Teaching and Testing Pertemuan 13 Matakuliah : <<Kode>>/<<Nama mtkul>> Tahun : <<Tahun Pembuatan>> Teaching and Testing Pertemuan 13

Topics : Backwash effect Inaccurate Tests The need for tests Achieving beneficial backwash

THE NEED FOR TESTS Information about people’s language ability is often very useful and sometimes necessary : 1. to give a statement of what they have achieved in a second or foreign language, 2. to provide information about the achievement of groups of learners to see how rational educational decisions can be made.

Language abilities are not easy to measure, we cannot INACCURATE TESTS Language abilities are not easy to measure, we cannot expect a level of accuracy comparable to those of measurements in the physical sciences.

WHY ARE TESTS INACCURATE ? 1. Test content and Techniques : When testing is carried out on a very large scale, when the scoring of tens of thousands of compositions might seem not to be a practical proposition, it is understandable that potentially greater accuracy is sacrificed for reasons of economy and convenience.

A test is reliable if it measures consistently. On a reliable 2. Lack of Reliability : A test is reliable if it measures consistently. On a reliable test you can be so confident that someone will get more or less the same score, whether they happen to take it on one particular day or on the next.

BACKWASH Backwash is the effect of testing on teaching and learning. It can be harmful or beneficial : a. if a test is regarded as important, then preparation for it can come to dominate all teaching and learning activities. b. if the test content and testing techniques are at variance with the objective of the course, then there is likely to be harmful backwash. We cannot expect testing only to follow teaching, but it should be supportive of good teaching and, where necessary, exert a corrective influence on bad teaching.

ACHIEVING BENEFICIAL BACKWASH: H O W ? 1. Test the abilities whose development you want to encourage: (e.g. if you want to encourage oral ability, then test oral ability.) There is a tendency to test what it is easiest to test rather than what it is most important to test because : a. sufficiently high reliability cannot be obtained when a form of testing requires subjective scoring, b. the expense involved in terms of time and money.

2. Sample widely and unpredictably: It is important that the sample taken should represent as far as possible the full scope of what is specified. If not, if the sample is taken from a restricted area of the specifications, then the backwash effect will tend to be felt only in that area Whenever the content of a test becomes highly predictable, teaching & learning are likely to concentrate on what can be predicted. An effort should therefore be made to test across the full range of the specifications ( fully elaborated set of objectives).

4. Make testing Criterion – referenced 3. Use direct Testing If we test directly the skills that we are interested in fostering, then practice for the test represents practice in those skills. If we want people to learn to write compositions, we should get them to write compositions in the test. 4. Make testing Criterion – referenced If test specifications make clear just what candidates have to be able to do, and with what degree of success, then students will have a clear picture of what they have to achieve. What is more, they know that if they do perform the task at the criteria level, then they will be successful on the test, regardless of how other students perform.

5. Base Achievement Tests on objectives If achievement tests are based on objectives, rather than on detailed teaching and textbook content, they will provide a truer picture of what has actually been achieved. Teaching and learning will tend to be evaluated against those objectives. As a result, these will be constant pressure to achieve them. 6. Ensure test is known and understood by students and teachers However good the potential backwash effect of a test may be, the effect will not be fully realized if students and those responsible for teaching do not know and understand what the test demands of them. The rationale for the test, its specifications, and sample items should be made available to everyone concerned with preparation for the test. This is particularly important when a new test is being introduced.

7. Where necessary, provide assistance to teachers The introduction of a new test may make demands on teachers to which they are not equal. One important reason for introducing the new test may have been to encourage communicative language teaching, but if the teachers need guidance and possibly training, and these are not given, the test will not achieve its intended effect. It may simply cause chaos and disaffection. Where new tests are meant to help change teaching, support has to be given to help effect the change.

8. Counting the cost One of the desirable qualities of tests, after validity and reliability, is that of practicality. It is good that a test should be easy and cheap to construct, administer, score and interpret. When we compare the cost of the test with the waste of effort and time on the part of teachers and students in activities quite inappropriate to their true learning goals, we are likely to decide that we cannot afford not to introduce a test with a powerful beneficial backwash effect.