Republic of the Philippines
DAVAO DE ORO STATE COLLEGE
Compostela, Davao de Oro
www.cvsc.edu.ph | ted.compostela@ddosc.edu.ph
Name:
A.
Gelhmar J. Saberon
Course Code and Title:
ELE 27 – Teaching and Assessment of Macro skills
REFLECTOVE JOURNAL FINALS - Reflective journal on the last two reports.
The last two presenters discussed the “Table of Specification and Construction of
Language Test,” the previous topic for finals. These interconnected topics require us to
construct our own TOS and make language skill tests.
From the discussion on TOS writing, I realized that it follows specific steps, which
comprise of step 1- Determine the coverage of your exam, step 2 – Determine your testing
objectives for each topic area, step 3 – Determine the duration for each content area, step 4 –
Determine the test types for each objective, and step 5 – Polish your terms of specification. In
the first step, I learned that topics that are not taught in class should not be included in the
coverage of the exam. That is why it is important to note that in creating a TOS, we must
determine first the topics that we satisfactorily taught to our students. From that, we select
relevant, realistic, and meaningful topics for students. The realistic test is emphasized here,
which points to the most important topics to be included. In step two, it is essential to determine
the testing objectives that each topic area has. Therefore, Bloom's taxonomy of thinking skills,
which divides cognitive abilities into six categories (from lowest to highest), must be
understood. These categories are (1) Knowledge, (2) Comprehension, (3) Application, (4)
Analysis, (5) Synthesis, and (6) Evaluation. The second stage led me to realize that the table of
specification needs to represent the teaching methods used during the semester. Nevertheless,
depending on the makeup of the students, it is critical to establish a balanced set of objectives
for the whole semester. I also discovered that the time we spend teaching a given topic should
be included in the table of specifications, as discussed in step three. This is essential because it
establishes the number of points we should allocate to each topic. I learned that the more time
we spend teaching a subject, the more questions there should be about it. Finally, steps four
and five helped me know how to choose the test types that will help me achieve my testing
goals once after generated a table. It pointed out that the TOS should be polished after initial
Republic of the Philippines
DAVAO DE ORO STATE COLLEGE
Compostela, Davao de Oro
www.cvsc.edu.ph | ted.compostela@ddosc.edu.ph
writing to ensure that the test items are suitable for the exam's given timeframe. Besides, the
part where academic coordinators can provide feedback and insightful suggestions to enhance
our TOS sounds exciting.
To say, the discussion about TOS-making has been familiar to me. Indeed, I
experienced making one during our first year in college, and it is not that easy compared to
creating lesson plans, but the experience benefits us all. Henceforth, with the discussion about
the TOS, I learned a lot, particularly what is needed to consider in creating tasks that were not
directly taught to us. Therefore, I can say that learning and teaching have been fruitful
throughout the subject’s semester and that it counts a thousand times.
In the second phase, the last topic discussed was language test construction, which
imparted knowledge on how to construct tests for listening, speaking, reading, grammar and
vocabulary. In this regard, I learned to realize the things that need to be considered in preparing
communicative tests, which emphasize language as communication and test items
contextualization. I also discovered that effective communication should be focused more than
on grammatical accuracy. For writing tests, I learned some more examples I can use in the
future when I am in the field of teaching. The task in which students may be presented with
instructions to write a letter, memos, summaries, etc., such as paraphrasing and job-related
writing tasks. However, it is always essential to have a thorough evaluation of a student’s entire
communicative ability, which usually requires the use of multiple language skills in
combination since it cannot be made by assessing only one language skill, even though doing
so may give some indirect information about a test taker's ability to perform. Concisely, test
construction and item writing processes, in particular, may be led by thorough, thoughtful test
specifications. To reflect the content and the desired mental focus, an initial test form can be
created by these guidelines. As always, let us remember that careful connection between the
test requirements and test items is essential for the exam or test to have good content validity
and legal defensibility.