UNIVERSIDADE LICUNGO

FACULTY OF LETTERS AND HUMANITIES

HONOURS DEGREE IN ENGLISH

LANGUAGE
3rd
YEAR

ADRIANO THOMANGE
CRISÓSTOMO MACHAVA
DAN MULEWA
EDILSON MAQUINA
GETE BASÍLIO
NELSA VICENTE

CLASSROOM TEST

Quelimane

2021
 ADRIANO THOMANGE
CRISÓSTOMO MACHAVA
DAN MULEWA
EDILSON MAQUINA
GETE BASÍLIO
NELSA VICENTE

CLASSROOM TEST

Assignment submitted in the department of

letters and humanities with evaluative purpose
in ELTPP3 recommended by: PhD Gregório
Gonçalves.

Quelimane

2021
Contents
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................3

2. Classroom test..........................................................................................................................4

3. Functions of tests.....................................................................................................................4

4. Reasons for testing students.....................................................................................................5

5. Types of test.............................................................................................................................6

5.1. Indirect test items:................................................................................................................6

5.2. Direct test items:..................................................................................................................6

6. Good tests.................................................................................................................................7

7. Importance of testing Students.................................................................................................8

8. Conclusion...............................................................................................................................9

9. Reference list..........................................................................................................................10
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1. Introduction
The current assignment discusses about classroom tests which is a part of the learning process. It
consists in understanding the contents which are covered by the teacher inside the classroom;
therefore, in order to check this understanding, it is needed to submit the students in a test, this,
may be oral or written. Test is an instrument used by the teacher in order to get the results of the
materials that were provided during a course, a term or period of the lesson. Thus, this paper
aims to comprehend the classroom tests, analyse the effective type of classroom test, mention
the type as well as the importance of classroom test and finally describe each of the type and
functions of classroom test. It is extremely important to highlight that, for the accomplishment
of this paper was used different materials.
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2. Classroom test
It sounds odd to talk about test without first mentioning classroom, because all this
aspects make part of lesson. In order to contextualize the reader about classroom test, we bring
the discussion of some authors concerning to this topic, this discussion is seen in the following
paragraphs.
According to Brown (1994: 252), cited by Benmostefa (2006: 2), test is a method of
measuring a person’s ability or knowledge in a given area.

"A test is an instrument or a systematic procedure to measure a particular characteristic.

For example, a test of English will measure the level of the learners’ knowledge of this
particular subject or field." Masrur et al (2012: 4)

Zakai (n.d: 1), states that evaluation of student progress is a major aspect of the
teacher’s job. One tool that the teacher needs in his/her evaluative repertoire is a test to provide
specific information relevant to the judgment or evaluation must be made about the students.

From these assumptions, we got to the point that in order to understand whether a student
understood or not a certain content, it is needed to submit him or her in a test and this because of
happening inside of a classroom, it can be considered as a classroom test, that is, a classroom
test is a an instrument that a teacher adopts to measure or check the students’ level of
understanding.

3. Functions of tests
Zakai (n.d: 1), states different functions of test, such as:
 Diagnostic function - Pre-tests or indicates how prepared students are to profit from
new instruction and to what degree they have mastered previous concepts and skills.
Also tests serve a diagnostic role by highlighting student’s strengths and weaknesses as
well as trouble spots needing special remedial attention.
 Motivational function - Tests motivate students to study the material assigned. They
want to succeed academically, they fear failure, or they want to compete. Also, when
given prompt feedback, students are motivated to improve, to alter their mistaken
concepts, and in some instances to delve more deeply into the subject matter.
 Self-evaluative function - When students get feedback on tests, they learn how others
appraise their efforts and abilities. In turn, they develop their own self-evaluation skills
 Instructional function - Tests cause students to review material and to consolidate and
integrate ideas. In addition, preparing for tests provides them with an overall review of
the lesson and its important aspects.
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 Improving teacher’s effectiveness - Tests indicate to the teacher how well the material
was covered, what areas need improvement, and how he/she might better organize the
material for a clearer presentation to the students.

