Name : Anisa Kurniadhani 201620560211034

Annisa Jaturrahma n 201620560211036

Class : 2A
Subject : Advanced Assessment on Language Teaching

TECHNIQUES FOR TESTING

In this chapter we would like to explain about techniques in testing. Based

on Harold S. Madsen, he divided techniques in testing in to two parts. Fist is
language Subskills (vocabulary, grammar, and listening), and second is
communication skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking).

In fact in the both of part have same test but difference in technique in
testing, it depend which skill do you want to test to your students. The purpose of
techniques in testing is to help the teacher in making practicality, authenticity,
validity, reliability test.

PART I

A. TESTING LANGUAGE SUBSKILLS

Language Subskills involved in communicating language, which refers to

vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. However, they are all blended in a skill
such as listening. Even though there is advantage in conducting components test,
they can help teacher diagnose students’ strengths and weaknesses in oral or written
communication.

I. VOCABULARY TESTS

The purpose of vocabulary tests is to measure the comprehension and

production of words used in speaking or writing. There are four kinds of techniques
in testing for vocabulary:
(1) LIMITED RESPONSE

In testing children and beginning level adults, you can use directed
physical responses and visuals. This techniques is to avoid language skills that
have not been mastered yet. That why in limited response technique is helps the
teacher to test children and beginning level in comprehend the meaning of
vocabulary. There are two kinds of test, they are individual test and group test.

a. Individual Testing

Direct physical responses can easily be used when you test one
students at a time. For example: if you have big class and want to test the
students individually, you arrange for small-group activity and you can asking
for only a very short answer.

b. Group Testing
You can use nonverbal physical responses as well to test the whole class at
the same time. For examples:
 You can give the student picture of empty clock on paper then you
could have students draw hands on the clock showing.

It’s four o’clock It’s five o’clock It’s six o’clock

 Another example, give students some pictures, then circle the activity
that matches your sentence “My friend is eating noodles”

Naturally visuals and objects can be used with more advance

students as well. For examples, a student of culinary art (tata boga)
could name the kind of kitchen and cooking utensils.
(2) MULTIPLE-CHOICE COMPLETION

Good vocabulary test type for students who can read in the foreign
language is multiple-choice completion. It makes students depend on context
clue and sentences meaning.

E.g. she quickly ____ her lunch

A. drank B. ate C. drove D. slept

After reading the sentence the student looks at the group of words
and choose which one best completes.

 The following steps should be taken in writing multiple-choice

completion:
a. Select the worlds to be tested
 Vocabulary Choice
- Words can be chosen from their reading materials, newspaper,
magazines, or another textbooks.
- Another point to remember is that usually only content words (noun,
verbs, adjectives, and verb) are include in vocabulary test.
- When using word not found in ESL class text, be careful with bias
(cultural bias can also be a problem ways and expressions; e.g.,
sunny side up (an egg fried on only side)
b. Get the right kind of sentence to put each world in (this sentence context
is called the stem)
 Context preparation

Next step is preparing contexts. Sometimes, especially for

beginning students more than one sentence is needed to help clarify
 meaning. You can prepare a two-line mini dialogue to check the meaning
of a word such as (paint) brush;

E,g,. “I want to paint, too”

“All right, Use that ____ over here.”

A. brush B. pencil C. broom D. spoon

and avoid contexts that are too difficult.

c. Chose several wrong words to put the right word with (are called
distractors)
 Distractor preparation

There are two common ways to choose distractors. 1) Experienced

teachers often create their own distractor. They already know for the
language that appropriate for their students. 2) Second is use students
errors as distractors.

Discussion:

1) The teacher who create their own distractors should follow certain
guidelines:

Make sure the distractors are the same form of word as the correct
answer.

Example: She had to help the ____ old man upstairs.

A. weak B. slowly c. try d. wisdom

When distractor are not same form as the right answer, the
students might answer the item correctly for the wrong reason. In the
example you may know that adjective needed in the questions and they
might notice that and weak is the only adjectives listed. In the other hand
you can change the words like (strong, energetic, and athletic) are
distractor that contrast with the old man’s weakened condition.
 Also be sure you do not give away to the right answer through
grammatical cues.

Example: she needs to get up earlier so she’s buying an ___ clock.

