1. Module 6 Testing & Assessment Part 1
ELT Methodology III
Module 6 Testing & Assessment Part 1

2. Outline Definition Reasons for testing Types of tests
Alternatives to testing
Qualities of a good test

3. What is a test?

4. What is a test? Test Criterion
A performance or series of performances, simulating/ representing or sampled from the criterion
Observable
Eg.: Listening to a lecture in a test
Criterion
A series of performances subsequent to the test; the target
Unobservable
How a person would cope with listening to lectures in the course he/ she is aiming to enter
Inferences
about

5. What is a test?
A test, in plain words, is a method of measuring a person’s ability or knowledge in a given domain.

6. Work in groups. Discuss the purposes of testing.
Why Do We Need Tests?
Work in groups. Discuss the purposes of testing.
(5 mins)

7. Provide opportunities for learning
Why Do We Need Tests?
Provide opportunities for learning
Students
Professionals
Knowledge gained from test preparation (w/ T, or by themselves)
While taking tests: Opportunities for developing what they know and what they can do
After the tests: feedback from their own reflection & from professionals
Increased motivation
What Ss know & do not know abt L2
What Ss can & cannot do in L2, what they likely to be able to do
Ss’ progress
Teaching effects on Ss
What Ss need to learn
What can be done to help Ss
Compare w/ other Ss

8. Why Do We Need Tests? Diagnosis/ Evaluation Motivation Teaching tool
Official assessment

9. TYPES OF TEST AND TESTING
According to testing methods:
Test items
True/ False/ NG
Gap-fill (no choice given)
Listening and ordering pictures
Multiple choice questions
Jumbled sentences
Composition writing
Underlining mistakes
Speaking on a topic

10. TYPES OF TEST AND TESTING
According to testing methods:
Test items
Objective
Subjective
Recognition
Production
True/ False/ NG
Gap-fill (no choice given)
Listening and ordering pictures
Multiple choice questions
Jumbled sentences
Composition writing
Underlining mistakes
Speaking on a topic

11. TYPES OF TEST AND TESTING
According to testing methods:
Test items
Objective
Subjective
Recognition
Production
True/ False/ NG √
Gap-fill (no choice given)
Listening and ordering pictures
Multiple choice questions
Jumbled sentences
Composition writing
Underlining mistakes
Speaking on a topic

12. TYPES OF TEST AND TESTING
According to test- scoring procedure:
OBJECTIVE: True/ False; Correct/ Incorrect
SUBJECTIVE: Basing on teacher’s judgment
According to the interpretation made from the test scores
NORM- REFERENCED TEST (NRT):
a student's performance on an NRT is interpreted in relation to the performance of a large group (choosing candidates for a gifted program)
CRITERION REFERENCED TEST (CRT):
CRTs give detailed information about how well a student has performed on each of the educational goals or outcomes included on that test

13. TYPES OF TEST AND TESTING
According to construction approach:
DIRECT & INDIRECT
DISCRETE POINT& INTEGRATIVE
RECOGNITION &PRODUCTION

14. TYPES OF TESTS AND TESTING
According to the purpose:
Types of Tests
Purposes
Examples
Proficiency tests
measure people’s language ability, regardless of any training they have had; based on a specification of what candidates have to be able to do <= ‘proficient’
TOEFL, IELTS, CAE
Achievement tests
directly related to language courses, to measure how successful Ss/courses have been in achieving objectives
End-of-term tests
Final tests
Placement tests
to provide info that helps place Ss at a stage of the teaching program most appropriate to their abilities
A test by Language Link for new students enrolling in their courses
Diagnostic tests
to identify Ss’ strengths & weaknesses
15-min (surprise) mini-tests by a teacher for her class

15. Alternatives to Testing
Continuous assessment
Port-folio
Self-assessment
Teacher’s assessment
=> How can teachers use these at (Secondary/High) schools?

16. Qualities of a good test
Reliability
Validity
Practicality

17. Reliability
A test should measure precisely whatever it is supposed to measure
1 test on two occasions
 Result 1 = Result 2

18. Which is the more reliable rifleman?

19. Reliability Reliability and Size:
Size of test items
Size of sample (pilot audience)
Reliability and Test Item Level of Difficulty
1/3 – 2/3 students get the correct answers
1/3 students
< 45% test
45%- 60% test
60%- 100% test

20. Reliability
Reliability and marking
Reliability and syllabus

21. Validity
Are we actually measuring what we are intending to measure?

22. He went to the supermarket to buy an air-conditioner and had it installed in his room.
Question: What can an air- conditioner do?
Make a room nicer
Stop the noise from entering a room
Change the temperature in a room
Light up a room

23. It’s so hot in the room that he decides to have an air- conditioner installed.
Question: What can an air- conditioner do?
Make a room nicer
Stop the noise from entering a room
Change the temperature in a room
Light up a room

24. Validity Types of validity Face validity Content validity
Response validity
Statistical validity
Question 6, p. 38: Match the types of validity with their correct definition

25. Validity- Qualities of a good test
Face validity
(non-expert judgement)
The test is what students and parents want, and it looks familiar to them
Content validity
(professional judgement)
Other teachers agree that the methodology used in the test and the language items tested are the right level and approach for their students.
Response validity
The test layout and instructions are clear so students’ wrong answers are because of their lack of ability in English, not because the answer sheet was badly designed and made them put the tick in the wrong box, for example.
Statistical validity
The same students who got high, average and low marks on this test will get high, average and low marks on another test.

26. Practicality (Administrative)
A test must be carefully organized well in advance
When?
How long?
Equipments?
Marking?

27. “Washback” (backwash)
What? => The effect of testing on the teaching and learning processes
Harmful or beneficial?
Testing  Teaching & Learning
(regarded as important, (dominated by the test,
ignores Ss’ language needs for the test’s sake)
not widely & unpredictably-designed
Testing  Teaching & Learning
(based on Ss’ language needs, (teaching & learning changed accordingly,
tests the abilities desired, syllabus redesigned,
wide-scoped, unpredictable, new books selected, etc)
understandable)

28. How to achieve a positive washback?
Test what you want Ss to develop
Sample widely & unpredictably
Ensure the test is known & understood by Ss & Ts => (increase test reliability)

29. Review questions
What are the three main qualities of a good language test?
If a language test is unreliable, what will happen to students’ marks the second time they take the same test?

30. Review Complete the following passage:
A reliable test contains ……………. of test items of …………… difficulty, based on ………….. within the textbook, not ………….. such a test will have been piloted ……………… and can be marked ………………

31. Review Complete the following passage:
A reliable test contains a large number of test items of different levels of difficulty, based on the syllabus within the textbook, not the book itself. Such a test will have been piloted across the whole country (widely) and can be marked clerically.