Language Assessment
Chap. I Testing, Assessing, and Teaching
Purpose
(1). create more authentic, intrinsically
motivating assessment procedures
that are appropriate for their context..
(2). is designed to offer constructive
feedback to your students.
What Is A Test?
Definition:
A test is a method of measuring a person’s
ability, knowledge, or performance in a given
domain.
An instrument– a set of techniques, procedures,
or items.
Explicit and structured
What Is A Test?
Measure– general ability/specific
competence
Examples: proficiency test/quiz/shortanswer essay test/large-scale standardized
test
Ability, Knowledge,or Performance—
Who/What/How/Appropriate
What Is A Test?
Performance->ability/competence to perform
language or knowledge about language
Examples: to speak,write, read, or listen/recite a
grammatical rule
A given domain—general competence in all
skills/specific criteria e.g. proficiency
test/vocabulary test
Assessment And Teaching
Definition
Assessment is an ongoing process that includes
a wider domain than a test.
Examples: responding to a question, writing an
essay, offering a comment, reading/listening
activities
Tests are a subset of assessment, one among
many procedures and tasks to assess students.
Tests, Assessment, and Teaching
Tests
Assessment
Teaching
Informal and Formal Assessment
Informal assessment (1). takes a number of
forms (2). is designed to elicit performance.
Examples: “Nice job!”, “Good work!”, marginal
comments on papers, responding to a draft of an
essay, advice, a suggestion.
Formal assessment is systematic and planned,
constructed to give an appraisal of student
achievement.
Formative and Summative
Assessment
Examples: a comment, a suggestion, and
attention to an error.
Formative assessment evaluates in the process
of students’ growth, their skills and
competencies. (1).Most of classroom
assessment is formative assessment. (2). All
kinds of informal assessment are formative.
Summative Assessment
Summative assessment aims to
measure, or summarize what a student
has grasped, and typically occurs at
the end of a course or unit of
instruction. e.g. final exams and
general proficiency exams.
Tests> learning experiences
Norm-Referenced vs. CriterionReferenced Tests
In norm-referenced tests, each test-taker’s score
is interpreted in relation to a mean, median,
standard deviation, and/or percentile rank.
Examples: Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), the
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
Criterion-referenced tests are designed to give
test-takers feedback on specific course or lesson
objectives. e.g. classroom tests
Discrete-Point & Integrative testing
Discrete-point tests assume that language can
be broken down into its component parts and
those parts can be tested successfully.
Components are such as listening, speaking,
reading, writing, lexicon, syntax, and discourse.
Examples of integrative test are cloze tests and
dictations.
CIoze Test & Dictation
A cloze test is a reading passage in which
roughly every sixth or seventh word has been
deleted; the test-taker is required to supply
words that fit into those blanks.
Dictation is a testing technique that requires
learners listen to a passage of 100 to 150 words
read aloud and write what they hear.
Three stages: without pauses/long/normal speed
Communicative Language Testing
Unitary trait hypothesis contended that all the
discrete points do not add up to the whole and
that language proficiency is indivisible.
Performance-Based Assessment involves
interactive tasks, such as oral interview, written
production, open-ended responses, and group
performance.(higher content validity)
Traditional & Alternative Assessment
Traditional assessment:
One-shot, standardized exams/timed, multiplechoice format/decontextualized test items/scores
suffice for feedback/norm-referenced
scores/focus on the right
answer/summative/oriented to product/noninteractive performance/fosters extrinsic
motivation
Alternative Assessment:
Continuous long-term assessment/untimed, freeresponse format/contextualized communicative
tasks/individualized feedback and
washback/criterion-referenced scores/openended,creative answers/formative/oriented to
process/interactive performance/fosters intrinsic
motivation
Computer-Based Testing
Computer-based test items have fixed, closedended responses.
Small-scale tests available on websites/largescale,standardized tests
Computer-adaptive test (CAT) is a specific type
of test. It starts with questions of moderate
difficulty and is programmed to find questions of
appropriate difficulty for test-takers at all
performance levels.