A. time B. alarm c. watch d. bell

This example, meaning and grammar indicate that alarm

clock is right because (an) is only used with a word beginning with
a vowels sound. You can remove “an” from the sentence to be

A. a time B. an alarm C. a watch D. a

bell

Be sure not to include more than one correct answer.

Example: She sent the ___ yesterday

A. letter B. gift C. food D. book

Essentially, any one of the four choice is acceptable. Thus, we can

change the choice in to unamiable, such as friends or office.

d. Prepare clear and simple instructors

 Instruction preparation

The instructions for your test should be brief, so students

should not have spent a lot of time in reading them and should be clear.

Example:

If you used multiple choice in class, the instruction can be very

short: “circle the letter of the right answer” or “circle the letter of the
word that best completes each sentence”.
(3) MULTIPLE-CHOICE PARAPHRASE

In the multiple choice paraphrase test of vocabulary items often much

same advantage that multiple choice completion test do, and the contexts are
much easier to prepare. The students’ understanding about vocabulary is
through to choose the best synonym or paraphrase of the vocabulary item.

The following steps are same in the writing multiple-choice completion:

Vocabulary choice

Example: She was irate when she heard about the new plan.

A. interested B. surprised C. angry D. sad

But, the students with very little English won’t know synonyms for every
many words. However, it can be stated by explaining the meaning.

Example: My husband is a pilot. He can ____.

A. Help sick people B. make a clothes C. fly an airplane

D. teach students in class

Distractor preparation
 Try to get distractors that are related to subject covered in the
sentence. This is particularly in testing intermediate and advance
students.

Example; He just hit his shin

A. leg B. cousin C. fender D. fruit

This test is easy for students to answer, because when the

word shin many recognize as some part of the body. You can change
more challenging distractors would include (back, foot, and arm) part
of body.

 Try avoid pairing a word of opposite meaning with the right answer.
 Example: He plans to purchase some candy for his sister

A. make B. buy C. sell D. steal

 Try to avoid distractors with the same meaning.
Example: His remorse was great indeed.
A. wealth B. sadness C. strength D.
power
Instruction preparation

Instructions for multiple choice paraphrase items can be

prepared by following the guidelines for multiple choice completion
instruction in the previous part.

(4) SIMPLE COMPLETION (WORDS)

This test is like a fill in missing parts of words that appear in the
sentence. This missing parts are usually prefixes or suffix such as ‘un’ unreal
or ‘ful’ thankful.

Example:
Vocabulary choice

You can give your students some words of prefix and suffix and
they might also know the negative prefix such as “un”.

Context preparation

Students’ success on the exam will depend in part on your

sentence contexts. It is also possible to check students’ knowledge of
when not to add a prefix or suffix.

Example:

1. My teach___ is very helpful

2. Did she teach___ you anything?
 For the 1 question, the answer is suffix –er is required, but for
the second question student cannot left empty but put X in the blank.

Instruction preparation

We might give the following directions; “Complete the words in these

sentences, when noting is needed put “X” in the blank”. Blank left empty will
be wrong”

II. GRAMMAR TESTS

Grammar tests are designed to measure students’ proficiency in matters

ranging from inflections to syntax. Syntax involve the relationship or words in
a sentence, including matters such as word order, use of negative, question
forms, and connectives.

In testing grammar we do not pretend to measure actual communication,

but we can do a good job of measuring progress in grammar class, and we can
diagnose students’ needs in this area.

(1) LIMITED RESPONSE

 Individual testing

You can ask simply question, for example:

T: how many books are on the table?

S: There are four
You can give the students picture and used to set other matters such as
verb tense. For example:
  Group testing

You can also test the student in a group by using drawing activity,
for example: “Preposition of place” Please drawing an airplane in the middle
of the paper (Pause) now draw an airport below the plane” and so on.

(2) MULTIPLE-CHOICE COPLETION

The test type presented in this section include an incomplete sentence

stem followed by four multiple choice option.

Example: She is ____ her breakfast

A. eating B. ate C. eats D. eaten
 The following steps should be taken in writing multiple-choice
completion:
 Grammar Choice

Just determine what structures you have taught since the last test. From
the result of quizzes or homework. Thus the students know well about
the use of the test.

