned thus decreasing the level of anxiety 3-score easily and objectively (Can students say yes or no? Can students do the actions ordered?) 4-For material development, instead of finding pictures, teachers can use their body language

1-Limited Response -Limitations Individual testing takes longer than group testing. Finding pictures or preparing materials is not easy and will take a lot of time Not every grammar topic can be tested

2-Multiple-choice Completion An efficient way to test grammar Use an incomplete sentence stem by writing choices for the gap Is it easy to use multiple choice for every skill or language area? What may be the best preference? Writing Speaking Listening Grammar ✔

2-Multiple-choice Completion (MCC)- How to prepare MCC questions? A-Choose the grammar points you want to or need to test B-Prepare the right kind of sentence context (stem) for the grammar structure C-Select logical distractors (the number depends on the number of the choices) D-Prepare simple and clear instructions

2- MCC Questions Preparation Process 1- Grammar Choice How can grammar choice be determined? * determine what structures taught since the last test *check results of quizzes or homework-WHY? -tell teachers which topics are learned and need revising * the well-known points???? Should we ask them? - Please ignore them but they may be used to encourage students at the beginning of the exam as the first exercise

2- MCC Questions Preparation Process 1- Grammar Choice *How should we give different”weight” to various grammar points? -decide how many grammar points will be covered in the test/exam -how much time is spent on the topic -the more time you spend the more questions should be asked

2- MCC Questions Preparation Process 2- Context Preparation * What grammar points to be tested * What multiple choice type to be chosen * How many questions to be asked READY TO WRITE QUESTIONS? YEAH ;)

2- MCC Questions Preparation Process 2- Context Preparation Choose the structure and use it correctly in a sentence Choosing a good context is important CONTEXT???? – the words or sentences used to help to choose the correct grammar item Example: The lights are on, so he _____be at home. A) should b) must c) has to d) was able to e) used to I want ____successful. A) to be b) being c) been d) be e) to

2- MCC Questions Preparation Process 3- Distractor Preparation What is distractor? Incorrect options to play trick to mislead learners How can teachers determine the distractors? Will it change according to experienced and inexperienced teachers? Experienced ones have a good sense of what to use *Inexperienced need help????

2- MCC Questions Preparation Process 3- Distractor Preparation Avoid using sound alike distractors they’re there they are their *avoid items that test divided usage This is the teacher, ____I have taken the highest score from. who b) that c) whom d) which e ) why

2- MCC Questions Preparation Process 3- Distractor Preparation *Spot students’ errors on exercises or other skills like writing and use them as distractors *Avoid using the repeating unnecessary items in the choices. Instead please use them in the question stem. I used to walk in this park, ….... a) but now I don’t. b) but now I didn’t. c) but now I won’t. d) but now I haven’t

2- MCC Questions Preparation Process * avoid mixing categories as follows: They just bought _______apples. a) much b) little c) with d) some

2- MCC Questions Alternate Forms 3 main alternate forms for MCC Qs: 1-Space saver: Put distractors inside the stem. Tom lives (A-in B- on C- at D- --E- at) 14 MS Street.

2- MCC Questions Alternate Forms 2- Dialog Context Create a dialog context to create MCC questions A: Did she ask you to go with her? B: No, she asked someone ______instead. a) else b) another c) other d) the other e)---

2- MCC Questions Alternate Forms 3- Error Correction Students are expected to find the part containing an error. Have them give the correct form. One of the(a) girls lost her wallet and doesn’t have (b) some (c) money for (d) the game.

2- Multiple Choice Completion Questions Advantages Scoring is easy and reliable. Helpful for teachers to diagnose specific problems of students Very good to evaluate students’ grammar point knowledge making students study all of them

2- Multiple Choice Completion Questions Limitations Not easy to prepare good items Easy for students to cheat To prevent students’ cheating answer choices may be re-changed with groups = time-consuming Not evaluate students’ productive skills but only sub-skills not main skills. Usage of this type of questions as an only way of assessment may decrease students’ motivation to use the language productively

3-SIMPLE COMPLETION SENTENCES Take a sentence and create a gap in the stem by removing one grammatical items as follows: Change the word form of the word in parenthesis. 1- She went _____school. (remove a basic item) 2- If I were you, __________.(an advanced open-ended item) 3- He drive_________(care)- 4-Let’s _______to the cinema. (choose an option) a) going b) goed c) go d) to go

3-SIMPLE COMPLETION SENTENCES How to prepare simple completion sentence questions? Select the grammar points that need to be tested Provide an appropriate context Write good instructions Decide what kind of simple completion question to ask or to use?