The author in the above paragraph gave us an overview about the functions of classroom
tests, so, from this we could understand that classroom tests have the following functions:
diagnostic function, motivational function, self-evaluative function, instructional function and
improving teacher’s effectiveness. Each of the functions which were previously mentioned, play
an important role for teachers as well as students, these roles are such as: to know the
background of students, motivate students to study harder so that they may get good averages,
allow the students to evaluate themselves by comparing the results they got from the test with
the results of their classmates, make them revise the given contents because of wanting to get a
good average in the test and finally let the teacher knows whether he or she covered well the
contents or not, if not, find a way to improve his teaching and testing or find a way to facilitate
the comprehension of his students.

4. Reasons for testing students

According to Harmer (2007: 166), students need or want to be tested on their ability in
the English language. If they arrive at a school and need to be put in a class at an appropriate
level, they may do a placement test, to find out not only what students know, but also what they
don’t know. As a result, they can be placed in an appropriate class. During a term or semester,
we may give students progress tests. These have the function of seeing how students are getting
on with the lessons, and how well they have assimilated what they have been taught over the last
week, two weeks or a month. At the end of a term, semester or year, we may want to do a final
achievement test to see how well students have learnt everything. Their results on this test may
determine what class they are placed in next year, or may be entered into some kind of school-
leaving certificate. And proficiency tests are designed to show what level a student has reached
at any one time, and are used by employers and universities.

When it comes to the tests, there are several reasons behind the classroom tests, these are
the following: to know what the students have in their storage, this may consist in knowing what
students know and don’t know concerning to the subject; what they have learnt so far under the
subject during the last two or three weeks of the lesson; what they have achieved during a
semester or year of the lesson; and measure what the students reached in a time or what abilities
someone has for the work he or she is applying for.
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5. Types of test
Harmer (2007: 168), structure the types of text in two items, the direct test item which
has to do with activation, that is, it asks students to do something with language, on the other
side, indirect test item are those which test the students’ knowledge of language rather than
getting them to use it.

5.1. Indirect test items:

 Multiple choice Multiple-choice questions are those where students are given
alternatives to choose from;
 Fill-in and cloze This is extremely common form of indirect testing involves the
examinee writing a word in a gap in a sentence or paragraph, students are forced to
produce a wide range of different words based on everything from collocation to verb
formation;
 Transformation students are asked to change the form of words and phrases to show
their knowledge of syntax and word grammar.
5.2. Direct test items:
 Reading and listening Many reading and listening tests are a blend of direct and
indirect testing. We can ask students direct language, or text-focused - questions as well
as testing their global understanding;
 Writing Direct tests of writing might include getting students to write leaflets based on
information supplied in an accompanying text, or having them write compositions, such
as narrative and discursive essays;
 Speaking We can interview students, or we can put them in pairs and ask them to
perform a number of tasks. These might include having them discuss the similarities and
differences between two pictures.

As presented by Hammer, a teacher may use different ways of testing his or her students,
this may be directly or indirectly, that is to say that, when it comes to the types of tests, there are
two major types such as: direct and indirect. It was seen that direct tests consist in giving the
students open questions or make them be more productive, differently from indirect tests which
consist in giving the students close questions or make them answer the questions through
changing the certain grammatical item, filling a gap or transforming a certain word.

