Testing & Examiner Guide 8102 11- Do they require the learner to find answers in the text or t o
deduce them from the context?
Mr.Samir Bounab 11- Do the vocabulary- related activities appear in a yellowdaffodil66@gmail.com meaningful context? th 11- Do the grammar –related activities appear in a meaningful Lycee Elbayrouni Oued Esaemar – April 01th 8102- ALgiers context? 14- Do the pronunciation activities appear in a meaningful context? It is the “thing” or “product” that measures a particular 15- Do the activities allow for the use of critical thinking or are behavior or set of objectives. http://www.speechandlanguage.com they merely referential ? 16- Are the activities assessing the writing skill in accordance Testing Vs Assessment? with the exit profile? Are they meaningful for the student? 71- Does the task at hand correspond to his level of proficiency or is it beyond his cognitive abilities? 18- Are the tasks communication- oriented ? 11- Do the BEM questions cover an important part of the curriculum? 12- Are the targeted competencies assessed objectively? 17- Are the assessors aware of the rubrics used by the designers of exams? 11- Do they use assessment criteria (relevance, correct use of Teachers vs Testing: language, coherence and Many teachers dislike preparing and grading exams, and most development) and indicators to measure students ‘ students dread taking them. Yet tests are powerful production? educational tools that serve at least four functions. 11- Are they aware of the four levels of mastery of Why testing? competencies (maximum, minimum, partial or lack of mastery ) Yet tests are powerful educational tools that serve at least 12 -Do they use these criteria when they assess the work of four functions : learners? First, tests help you evaluate students and assess whether Curriculum of English for Middle School Education May 1172 they are learning what you are expecting them to learn. In conclusion: Second, well-designed tests serve to motivate students when designing national examinations for the middle school, Third, tests can help you understand how successfully you it is important to: are presenting the material. a) target the learner’s exact level of performance. Finally, tests can reinforce learning by providing students b) Examinations must reflect the difficulty levels described by with indicators of what topics or skills they have not yet the descriptors in the curriculum. mastered and should concentrate on c) Inspectors should supervise and assist teachers while designing assessment tools which are conform to the BEM examination materials. Recommendations to examination designers d) It is evident that the assessment of learning should focus o n -When developing tests/ examinations, designers must consider what was taught in class and based on explicit descriptors . the following questions: e) In addition, the situations should be close to what was done 1- Are the exams in accordance with the exit profile of middle in class in order not to confuse the learner, and must be school education? varied; they should test listening and reading comprehension, 1- Do they contain the three competencies (interact, interpret, speaking and written expression as well as the language skills produce)? (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation ) 1- Do they contain the values set out in the curriculum Source: Curriculum of English for Middle School Education May 1172 (identity, national consciousness, citizenship, openness to the world)? Many teachers have found it difficult to apply this six-level 4- Do they reflect the crosscurricular competencies taxonomy, and some educators have simplified and collapsed (intellectual, methodological, communicative, personal and the taxonomy into three general levels social)? The first category knowledge (recall or recognition of specific 5- Are the activities in accordance with the concept matrix of information). the curriculum in terms of global competencies, content , The second category combines comprehension and resources and descriptors? application. 6- Are there more grammar exercises than communicative The third category is described as "problem solving,“ activities? transferring existing knowledge and skills to new situations. 7- Are the themes and the vocabulary of the official To measure knowledge (common terms, facts, curriculum represented? principles,procedures), ask these kinds of questions: Define, 8- Do the assessment objectives match the learning Describe,Identify, Label, List, Match, Name, Outline, objectives? 9-Do the reading comprehension activities Reproduce,Select, State. Example: "List the steps involved in measure the learner’s understanding of the text and/or his titration.“ general knowledge? Yellowdaffodil66@gmail.com 01- Are these activities repetitive ?creative?- To measure comprehension (understanding of facts Challenge your best students. Some instructors like to andprinciples, interpretation of material), ask these kinds of include at least one very difficult question–though not a trick questions: Convert, Defend, Distinguish, Estimate, Explain, question or a trivial one–to challenge the interest of the best Extend, Generalize, Give examples, Infer, Predict, Summarize. students. They place that question at or near the end of the Example: "Summarize the passage." exam. To measure application (solving problems, applying concepts Try out the timing. No purpose is served by creating a test too and principles to new situations), ask these kinds of questions: long for even well-prepared students to finish and review Demonstrate, Modify, Operate, Prepare, Produce, Relate, before turning it in. As a rule of thumb, allow