3-SIMPLE COMPLETION SENTENCES A quick way to check the mastery of a few specific points like He ______(sleep) well when he was a child. How many types of simple completion sentences are there? 3-1) Option form 3-2)Inflection form 3-3) Free-response Form Common aspects of the forms: vary in difficulty and objectivity

3-SIMPLE COMPLETION SENTENCES Example: Complete the sentence with do or make -He _____a lot of money last year. -I always _____my best. Example: Complete sentences with the best option from who, whom, where, what, when, how old, why, how, how much.. *_______is your grandmother? 3-1) Option Form The easiest way of all types of SCS questions to apply using usually two options – sometimes the option number may be increased

3-SIMPLE COMPLETION SENTENCES 3-2) Inflection Form *It takes a productive response *Include grammar items from comparatives to verb tenses *be careful about the context EXAMPLE: -He is the _______(tall) person in the class. -They_____(be) in Canada last week.

3-SIMPLE COMPLETION SENTENCES 3-3) Free-response Form The most productive type Flexible The most communicative approach Take more language skill to evaluate questions properly It is good to use an example sentence for such questions

3-SIMPLE COMPLETION SENTENCES Which one is the best type? He ________(sing) a song. He is _________ (sing) a song. ✔ He _____singing a song. ✔ He _____ ______ ______(sleep) for about an hour. ✔ Rewrite the sentences with present perfect.

3-SIMPLE COMPLETION SENTENCES- ADVANTAGES Easy to prepare Flexible items entailing productive skills Increase creativity of students = original answers No exposure to the incorrect answers Provides sensitive measure of achievement

3-SIMPLE COMPLETION SENTENCES - LIMITATIONS Time-consuming to correct the errors Inexperienced teachers may have difficulty to create Irrelevant errors may occur rather than the items to be tested Students may unexpectedly avoid the structure aimed to be tested

4- Cloze Procedure Use prose passages like a paragraph, an essay, a story Context is important to fill in the gaps

4- Cloze Procedure –Preparation Process How to prepare cloze test items? 1- Select an appropriate passage – level-length- 2- Decide on the ratio of the words to take out 3- Write the instructions = Be careful about students’ familiarity of students 4-Prepare the questions

4- Cloze Procedure –Preparation Process BE CAREFUL while PREPARING the cloze, 1- Don’t use passages full of proper nouns, numbers, and technical words 2- Don’t pick article full of quotations 3- Edit or rewrite some parts if you have only a few problem 4- Take the words out as a gap at a regular intervals

4- Cloze Procedure –Preparation Process *WHAT is the BEST SHORTNESS or LENGHT between the gaps? One in five or ten words = every fifth or tenth word The most commonly used deletion length is one in 7= 7th word

4- Cloze Procedure –Preparation Process *How many words need to be deleted altogether? -Only this test is used = 50 blanks for 350 words *If this test is one part of the general, 25-30blanks will be OK = More gaps more reliability and stability WELL actually it should depend on the context, length and level = (MY OPINION)

4- Cloze Procedure –Alternative for CP Selected-deletion cloze Flexibility to use which words to delete Delete only content words / function words/take out every 7th word except for duplications and proper nouns and numbers

4- Cloze Procedure –Scoring the Cloze 2 ways to score the cloze tests 1-Give credit only to the exact word for the gap 2-Give full credit for equivalent words as well = BE CAREFUL natives can decide the equivalent not non-natives = if there is no native around, please use the exact word choice to score

4- Cloze Procedure – Scoring the Cloze Problems and solutions 1- misspelling??? No clear agreement on how to take off the half a point or give no grade -any kind of spelling mistake -no recognizable word

4- Cloze Procedure – Scoring the Cloze Problems and solutions 2- bad handwriting??? - Agreement is on no recognizable word no score 3-using two or more words in a gap??? Even though both perfectly fit for the gap, NO CREDIT should be given because instructions tell them only one word is acceptable for each gap BUT I BELIEVE that teachers should use their discretion (takdir /sağduyu) to assess.

4- Cloze Procedure – Adapting the Cloze to Test Grammar Cloze tests measure general ability in English Selected-deletion cloze measure grammar Delete grammar items to be tested from the passage To measure grammar, delete function words ( pronouns, articles, determiners, auxiliary verbs, prep. And conjunctions) Be careful not to delete the same word too many times

4- Cloze Procedure –Alternative Forms Many variations = no fixed way of creating the form The referred ones in the books: 1- Multiple-choice cloze 2- Selected deletion cloze 3- Inflectional cloze

4- Cloze Procedure - Advantages A good measure for an overall proficiency Easy to prepare and to score Good and easy to assess integrative skills

4- Cloze Procedure - Limitations Not measure short-term goals very well Difficult for non-native English teachers to determine the acceptable equivalent words

THANK YOU  TUBA DEMİR