 Context preparation

First decided what point to test, what multiple choice type to use, and
how many questions to prepare. Then chose a structure and use it
correctly in sentence.
(3) SIMPLE COMPLETION (Sentence)

In this test consist of a sentence from which a grammatical element

has been removed:

- Option from – two options

Example: “complete the following sentence with “do” or “what”

a. He ____ a lot of money last year

b. I always ___ my best

- Free from

These responses with a minimum amount of contextual control

Example: you would get better sooner if _____.

Consider a few acceptable ways that students could complete.

Example: “If you’d seen a doctor”

“If we had some medicine for you”

-The inflection form

Testing the mastery in provides for a productive response.

Example: He is the _____ (tall) person in class *tallest

They ____ (be) in Canada last week *were

(4) CLOZE PROCEDURE

Cloze test are prose passage usually a paragraph or more in length,

from which words have been deleted.

 Preparing cloze test

1. Select an appropriate passage
 2. Decide on the ratio of words t take out
3. Write the instructions and prepare an example

Example:

Source:
http://www.nuis.ac.jp/~hadley/publication/nucloze/NUCLOZE_file
s/image003.jpg

III. PRONUNCIATION TESTS

On a speaking test, pronunciation becomes important when it interferes with
communication. E.g. faulty stress results in miscommunication She wants the
blue ‘pen, not the red ‘one
(1) LIMITED RESPONSE

Providing ways for testing beginning students in to 2 ways:

 Individual testing: Oral repetition

For students who cannot read or write and the students just simply listen
and repeat.

 Group Testing: Hearing Identification

For beginners, visual aids in testing can emphasize the difference in
meaning between words that sound similar.
 Example: the box is in the back of the truck” the distinction of the
presence or absence of a consonant sound.

E.g. using pairs of sentences instead of pictures (be careful

with intonation)

- What a big mouse! S D

- What a big mouth!
- It is raining. S D
- It is raining?

(2) MULTIPLE-CHOICE HEARING IDENTIFICATION

Can be used for students who are literate or not yet literate in English. In
this test you can evaluating how well your students can recognize the differences
in meaning that a sentence can have, depending on how the teacher pronounces
various part of it.

Example:
(3) READING ALOUD

Like oral repetition, this provides excellent control. One problem; the
skill of reading aloud is different from that of taking conversationally.

There are three points to keep in when preparing reading-aloud items:

1. When using lists of sentences, evaluate only one or two points per
sentence

E.g.,

This sentence checks the use of rising intonation.

2. Use natural language

While tongue twister and rhymes may occasionally be used in class,

our test should reflect the ability to communicate in more natural everyday
language.

3. Avoid signaling to the students which pronunciation point are testing.

 PART II

B. TESTING COMMUNICATION SKILLS

I. READING TEST

Test of reading come in a wide variety of forms and evaluate a broad

spectrum of reading activities. There are some techniques in testing for
reading test.

(1) LIMITED RESPONSES

To check students’ ability to tell the difference between words that look
very similar to each other.
Example:
Meat meet S/D
Red red S/D
This can be used with phrases:
From the mayor/ for the mayor S/D
With her brother/with her brother S/D
(2) TESTING SENTENCE COMPREHENSION
Purpose to check vocabulary, grammar and sometimes even social
appropriateness all the same time.
 Technique for testing sentence in comprehension
1) Elicitation techniques

Picture cues:

Example: The children are playing on their new toy

 Use true-false items, E.g. Is the lady reading newspaper? Yes No

(3) TESTING PASSAGE COMPREHENSION

 Context selection

Depend on what kind of reading matter teachers have used with their
students. You can used source from; articles, stories, advertisements and so
on.

 Techniques for more advanced students:

 1) Standard multiple-choice:
+ Selections for less advanced students will run from about 100-200
words.
+ More advanced students will range from 150-300 words
+ Type of question:
Paraphrase:

In this passage we learnt that karate ______

A. is being taught to many young Americans

B. and training for the mind are both being taught
C. can remove the weapon from someone’s hand
D. is used to start a fight

Multiple-choice cloze:

E.g.:

II. Writing Test

In writing test, there are various tests that needed to test many kinds of
writing tasks. Instruction writing has three stages, such as (pre-writing,
guided writing, and free writing). *it depends on the context
- Different types of Evaluations/different test applications:

Test Variety : it stems from the various applications of writing

(this range from school used, such as note taking and class
 reports to common personal needs; letter writing and filling
out forms).
Specialized advanced applications: the attorney’s legal brief
or summary, translation, secretarial uses, advertising,
research reports, journalism, and literature.