about one-half Show, Solve. minute per item for true-false tests, one minute per item for To measure analysis (recognition of unstated assumptions or multiple-choice tests, two minutes per short-answer requiring logical fallacies, ability to distinguish between facts and a few sentences, ten or fifteen minutes for a limited essay inferences), ask these kinds of questions: Diagram, question, and about thirty minutes for a broader essay Differentiate, Distinguish, Illustrate, Infer, Point out, Relate, question. Allow another five or ten minutes for students to Select, Separate, Subdivide. review their work, and factor in time to distribute and collect To measure synthesis (integrate learning from different areas the tests. Another rule of thumb is to allow students about or solve problems by creative thinking), ask these kinds of four times as long as it takes you (or a graduate student questions: Categorize, Combine, Compile, Devise, Design, instructor) to complete the test. Explain, Generate, Organize, Plan, Rearrange, Reconstruct, Types of Tests: Revise, Tell. Multiple-choice tests. Multiple-choice items can be used to To measure evaluation (judging and assessing), ask these measure both simple knowledge and complex concepts. Since kinds of questions: Appraise, Compare, Conclude, Contrast, multiple-choice questions can be answered quickly, you can Criticize, Describe, Discriminate, Explain, Justify, Interpret, assess students' mastery of many topics on an hour exam. In Support. addition, the items can be easily and reliably scored. Good How to plan tests and exams? multiple-choice questions are difficult to write-see "Multiple- Construction of Effective Exams Choice and Matching Tests" for guidance on how to develop Prepare new exams each time you teach a course. Though it and administer this type of test. is time-consuming to develop tests, a past exam may not True-false tests. Because random guessing will produce the reflect changes in how you have presented the material or correct answer half the time, true-false tests are less reliable which topics you have emphasized in the course. If you do than other types of exams. However, these items are write a new exam, you can make copies of the old exam appropriate for occasional use. Some faculty who use true-false available to students. questions add an "explain" column in which students write one Make up test items throughout the term. Don't wait until a or two sentences justifying their response week or so before the exam. One way to make sure the exam Matching tests. The matching format is an effective way to test reflects the topics emphasized in the course is to write test students' recognition of the relationships between words and questions at the end of each class session and place them on definitions, events and dates, categories and examples, and so index cards or computer files for later sorting. Software that on. See "Multiple-Choice and Matching Tests" for suggestions allows you to create test banks of items and generate exams about developing this type of test. from the pool is now available Essay tests. Essay tests enable you to judge students' abilities to Cull items from colleagues' exams. Ask colleagues at other organize, integrate, interpret material, and express themselves institutions for copies of their exams. Be careful, though, in their own words. Research indicates that students study more about using items from tests given by colleagues on your own efficiently for essay-type examinations than for selection campus. Some of your students may have previously seen (multiple-choice) tests: students preparing for essay tests focus those tests. on broad issues, general concepts, and interrelationships rather Consider making your tests cumulative. Cumulative tests than on specific details require students to review material they have already studied, Short-answer tests. Depending on your objectives, short- thus reinforcing what they have learned. Cumulative tests also answer questions can call for one or two sentences or a long give students a chance to integrate and synthesize course paragraph. Short-answer tests are easier to write, though they content take longer to score, than multiple-choice tests. They also give Prepare clear instructions. Test your instructions by asking a you some opportunity to see how well students can express colleague (or one of your graduate student instructors) to read their thoughts, though they are not as useful as longer essay them. responses for this purpose. See "Short-Answer and Essay Include a few words of advice and encouragement on the Tests" for detailed guidelines exam. For example, give students advice on how much time to spend on each section or offer a hint at the beginning of an Problem sets. In courses in mathematics and the sciences, essay question or wish students good luck your tests can include problem sets. As a rule of thumb, allow Put some easy items first. Place several questions all your students ten minutes to solve a problem you can do in two students can answer near the beginning of the exam. minutes. See "Homework: Problem Sets" for advice on Answering easier questions helps students overcome their creating and grading problem sets. nervousness and may help them feel confident that they can Oral exams. Though common at the graduate level, oral succeed on the exam. You can also use the first few exams are rarely used for undergraduates except in foreign questions to identify students in serious academic difficulty. language classes. In other classes they are usually time Thank you for using www.freepdfconvert.com service!
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