6. Good tests
Harmer (2007: 167-168), states that good tests have a positive rather than a negative
effect on both students and teachers. The characteristics of a good test are the following:
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 Valid - This means that it does what it says it will. In other words, if we say that a
certain test is a good measure of a student’s reading ability, then we need to be able to
show that this is the case.
 Marking reliability - Not only should it be fairly easy to mark, but anyone marking it
should come up with the same result as someone else. However, since different people
can (and do) mark differently, there will always be the danger that where tests involve
anything other than computer-scorable questions, different results will be given by
different markers. For this reason, a test should be designed to minimise the effect of
individual marking styles.
 Practicality - We need to work out how long it will take both to sit the test and also to
mark it. The test will be worthless if it is so long that no one has the time to do it.
 Wash back/backwash effect - it occurs when teachers see the form of the test their
students are going to have to take and then, as a result, start teaching for the test. For
example, they concentrate on teaching the techniques for answering certain types of
question rather than thinking in terms of what language students need to learn in
general. It has a negative effect on teaching if the test fails to mirror our teaching
because then we will be tempted to make our teaching fit the test, rather than the other
way round.
 Motivation – we need to take into account what they have learnt, when writing progress
tests, especially, we do not want to design the test so that students fail unnecessarily,
and are consequently demotivated by the experience.

For us to distinguish a good from a bad test, we should firstly relay on the outcomes or
results which it brings after being done by students, being so, a good test doesn’t entail in
bringing bad results from the students due to the fact that it should bring positive effect to the
teacher as well as to the students. As hammer mentioned previously that a good test should
contain certain recommended characteristics, these are such as: valid, making responsibility,
practically, wash back/backwash effect and motivation. These all pre-mentioned characteristics
have the role of helping the teacher to elaborate good tests for his/her students, that is, elaborate
a test that brings positive effects for teachers as well as students.

7. Importance of testing Students

For Benmostefa (2006: 1), testing students is important because it:
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 Defines a course objective - classroom tests are used in a very helpful way to define the
course objectives. In other words, they define the short-term course objectives
envisioned by the teacher, as well as the content and nature of the language learning
programme. This has a two-fold aim, for one thing, the teacher will be systematically
geared towards the set objectives; for the other, the tests results will indicate how close
the learner has come to attaining the objectives.
 Stimulates Student’s Progress - traditionally tests have been devised by teachers to
point up the learner’s ignorance, errors and lack of application. However, from a didactic
perspective, testing is supposed to offer ample opportunities for the learner to measure
how well he masters specific linguistic items of the target language.
 Evaluates Classroom Achievement - testing on a frequent and regular basis provides
the teacher with valuable information concerning areas of difficulties the learners
encounter. In this way, the teacher gets more about what aspects of language need
further clarification and explanation and subsequently devise remedial activities.

Basing on the ideas which were previously provided by the author, it can be reached at
the point of saying that a test is a very relevant instrument due to the fact that it allows the
teacher to evaluate whether during a certain period he/she achieved or not the learning
objectives, identify the learners’ ignorance, misunderstanding, error and lack of the knowledge
under a specific linguistic area and get the opportunity to know the aspects which need more
clarification.
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8. Conclusion
In brief, classroom testing happens in the classroom and it provides overall idea of what
students have learnt during a week, month, term or semester. It also helps teachers to know
whether the students have learnt something or not during the lessons, to know the student’s
background, and provide the adequate feedback. From these, the teacher will know what the
students have in their storage. Moreover, there are different ways of testing student, the direct,
which brings open questions, and indirect, that consists of close questions. Being so, the good
tests have positive effects rather than negative, although flash-back might bring negative effects
when students do not follow the instructions recommended by the teacher.
Lastly, classroom test is relevant instrument because it allows the teacher to evaluate
whether during a certain period he/she achieved or not the learning objectives, identify the
learners’ ignorance, misunderstanding, errors, and lack of the knowledge under a specific
linguistic area and get the opportunity to know the aspects which need more clarification.
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9. Reference list
BENMOSTEFA, N. (2006). Role of Classroom Testing. (n.d). Adapted from Korsal.

Harmer, J. (2007). How to teach English. New edition. England: Edinburgh Gate.

Masrur, R, Sultana, N, e tal. (2012). Classroom Assesment. Allama Iqbal Open University
Islamabad: Faculty of EducationDepartment of Secondary Teacher Education.

Zakai, H. (n.d). DEVELOPING CLASSROOM TESTS. Faculty Applied Medical Sciences:

Medical Laboratory Technology Department.