- There are a great number of factors that can be evaluated in the

variety of writing test:

Mechanics (including spelling and punctuation), vocabulary,

grammar, appropriate content, diction (or word selection),
rhetorical matters of various kinds (organization, cohesion,
unity; appropriateness to the audience, topic, and occasion);
as well as sophisticates concerns (logic and style).

 Limited Response
o Techniques for Evaluating Pre-Writing
Growing out of grammar instruction are pre-writing activities, there
are five procedures that used in this stage, they are as follows:
- Sentence Combining:
a commong pre-writing task, takes many forms.

Combining sentences by adding a connective, students can

demonstrate their understanding of what various connectives
mean, for example; connective that indicates addition (and,
moreover, furthermore), contrast (but, however,
nevertheless), and result (s0, consequently, therefore).
For example:

Combining sentences by having students make internal

changes in the grmmar also requires cnsiderable proficiency
on the part of students.
 For example:

- Sentence expansion: it is another kind of pre-writing evaluation. It

include simply adding words such as adjectives and adverbs, or
phrases and clauses.

For example:

- Sentence Reduction: It often provides a cue word (to show how to

begin the new phrase), as in the following examples:

- Copying (Sometimes timed): can make students more aware of

extended discourse and also of mechanics (punctuation and
spelling)

For example:
 - Oral Cloze: It combines dictation with selected cloze using high
frequency. For deletion. For instance:

 Guided Writing
Guided-writing test is to check student ability to handle controlled or
directed writing tasks. There are various specialized skills tested in writing
classes:

o Testing Specialized Skills

It is specialized area often evaluated. There are two specialized
areas often evaluated in writing classes; mechanics and larger
elements. Mechaics refers to spelling, punctuation, capitalization.
For Instance:
o Changing a Passage

Probably no kind of guided-writing test is used more often

than that of changing a written passage. It guides to grammatical
structure as well.

For Instance:

Building From a Paragraph Outline

One kinnd of paragraph outline used for testing writing controls
the content and the grammar.
 For example:

 Dictation

It is one of the easiest test to use, and it gives very good information
on the students’s language ability. Thus, the teacher have to prepare,
presesent, and score it properly. The steps below:

o Preparing a Dictation Test

- Choose a story or article that isn’t too diffilult for your students
(if it is part of larger test, you can use a dictation 75 to 100
words long, and if it is used by itself, a passage about 125 to
200 words long).
- Be careful to choose something that is unified and able to stand
alone.
- Unless you are evaluating punctuation, it would be best to avoid
a passage with much quoted material in it.
- Decide where the pauses should come.
o Administering a Dictation Test
- When administering dictation as a test, make sure everyone has
lined paper and something to write with. (For example: write
out on the blackboard any unusual name or expression from
dictation passage that students will confuse to understand the
meaning).
 - Read the dictation aloud for three times also will be helpful.
o Scoring Dictation Test
- The best way to score a dictation test is to deduct one point for
each error.
- An easy way to provide a numerical score for a dictation is
simply to give a fixed number of points for it.
- Add a sentence of our own and begin near the end of the second
paragraph.

For example:

 Free Writing

One reason for this is that the skills used in telling a story are quite
different from those used in making analogies or refutting arguments.
Thus, it have to provide clear and rather detailed guidlines for writing-even
for advanced students.

o Guidelines for Wrting Tasks

- To evaluate the effectiveness of the total composition including
sentence-level accuracy, larger rhetorical maters such as unity,
coherence, and organization.
- It is not control grammar, it refers to subject can influence
grammatical contents.
- When preparing a topic, we need to be careful and match the
assignment to our students’ level of training.
- To guide the content of what students write.
 - Another way of controlling content is to provide charts, tables,
or diagrams ro be explained.

For Instance:

o Evaluating Student Writing

- To evaluate only a few factors at one time is that doing so hels
us grade our papers more accurately and consistently.
- To speed up our essay grading.
- For limitting the number of factors to be evaluated is to avoid
unnecessary discourgement of our students.

