ELDC TESTS Siriporn Pongsurapipat 29 November 2006

Type of tests ELDC General Proficiency Test ELDSC Diagnostic Test ELDC High Stake Test (General) ELDC High Stake Test (Specific)

ELDC General Proficiency Test Skills: reading, listening, speaking, listening-writing Levels: 1—Beginner, 2—Intermediate, 3-Advanced Forms: A, B, C Availability: on website Status: finished

ELDC Diagnostic Test Skills: listening, reading, speaking (indirect—m/c), writing Number of items: 1,000 Availability: on website Status: in progress

ELDC High Stake (General) Skills: listening, listening-writing, reading, reading-writing, speaking (direct— recording), writing Forms: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 Availability: on demand, taking via computer Status: analysis after trial run

ELDC High Stake (Specific) Skills: listening, reading, writing, speaking (direct—recording) Careers: tourism, IT, food, tour guide and spa Status: on trial run, taking via computer

Proficiency Test Describe what one is capable of doing in a language Usually set by external bodies Provide proof of one’s ability in a langauge Provide potential employers with some guarantee of proficiency in a language— standards in an impartial way considered to be reliable and valid

Diagnostic Test To find out problem areas: which parts of course or learning objectives that one cannot cope with Based on failure: a technique based on eliciting errors rather than correct answers or language

Stages in Test Construction Planning: objectives, specifications, weighting (skill/language, assessment timetable) Construction: format, construction, writing/editing Administration: finished test, test conditions, answer sheets, marking schemes/criteria Results: scores, information for evaluation

Language skills for effective communication Independent skills: speaking, listening, reading, writing Integrated skills: language skills combined, eg. -- read, listen, and then speak in response to a question --listen and then speak in response to a question --read, listen and then write I response to a question etc.

Test formats (reading and listening) Short answer questions Table completion Diagrams/maps/pictures Listing True/false Multiple choice Sequencing (texts, pictures) Text completion Problem-solving Word attack Identify topic Linking and identify linking words discrepencies

Test format (writing) Essay questions Guided writing Punctuation Summary Note-taking Outlining Paraphrasing Retelling Dictation Combined with other skills

Test format (speaking) Free interviews Picture description Information transfer Role play Oral presentations

Test format (language: structure and grammar) Cloze Gap-filling Word sequencing Editing/correcting mistakes Writing sentences (from pictures or words) Write short texts or a dialogue with the given words Identifying structures Translation Sentence Transformation Lexis classification Matching sentences halves (one half of a sentence with the other) Matching words/ definitions

Listening Purposes Listening for basic comprehension --of main idea(s) and important details related to the main idea Listening for pragmatic understanding --making inferences about a speaker’s attitudes and degree of certainty, or about the speaker’s purpose or motivation Connecting and synthesizing information --integrating information from different parts of text or texts from different sources --understanding the concept of rhetorical organization --making inferences, forming generalization, and drawing conclusions

Reading purposes Reading the lines—for basic comprehension Reading between the between the lines and beyond the lines—for inferences, tones, attitudes, evaluation, prediction,etc.

Speaking purposes Speaking and making responses in different kinds of situations Speaking or expressing oneself or on the views of the given topic Identifying and summarizing main ideas and related details from written and spoken sources Selecting, organizing, and presenting information spontaneously

Writing purposes Independent writing --creating a thesis focus statement and using it to develop the ideas Integrated writing --expressing various kinds of writing: narrative, descriptive expository, informative and persuasive --taking-notes, outlining, retelling, paraphrasing, summarizing, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating, making judgement,etc.

Samples of the questions beyond basic comprehension How does the man feel? What does the woma suggest the man to do? What will probably the woman do? What does the man imply? What does the woman mean? What can be inferred from the man/woman’s answer, words, etc.?

Samples of the questions beyond basic comprehension (cont.) What is the main purpose of this text/ talk, etc? Where would this text, talk, etc. most likely to be found/ occurred? What would be the appropriate for this text, talk, etc,? According to the text, talk, etc., which statement is correct/ incorrect/ true/ false?

Band descriptors Listening:-- 0, marks --from no ability to be able to, understand and answer short, long, simple, literal, inferential, complicated, to analyze, synthesize, interpret and evaluate from familiar to variety of topics with accuracy.

Band descriptors Writing: -- 0, marks --from no response to be able to write formulaic or memorized phrases or sentences, to create the language and handle simple situation, to narrate, describe, and handle complicated situations, to finally be able to summarize, support opinion, discuss abstract ideas, handle linguistically unfamiliar situation and sustain talk in extended discourse

Band descriptors Reading: -- 0, marks -- from no comprehension to some simple, moderate to complex, argumentative text, from some problem of getting the main ideas to be able to distinguish them, to identify structure or organization of the text, to be able to analyze, synthesize and summarize the whole text, and from limited vocabulary to excellent coverage of range of vocabulary

Band descriptors Speaking: --0, marks --from no response to accurate and effective presentation with good command of vocabulary and sentence structure --from inadequate, adequate, good expression with severe and inappropriate choice of words or word forms to minimized errors --from inappropriate to appropriate and adequate support, illustration and organization of thoughts and ideas

Selected References Harris, Michael and Paul Mc Cann ASSESSMENT—HANDBOOKS FOR THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM. Hong Kong: McMillian Heinemann ETS TOEFL Helping Your Students Communicate with Confidence: Listening, Learning, Leading. 2005