Language Testing & Assessment

MAIN CONTENTS

Session 01
What is testing
Macro/Micro functions of testing
Types of test
Criteria of a good test
Session 02
Test elicitation techniques
Test construction
Test administration & evaluation
Session 03:
Alternative assessment

WHAT IS TESTING?

Definition: “A test is an activity whose main purpose is to convey (usually to the tester)
how well the testee knows or can do something. This is in contrast to practice, whose main
purpose is sheer learning.” (Ur 1996:33)

Clarifying Terms: TESTS, MEASUREMENT, EVALUATION

o Definitions
o Relationships)

Functions of Testing

Macrofunctions:
metric (primary) vs. educative
Issue: test to teach vs. teach to test

Microfunctions:
Inform teachers/learners about learner level
Assess learners for purposes external to current teaching (e.g.. final grades, selection)
Motivate learners for further learning/revision
Keep a class quiet or get them concentrate
Add to a sense of structure to the course
Provide practice/revision opportunities through test-doing
Provide learners with a sense of achievement & progress.
etc.

language testing & assessment/lecture notes/LDQ/2010 1

 TYPES OF TESTS

Norm-referenced vs. Criterion-referenced tests (see next page)

Proficiency vs. Achievement tests
Summative vs. Formative tests
Diagnostic vs. Prognostic tests
Objective vs. Subjective tests
Integrative vs. Discrete-point tests

NB. Relationships, preferences & priorities …

Norm-Referenced vs. Criterion-Referenced Tests

A Criterion-Referenced Test is a test which measures a student’s performance according to

a particular standard or criterion which has been agreed upon. The student must reach
this level of performance to pass the test, and the student’s score is therefore interpreted
with reference to the criterion score, rather than to the scores of other students.

A Norm-Referenced Test is one which is designed to measure how the performance of a

particular student or group of students whose scores are given as the norm. A student’s
score is therefore interpreted with reference to the scores of other students or groups of
students, rather than to an agreed criterion score.

(Longman Dict. Of LT & AL, J. Richards et al. 1993: 91)

TEST CRITERIA 1: VALIDITY

Definition: “… the degree to which a test measures what it is supposed to measure, or can
be used successfully for the purposes for which it is intended.”

Content Validity (Longman Dict. Of LT & AL, p.81)

Construct Validity (Longman Dict. Of LT & AL, p.80)
Face Validity (Longman Dict. Of LT & AL, p.135)
o Concurrent & predictive validities (ELT Methodology III, pp. 36-7)
Response validity (ELT Methodology III, p. 36)
Statistical validity (ELT Methodology III, p. 36)

TEST CRITERIA 2: RELIABILITY

Definition: “ A measure of the degree to which a test gives consistent results. A test is said
to be reliable if it gives the same results when it is given on different occasions or when
it is used by different people.”

Reliability & Number of Test Items

Reliability & Difficulty Level of Test Items
Reliability & Marking

language testing & assessment/lecture notes/LDQ/2010 2

Reliability & Rote Learning (Learning by heart)

TEST CRITERIA 3: PRACTICALITY & WASHBACK

Practicality: related to test administration issues

Washback/Backwash:

Negative: teach to test, stress & strain

Positive: motivation to learn & to innovate teaching & learning ways.

In order to achieve beneficial washback, it’s necessary to ensure:

Focus & content validity
Wide range & unpredictability of samples
Familiarity with test format

TEST ELICITATION TECHNIQUES: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Qs & As: closed-ended/open-ended

T/F: for reading & listening mainly
Gap-filling/Completion
Matching
Cloze
Dictation: ASST format
Transformation
Rewriting
Essay
Monologue
Translation
Information transfer: from text to graph etc.
Others …

NB. Test elicitation techniques need to be discussed in terms of design, marking, its
validity as a measuring tool …

TEST CONSTRUCTION

Specifying test essentials: methodology, content, format, critical level of performance,

scoring procedures, timing etc.
Writing the test: sampling, item writing & moderation, writing & moderating scoring
scheme etc.
Piloting the test

TEST ADMINISTRATION & EVALUATION

language testing & assessment/lecture notes/LDQ/2010 3

Test administration:

Issues attended to BEFORE the test

Issues attended to DURING the test
Issues attended to AFTER the test

Evaluation of tests:

Purposes
Format
Content
Validity/reliability
Practicality
Washback
etc.

ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT

Projects: individual or group-based (continuous assessment)

Formal summative assessment/evaluation
Formal formative assessment/evaluation
Informal assessment/evaluation
Peer assessment/evaluation
Self-assessment/evaluation
Internship/practicum
etc.

language testing & assessment/lecture notes/LDQ/2010 4

 REFERENCES

Bachman, L. F. (1990) Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.
Bachman, L. F. (1991) What Does Language Testing Have to Offer? TESOL
QUARTERLY, Vol. 25, No. 4.
Brindley, G. (1991) Developments in Language Testing. Singapore: Regional Language
Centre, in Anivan. S (ed.)
Canale, M. and Swain, M. (1980) Theoretical Bases of Communicative Approaches to
Second Language Teaching and Testing. Applied Linguistics Vol.1 No.1.
Morrow, K. (1981) Communicative language testing: evolution or revolution? In J. C.
Alderson and A. Hughes (eds.). Issues in Language Testing. ELT Documents 111.
London: The British Council.
Skehan, P. (1991) Progress in Language Testing: the 1990s. In J. C. Alderson and B.
North (eds.). Language Testing in the 1990s. London: Macmillan.
Spolsky, B.(1989) Communicative Competence, Language Proficiency and Beyond.
Applied Linguistics, Vol.10, No.2. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
To, T.H et al (2006). ELT Methodology III. VNU, Hanoi.
Ur, Penny (1996). A course in language teaching. Cambridge: CUP
Weir, C. J. (1990) Communicative language testing. London: Prentice Hall.

language testing & assessment/lecture notes/LDQ/2010 5