Testing and Assessment

Language Testing, 1984

This paper discusses methods for obtaining verbal report data on secondlanguage test-taking strategies; reports on types of findings obtained in a number of studies conducted by university students on how learners take reading tests, in particular cloze and multiple-choice tests; and finally considers the implications of the findings for prospective test takers and test constructors. The main conclusion is that a closer fit should be obtained between how test constructors intend for their tests to be taken and how respondents actually take them.

LADU: Journal of Languages and Education

Background: Multiple-choice, teacher-made English tests have constantly been popular due to their immediate alignment to classroom instructions. However, ample studies have indicated the need for continuous evaluation of their quality to allow evidence-based feedbacks for sustained betterment of assessment practices. Purpose: This study sought to examine the quality of a multiple-choice, teacher-made English formative informal assessment for four classes of high school students of an English course in Madura, Indonesia.Design and methods: Data were collected from the test results of eighty students and put in an excel document. The data were then analysed with a computer application called Conquest to analyse the responses of each of the students on every item of the test. Based on this item response analysis, it turned out that the test could have achieved a higher credibility if necessary, moderations had been taken. Results: The findings recommend that schools as well as teacher ...

2020

Nowadays there are progressing trends in language testing and assessment fields to consider Washback as one of the basic principles of the assessment process that has indirect impacts on any teaching programme. It is an important term that indicates the positive or the negative test impacts on the language learners, the instructors as well as all the elements that combine together and lead the teaching –learning processes. The researcher in the current study has collected a primary data for answering the research questions and testing the hypothesis through the application of a questionnaire survey which was filled up by forty students of English language department who were randomly chosen from the third grade to introduce their feedback on the washback of any test they have gone through it during their educational programme. Interviews with English language instructors of the same grades were other means for gathering data in this study. The analyzed collected data indicate hat te...

Assessment is a crucial aspect of the teaching and learning processes. According to Nunan (1999), “assessment refers to the tools, techniques, and procedures for collecting and interpreting information about what learners can and cannot do”. Based on the previous statement, this paper wants to focus its attention on tests. They are useful tools to evaluate students provided that they are implemented appropriately; that is why, their analysis is a critical factor in the assessment process, given the fact that it informs teachers about their instruction, students’ performance, and the curriculum, amongst others. Bailey (1998), states that “when we talk about a test being “appropriate,” the issue is partly whether the test provides us with the information we need to gain about the students we serve.” It is paramount to identify the desired goals we want our students to reach, the place where they are in relation to them and the tools we need to provide them with, in order to help them getting higher achievements. Tests analysis helps us to identify those aspects and to adjust our teaching practices aiming at students to succeed. In accordance with the preceding information, the effectiveness of three subtests will be analyzed, so their validity, reliability, practicality and positive washback (Bailey, 1998, p. 3) will be determined as well. These subtests are part of an only language test that was administered to eleventh graders at a public school. It mixes three different constructs taking into account that students at this grade need to be prepared to face a standardized test, which evaluates learners similarly and is called Saber Test. It assesses learners’ English skills, such as their pragmatic, lexical, communicative and grammatical knowledge, and their reading comprehension (ICFES, 2014). The test discussed in this report is a progress one, whose stimulus material is based on mythology. This topic was studied in depth during the second term of the academic year, and learners have received complementing knowledge in other classes, such as Social Studies and Spanish. My purpose is to discover whether the test I designed fulfill my students’ needs, expectations and English level or, on the contrary, it needs to be modified in order to get reliable information about my pupils’ learning process. Additionally it will be analyzed how well the test measures the constructs and the way they relate each other, as Brown (2005) advocates, validity “is the degree to which a test measures what it claims, or purports, to be measuring”.

2008

1990

Tradit_onal tests fall into two categories, both of whirth have several advantages and disadvantages that need to be considered when determining the type of test to use. Constructed-response tests, such as essay tests, ask students to construct their own responses. Thus, students are required not only to recall but to organize and often apply knowledge. On the other hand, selected-response tests, such as multiple choice tests, ask students to select an answer between or among alternatives. While questions for constructed-response tests are relatively easy to prepare, they are much more difficult to grade and often contain relatively few questions. One of the advantages to constructed-response tests is that responses are less affected by guessing, and clues about students' thought processes can be provided. Selected-response tests require much more time to create, but scoring is much easier. One major advantage of these tests is for measuring knowledge of specific facts. Essay and written retellings are the most common of the constructed-response item types. Other types of constructed-response test are the cloze, completion, and short answer items. Special caution should be taken when using cloze tests to measure reading ability, since the reading act itself seems to be disrupted by cloze testing. Selected-response items include true/false or alternate response, matching, and multiple choice. While there are several basic problems and limitations surrounding all types of assessments, many problems can be attributed not just to the test itself, but to misuse of the test. (Twenty references are attached.) (RS)

" There are three sides to every story—your side, my side, and the truth. " —JOHN ADAMS The goal of assessment is to collect objective evidence that represents the truth about student performance. In order to assure objectivity the assessment plan must be well grounded in the principles of assessment. The first step in developing an objective assessment plan is to become familiar with the terminology of assessment to facilitate your understanding of the bigger picture. The purpose of this chapter is to review the basic terminology and principles of assessment and provide you with a basic understanding of the framework on which to base an objective and comprehensive systematic assessment plan. These concepts are discussed in detail in subsequent chapters. Many of you are familiar with these terms. Some readers may even prefer to move past this chapter and delve right into the strategies for developing assessment tools. However, as further discussion demonstrates, you cannot start collecting data until your assessment plan is established. Unless you consistently work in the area of assessment, you will find this refresher beneficial. Reviewing this chapter will increase your fluency in the Language of Assessment and your understanding of the proposed guidelines. Assessment Chapter 1, " The Role of Assessment in Instruction, " introduces you to the concept of assessment as the broad and comprehensive process of collecting quantitative and qualitative data to make informed educational decisions about students. It is a process that encompasses the full range of procedures used to obtain information about student

Leonardo da Vinci once eloquently quoted that ‘fine gold is recognized when it is tested’ thus divulging the immense power testing has on reforming the test-taker. This methodological procedure of gathering data, i.e. assessing an examinee (Dhindsa et al., 2007), additionally influences the test designer in creating authentic tasks which replicate real-life situations (Wilkins, 1976), integrate all skills and have an interactional stance, thus belonging to 3rd generation communicative testing (West, 2004). The objectives of this assignment are to portray an original communicative, 3rd generation-based test with authentic texts and tasks designed to furnish students’ needs, to delineate its testing items and marking scheme and to evaluate it, taking testing principles and criteria into consideration.