III. Listening Tests

Listening is a tool to evaluate something else, it was also used as a

means of evaluating low-level proficiency in grammar and
pronounciation, and so on. In this context, it refers to listening
comprehension test (utilize listening-those that evaluate prifiency in the
listening skill itself).

 Limited Responses
There are three ways to test listening skill of beginning adult or
children, as follows:
o Native-Language Response
- For beginners, you coul tape random sentences or two line
dialogs of English for.
 - For those just sloghtly more advanced, you could use true-false
questions.
For Instance:

o Picture Cues
Visuals of various kinds have long been used to test listening
comprehension.
- You could duplicate them, so each student has his own
- You could make a transparancy and use and overhead
projector to display them to the class.
- To sketch them on the chalkboard.
- If students have their own, they can circle objects referred
to, or you can have them identify pictures by number.
For Instance:
 - Another easier items, they use yes-no response, but could
have been written as true-false questions:
For Instance:

o Task Response
- Individually Responses
You can have students do various things to show how well
they understand.
For Instance:

- Group Responses
It possible for both children and adults.
For Instance:

 Alternate Forms of Limited Responses

- Choosing the best statement
For Instance:
 - Choosing the best figure
For Instance:

 Multiple-Choice Appropriate Response

o Focus on meaning
For Instance:

o Keep the option simple

o Learn to adjust the difficulty of the items.
For Instance:

 Testing Extended Communication

o Short Lecture Contexts
 Short lecture Context (called a “lecturette), is more effective than
one long lecture, and student should be told to take notes on what
they listen to.
o Social/Business Contexts
It is short conversation related to social and bussiness context, for
example in radio, TV commercial, business transaction, etc. You
have to selec a situation that is relevant.
For example:

 Alternate Forms of Extended-Communication Tests

o Examiner Voice
o Sentence Completion
o Open-ended Responses

IV. Speaking Tests

It is the most challenging of all language exams to prepare,

administer, and score. In this context, we can simplify the task of
 evaluating spoken language is to limit the range of speaking activities
tested. (how to elicit appropriate speech samples and then how to
evaluate these samples).

 Limited Response
o Directed Response
Some forms of directed-response cues are quite artificial-very close
to imitation.
For Examples:
(1)

(2)

o Picture Cues
For Example:
(1)
 (2)

o Reading Aloud

Testing students by having them read something aloud offers several

advantages and some significant disadvantages. It includes checking pr
onounciation, the sound-symbol relationships in English, grammatical
error, to measure oral reading.

There are basically two types of reading aloud tests; they are a group
of sentence (unrelated to each other), and a passage of connected prose.

 Alternate Forms of Limited-Response Items

o Mimicry
o Directed-Response role play
o Variations on visuals.

 Guided Techniques
There are three guidances techniques in speaking, as follows:
o Paraphrase
It combines speaking with either listening or reading. For instance,
a teacher of intermediate students might say:

o Explanation
Explanation and description can be used with students beyond the
beginning level. And, it refers to the task of desrcibing something
from memory, usually a familiar physyical object or location.
For example:

o Guided Role Play

The teacher or volunteer helper takes a fixed role, and the student
responds as prompted.
For Instance:
 Oral Interview
The oral interview can provide a genuine sense of communication.
Moreover, the good interviewer should be sincere, open, supportive
manner.

For examples:
(1)

(2)
 (3)

 Scoring Procedures
On a speaking test, getting the student to say something appropriate is
only half the job. Scoring the test is equally challenging. The scoring
system, it tends to depend on two things; how well trained we are to
evaluate oral communication, and what factors we choose to evaluate.
There are two contarsting ways of grading or quantofying student
speech, they are as follows:
o Holistic Scoring

To understand how the several components of student speech can be

evaluated holistically. There two examples of commerical speaking test
in holistic; Speaking on the ALIGU Test and the Foreign Sevice
Institute Oral interview.

o Objectified Scoring

Objectified scoring is a perfectly satisfactory way to evaluate

speaking tests. By utilizing objectified scoring procedures, you can add
tests of speaking to the array of communicative and language-skill
exams that you are able to prepare, adiminister, and score.