principles of language assessment

it mainly talks about the basis of how language assessment should be made. wheth
er it is effective, whether it is appropriate test, etc.
to find the answer, lets start with the discussions of five criteria for "testin
g a test": practicality, reliability, validity, authenticity, and washback.
practicality
in making a language test, it should be "practical". It means that:
- it is not always expensive test.
- the instructions should be easily understood
- it should have a good time consideration.
- the time for scoring should be considered and specific.
Reliability
it means that the test should be consistent. the test consistently yields the sa
me results in a given population.
some factors that may contribute to the reliability of the test such as:
student-related reliability
- temporarary illness, tired, etc.
rater reliability
- human error, subjectivity
inter-rater reliability : two or more scorers yield inconsistent scores of the s
ame test
intra-rater reliability : one rater scores with the scoring way in many times an
d yields inconsistent result.
often happened in writing test
Test Administration Reliability
-the issue may happened when the test is in progress. such as noise outside the
building, variations of desk, variatons of temperature, etc.
Test reliability
-it can yield measurement error.for example, the too long test, test-taker may b
e tired. time discrimination, bad written test items, etc.
VALIDITY
- appropriateness, meaningful, useful to assess.(measuring what should be measur
ed)
A valid test :
- measures what it should be measured --> content - related evidence / content v
alidity. --> direct and indirect testing
e.g. see on page 24
- measures whether the criterion of the test has been achieved --> criterion-rel
ated validity
e.g. see on page 24
- is supported by research-based argument --> construct related validity
- the impact of assessment before and after (washback) --> consequential validit

y
- the students who receive the test their relevant and useful (face-validity)
AUTHENTICITY
how well did the characteristics of a task correlate to the target language; how
likely will the language task actually be performed in the real world.
An authenticity test :
contains language that is natural
includes linguistics items in context: not isolated
includes tasks that replicate real-world task.
WASHBACK
Helps teacher to become a better teacher
helps students learn from the test
provides feedback for students and teacher
functions more like a diagnostic component of the test so that students and test
creators can identify their weakness and become better.