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You are going to read an email from a university teacher, Ms. Riddi Cule, addressed to a teaching
and testing expert, Ms. Fair, where Ms. Cule describes how she designed and administered a test,
and seeks professional advice on her practices.
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Do the task provided after the text.
fair@lc.edu.uk
Request for advice on test design and administration
Dear Ms Fair,
I am desperate – I failed to write a good mid-term test. Please help me fix this.
To start with, I came to my both groups determined to give them all I know about British culture
and art. I brought lots of pics and souvenirs in class, we listened to some nice tunes on YouTube.
They wrote reviews of a film they had seen in English. It was SOOO exciting! I started to design the
mid-term test well ahead of time (three days before the fixed date, in fact). I followed the
curriculum precisely. I scanned some IELTS practice test booklets, and I liked some items. I added
them to the test, but it looked rather short, so I added more tasks from some coursebooks I had at
home. It took me the entire night!
Before the test, I was a bit late to print out the copies. Besides, it turned out I didn’t have enough of
them. So my students had to share copies. At first everything was fine but then … I noticed the
puzzled looks they were giving me.
After the test was over, my students shared impressions of the test with their mates from my other
group (their test was ahead). I was so anxious that decided to give my other group a little hint about
what it would be about. I love that other group; they are so sweet!
It took me only two days to collect myself and sit down to check the papers of my first group. I
forgot to prepare the key to the test, but I decided to check the students’ works by doing the test
while marking each paper. Surprisingly, I came up with different answers in at least three first
papers, after which I decided to do the entire test and note down the key, and then it might go
faster.
It took me some time to prepare the key as I had to check the answers – IELTS is not an easy test to
do (teachers included)!!!. It’s a shame but I made five or six mistakes while I was grading the first
three papers – the wrong answer or two variants possible. While re-grading papers, I even decided
to be less strict with them, adding a point or two as an excuse.
The scores the students got on my test were not as nice as I’d expected. They were awful, to be
honest! My students couldn’t describe the graphs comparing some trends in the production of
something. They didn’t know how to mark correct answers in simple items. Besides, I guess there
had been a lot of cheating as several works looked suspiciously alike. I can only imagine what the
results would be like in my other group!
Time X is coming tomorrow. I’ll have to go to my first group to announce the scores but am I ready
to do this? I don’t think so. But what if my students ask me about the scores and WHY they are so
unexpectedly low? What do I do? What should I do? What should I have done and what shouldn’t
I have???
Desperately yours,
Riddi Cule
● TASK
You have read an email from a university teacher, Ms. Riddi Cule, addressed to a teaching and
testing expert, Ms. Fair.
1. Identify the violations of sound test construction and administration made by Ms. Cule.
2. Explain why these practices are problematic.
3. Suggest practical ways to avoid such errors in the future.
4. Write a response email from Ms. Fair to Ms. Cule concerning these issues.
Submit your response as a Word document attachment.