What is a test?

It is a method of measuring a person’s ability, knowledge, or performance in a given domain.

A test has a method, which is a WAY.., HOW TO DO…techniques, strategy, process,

procedures, …..with characteristics of structured, explicit.

A test must measure : Instruments/tool to grade…, Specific Student’s Level of Competence.

A test measures and individual’s ability, knowledge or performance.

A test measures performance. That is ability in performing language.

Finally, a test measures a given domain.

Assessing:

Test: A prepared administrative procedures that occur at identifiable times in a curriculum.

Assessment: An ongoing process that encompasses a much wider domain than a test.

Teaching:

-Teacher-student’s interaction

-students must have the freedom to experiment

-students try out their own hypotheses

-freedom to practice their skills in a classroom without being formally graded

-no teacher’s judgment in terms of their trials and errors

INFORMAL ASSESSMENT:

It is designed to elicit performance without recording results and making fixed judgments
about a student’s competence.

FORMAL ASSESSMENT

-exercise specifically designed to tap into storehouse of skill and knowledge.

-constructed to give an appraisal of students’ achievements.

FORMATIVE

It deals with the function.

- evaluating students in the process of ‘forming’ their competencies and skills with the goal of
helping them to continue the growth process.

SUMMATIVE

It aims to measure or to summarize what a student has grasped.

- A summation of what a student has learned implies looking back and taking stock of how well
that student has accomplished objectives.

 NORM-REFERENCED TEST FUNCTION: TO SCORE

  CRITERION-REFERENCED TEST FUNCTION: TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK

Approach to language testing:

 1950’s an era of behaviorism-----testing focused on linguistic elements such as the

phonological, grammatical, and lexical contrast between two languages

 1970-1980’s era of communicative theories----testing focused on the whole

communicative event.

 Today testing focused on authentic and valid instruments that stimulate real
world interaction.

DISCRETE-POINT TESTING

Constructed on the assumption that language can be broken down into its component
parts and those parts can be tested successfully.

e.g. of skill components:

listening, speaking, reading, writing

e.g. of unit of language:

phonology, graphology, morphology, lexicon, syntax, discourse

 INTEGRATIVE TESTING

(Oller, 1979) argued that language competence is unified set of interacting abilities that cannot
be tested separately.

Communicative competence is a global and requires such integration that it cannot be

captured in additive tests of grammar, reading, vocabulary, etc.

examples:

cloze test,

dictation