DESIGNING CLASSROOM TESTS

TSL3112 LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

PISMP TESL SEMESTER 6
IPGKDRI
STAGES OF TEST CONSTRUCTION
What is the purpose of the test?
What are the objectives of the test?
How will the test specifications reflect both the
purpose and the objectives?
How will the test item types (tasks) be selected and the
separate items arranged?
In administering the test, what details should I attend
to in order to help students achieve optimal
performance?
What kind of scoring, grading, and/or feedback is
expected?
DETERMINING THE PURPOSE OF A
TEST
Consider the overall purpose of the exercise that
students are about to perform.
For examples:
Why create the test.
Its significance relative to he course to evaluate
overall proficiency or place a student in a course.
The importance of the test compared to other student
performance.
The test impact before and after to teachers and
students.
DETERMINING THE PURPOSE OF A
TEST
Bachman & Palmer (1996) the purpose of an
assessment refers to as test usefulness, or to
what use teachers will put an assessment.

DESIGNING CLEAR, UNAMBIGUOUS
OBJECTIVES
Begin by taking a careful look at everything
that what students should know and be able
to do based on the material that the students
are responsible for.
In other words, examine the objectives for the
unit teachers are testing.
DESIGNING CLEAR, UNAMBIGUOUS
OBJECTIVES
Consider:
What to find out.
Establishing appropriate objectives involves a
number of issues; from relatively simple ones (e.g.
about forms and functions covered in a course
unit) to more complex ones (e.g. about constructs
to be represented on the test).
Language abilities to be assessed.
DRAWING UP TEST SPECIFICATIONS
An outline of the test what it will look like.
To design or evaluate a test make sure the
test has a structure that logically follows from
the unit or lesson it is testing.
The class objectives should be present in the
test through appropriate task types and
weights, a logical sequence, and a variety of
tasks.
DRAWING UP TEST SPECIFICATIONS
A blueprint of the test that includes:
a description of its content.
item types (method, such as multiple-choice,
cloze, etc.).
tasks (e.g., written essay, reading a short passage,
etc.).
skills to be included.
how the test will be scored.
how it will be reported to students.
DRAWING UP TEST SPECIFICATIONS
For classroom purposes, the specifications (specs)
are a guiding plan for designing an instrument
that effectively fulfills desired principles esp.
validity (Davidson & Lynch, 2002).
Spaan (2006) for large-scale standardised test
to be widely distributed, and therefore, broadly
generalised, test specifications are much more
formal and detail.
Also, usually confidential to ensure the validity
of subsequent forms of a test.
DEVISING TEST ITEMS
The tasks need to be practical.
For content validity tasks should mirror tasks
of the course, lesson, or segment.
Should be authentic with a progression
biased for best performance.
Can be evaluated reliably by the
teacher/scorer.
DEVISING TEST ITEMS
The test development is not always a clear,
linear process.
Test design usually involves a number of loops
problems and shortcomings.

ADMINISTERING THE TEST
Once the test is ready to administer, students
need to feel well prepared for their
performance.
Reduce unnecessary anxiety in students, raise
their confidence, and help them view the test
as an opportunity to learn.
ADMINISTERING THE TEST
Pre-test considerations (the day before the in-
class essay):
Provide pre-test information on:
The conditions for the test e.g. time limit, no portable
electronics, breaks, etc.
Materials to bring.
Test item types.
Suggestions of strategies for optimal performance.
Evaluation criteria (rubrics, show benchmark samples).
ADMINISTERING THE TEST
Offer a review of components of narrative and
description essays.
Give students a chance to ask questions, and
provide responses.

Test administration details:
Arrive early and see to it that the classroom
conditions (lighting, temperature, a clock,
furniture arrangement, etc.) are conducive.
ADMINISTERING THE TEST
Try the audio/video or other technology that is
needed for administration in advance.
Have extra paper, writing instruments, or other
response materials on hand.
Start on time.
Distribute the test itself.
Remain quietly seated at the teachers desk, available
for questions from students as they proceed.
For a timed test, warn students when time is about to
run out, and encourage their completion of their
work.

SCORING, GRADING, AND GIVING
FEEDBACK
SCORING:
Scoring plan reflects the relative weight placed on
the items in each section.
Greater weight should be placed in accordance
with the significance of the tasks e.g., tasks
which represent more general or integrative
language ability.
Classroom teachers may decide to revise the
scoring plan for the course the next time you
teach it.
SCORING, GRADING, AND GIVING
FEEDBACK
SCORING:
At that point, teachers might have valuable
information about how easy or difficult a test was,
whether the time limit was reasonable, students
affective reaction to it, and their general
performance.
Finally, teachers will have an intuitive judgement
about whether a test correctly assessed the
students.

SCORING, GRADING, AND GIVING
FEEDBACK
GRADING:
Grading is such a thorny issue!
The assignment of letter grades to the test is a
product of:
the country, culture, and context of the English
classroom.
institutional expectations (most are unwritten).
explicit and implicit definitions of grades that you have
set forth.
the relationship you have established with the class.
student expectations that have been engendered in
previous tests and quizzes in the class.

SCORING, GRADING, AND GIVING
FEEDBACK
GIVING FEEDBACK:
Normally beneficial feedback.
A few of the many possible manifestations of
feedback associated with tests:


SCORING, GRADING, AND GIVING
FEEDBACK
In general, scoring/grading for a test:
a. a letter grade
b. a total score
c. subscores (e.g., of separate skills or sections of a test)
For responses to listening and reading items:
a. indication of correct/incorrect responses
b. diagnostic set of scores (e.g., scores on certain grammatical
categories)
c. checklist of areas needing work and strategic options
SCORING, GRADING, AND GIVING
FEEDBACK
For oral production tests:
a. scores for each element being rated
b. checklist of areas needing work and strategic options
c. oral feedback after performance
d. post-interview conference to go over the results
On written essays:
a. scores for each element being rated
b. checklist of areas needing work and suggested
strategies/techniques for improving writing
c. marginal and end-of-essay comments, suggestions
d. post-test conference to go over work
SCORING, GRADING, AND GIVING
FEEDBACK
Additional/alternative feedback for a test:
a. on all or selected parts of a test, peer conferences on results
b. whole-class discussion of results of the test
c. individual conferences with each student to review a complete
test
d. self-assessment in various manifestations
CONCLUSION
DETERMINE
PURPOSE/USEFULNESS
STATE OBJECTIVES
DRAW UP
SPECIFICATIONS
SELECT TASKS AND
ITEM TYPES AND
ARRANGE THEM
SYSTEMATICALLY
IN ADMINISTERING THE
TEST, HELP STUDENTS
TO ACHIEVE OPTIMAL
PERFORMANCE
CONSTRUCT A SYSTEM
OF SCORING/GRADING
AND PROVIDING
STUDENT FEEDBACK
STAGES OF TEST CONSTRUCTION
(COURSE PRO FORMA)
Assessing clear, unambiguous objectives
Drawing up Test specifications
Item writing
Item moderation
Pre-testing
Analysis
Training
Reporting