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/short-
answer 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. Criterion-
Referenced 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, multiple-c
hoice format/decontextualized test items/scores
suffice for feedback/norm-referenced scores/foc
us on the right answer/summative/oriented to pro
duct/non-interactive performance/fosters extrinsi
c motivation
Alternative Assessment:
Continuous long-term assessment/untimed, free-
response format/contextualized communicative t
asks/individualized feedback and washback/crite
rion-referenced scores/open-ended,creative ans
wers/formative/oriented to process/interactive pe
rformance/fosters intrinsic motivation
 Computer-Based Testing
Computer-based test items have fixed, closed-
ended responses.
Small-scale tests available on websites/large-
scale,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.