LANGUAGE TESTING

AND EVALUATION
Ayu Lityaningrum
Binti Khodijah
Lintang Indira N.
EVALUATION, TESTING, AND
TEACHING
• Evaluation has identical meaning with assessment, so evaluating and assessing are
synonymous terms. It has relationship with testing.
• Tests are prepared administrative procedures that occur at identifiable times in a
curriculum when learners muster all their faculties to peak to over, knowing that their
responses are being measured and evaluated.
• Assessment, on the other hand, is an ongoing process that encompassed much
wider domain based on Brown (2004, p.4).
• Teacher
Then, tests are a subset of evaluation; they are not the only form of evaluation that a
teacher can make. Although tests can be beneficial tools, they are not only one among
many procedures and tasks that teachers can ultimately use to evaluate students.
 For optimal learning
• to take place, students in the classroom must have the freedom to
experiment,
• to try out their own hypotheses about language without feeling that their
overall competence is being judged in terms of those trials and errors.

A Diagram of The
Relationship among TESTS

Testing, Teaching and

Evaluation EVALUATION

TEACHING
FORMAL AND INFORMAL EVALUATION
FORMAL EVALUATIONS
• Formal evaluations mean exercises or
procedures that are specifically
designed to tap into a storehouse of
skills and knowledge.
• They are systematic, planned sampling
techniques constructed to give teacher
and student an appraisal of student
achievement.
• So, we can say that all tests are
formal evaluations, but not all formal
evaluation is testing..
INFORMAL EVALUATIONS
• Informal evaluation can take a number
of forms, beginning with incidental,
unplanned comment and responses,
along with coaching and other
impromptu feedback to the students.
• Examples include saying “Well done!”
“Good job!” “Did you say can or can’t”
or putting a on some homework.
FORMATIVE AND SUMMATIVE EVALUATION
SUMMATIVE EVALUATION
FORMATIVE EVALUATION
• Summative evaluation focuses on
• Assessing students in the process of
measuring, or summarizing what a
“forming” their competencies and skills
students has grasped, and typically
with the purpose of helping them to
happens at the end of a course or unit
continue the growth process.
of instruction.
NORM-REFERENCED AND CRITERION-
REFERENCED TESTS
Norm-referenced test Criterion-referenced
• Norm-referenced test has a purpose to place • Criterion-referenced test is designed to
test-taker along mathematical continuum in give test-taker feedback, usually in the
rank order because each test-taker’s score is form of grades, on specific course or
interpreted in relation to a mean (average lesson objectives.
score), median (middle score), standard
deviation (extent of variance in scores), and/or
percentile rank.
 APPROACHES AND CURRENT
ISSUES TO LANGUAGE TESTING
a. Discrete-point and Integrative Testing
Discrete-point test: the test of language can be broken down into its component and various unit of
language of phonology, morphology, lexicon, syntax and discourse separately.
Integrative Testing: the test unify all the language component, for example cloze test in reading
passage that require a number abilities such as knowledge of vocabulary, grammatical structure,
discourse structure, and reading skills, and dictation test.
b. Communicative Language Testing: this test based on the strategic competence
in the process of communication.
c. Performance-based Assessment: this test includes interactive tasks that involve learners in
actually performing behavior that we want to measure.
d. New views on intelligence: the test include multiple intelligence based on Gardner’s seven
intelligences and emotional quotient (EQ) instead of based on our cognitive processing
(Intelligence quotient/ IQ).
e. Computer-based Testing: it is also known as “computer-assisted” or “webbased” are small-
scale “home-grown” tests available on website.
 PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE
1. Practicality
EVALUATION
An effective test is practical. This means that it is not excessively expensive, and it stays within
appropriate time.
2. Reliability
A reliable test is consistent and dependable. It means the test should yield similar results.
3. Validity
Comes from the word “valid” which means “convincing”. To measure writing ability
4. Authenticity
It refers to “the degree of correspondence of the characteristics of a given language test task to the
features of a target language task”
5. Wash-back
Related to the effects of the test have on instruction in terms of how students prepare for the test, in
large-scale evaluation.
 DESIGNING CLASSROOM
LANGUAGE TEST
1. Test Types
The first step in designing a test for students is to determine the purpose for
the test.
a. Language aptitude test
to measure general ability to learn a foreign language and ultimate success in that undertaking.
b. Proficiency test
it tests overall ability. Proficiency tests have traditionally consisted of standardized multiple-choice
items.
c. Placement test
its purpose of which is to place a student into a particular level or section of a language curriculum or
school.
d. Diagnostic test
to diagnose specific aspects of language.
e. Achievement test
it is related to directly classroom lessons, units, or even a total curriculum.
2. Scoring, Grading and Giving Feedback
a. Scoring
Scoring plan reflects the relative weight that we place on each section and
items in each section.
b. Grading
Grading is related a letter grade. We can rank the score of student
performance on the test by giving “A” for 90-100 percent, a “B” for 80-90
percent, and so on.
c. Giving feedback
A section on grading and scoring would be complete without some
consideration of the forms in which we will offer feedback to our students,
feedback that we want to become useful wash-back.
KINDS OF EVALUATION FOR
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Evaluating Evaluating
Writing Speaking
Skills Skills

Evaluating Evaluating
Reading Listening
Skills Skills
 EVALUATING WRITING SKILLS
CRITERIA SCALE
Content :
Thesis statement, Related ideas, Development of ideas through personal
(0 – 24)
experiences, illustration, facts, opinions, Use of description, Cause – effects,
Comparison/contrast, Consistent focus
Organization :
Effectiveness of introduction, Logical sequence of ideas, Conclusion, Appropriate (0 – 20)
length
Discourse :
Topic sentences, paragraph unity, transitions, discourse markers, cohesion, (0 – 20)
rhetorical convention, reference, fluency, variation.
Syntax (0 – 12)
Vocabulary (0 – 12)
Mechanics :
Spelling, punctuation, citation of reference, neatness and appearance (0 – 12)

Total Score
 EVALUATING SPEAKING SKILLS

Score
4 3 2 1
Criteria
Pronunciation
Fluency Notes:
Vocabulary/ Diction 4 = Excellent
Grammar 3 = Good
2 = Fair
Cohesion 1 = Poor

Total score

(source: adapted from TEFL for teachers in Indonesia, Fachrurrazy, 2011)

EVALUATING LISTENING SKILLS

1. Note taking
2. Editing
3. Paraphrasing a story or conversation
4. Retelling
 EVALUATING READING SKILLS

Holistic scoring scale for summarizing and responding to reading (as quoted in Brown, 2004)

Demonstrates clear, unambiguous comprehension of the main and supporting

3
ideas
Demonstrates comprehension of the main ideas but lack of comprehension of
2
some supporting ideas
1 Demonstrates only a partial comprehension of the main and supporting ideas
0 Demonstrates no comprehension of the main and supporting ideas
Thank you