1. Nation on testing

2. A good vocabulary test Has about 30 items
Tests the aspects you want to test
Easy to make, mark and interpret
Has a good ‘washback’ effect

3. Aspects that can be taught
Receptive
Productive
Spoken
Written
Word parts
Form and meaning
Concept and referents
Associations
Grammatical functions
Collocations
Constraints on use

4. Aspects that can be tested: basic advanced very advanced
Receptive
Productive
Spoken
Written
Word parts, morphology
Form and meaning
Concept and referents (range of meanings)
Associations
Grammatical functions
Collocations
Constraints on use

5. Samples
Spoken form
R: Hear the word and choose the L1 translation (but this tests also meaning)
P: Reading aloud
Written form
R: Say these written forms
P: Word or sentence dictation
Word parts
R: Break the word into parts
P: What do you call someone who paints houses?
Form and meaning
R: Translate these words into L1
P: Translate these words into L2

6. Concept and referents
R: Translate the underlined words into L1: ‘It was a hard frost’
P: Choose the words that could translate this L1 word
Associations
R: Choose the words that you associate with this word
P: Add to this list of associated words
Grammatical functions
R: Is this sentence correct?
P: Use this word in a sentence
Collocations
R: Is this sentence (based on a collocation) correct?
P: Produce collocations to go with this word
Constraints
R: Which of thse words represent UK use?
P: What is the formal word for X?

7. Types of tests True/false sentences contextualizing the word
Write T or F.
Multiple choice, but with complex choices
Choose four words that go with the target word. Choose at least two from each box.

8. Definition completion test
Choose a word from the list to complete the sentences. Do not use the same word twice.
A sensitive multiple-choice test

9. A translation test
Yes/No test
Tick the words you know

10. Multiple-choice tests – variation
Interviews
In-depth examination of knowledge. Can check knowledge of spoken forms..

11. Lexical Frequency Profile
The learner’s written work is analysed using Lextutor to find out how many less frequent words are used in their essay.
As a rough guide: an advanced essay will have about 90% up to K2, 10% beyond; intermediate will have about 95% up to K2, 5% beyond; beginner will have little nor nothing beyond K2, and mostly K1.

12. Points made by Nation about different formats
In favor of multiple choice (easy to mark, reliable)
But time-consuming to construct and difficult to get right
Yes/no test – easy to construct, fairly reliable
Translation test – easy to construct, reliable
A number of variations on m/c: with context or without; number of possible right answers to select; gapfill or not;
Multiple-choice tests only receptive (recognition) not productive (recall) (load of checking).
Importance of providing context