Topic 7 :Assessing Language Skills and Content

CHUA SOW ANN LINGGATHARANI KESAVAN RABIATUL ADAWIYAH OTHMAN NUR LIYANA ISHAK

Objective testing

Definition
Items that can be objectively scored items on which a

person select a response from the list of options. (W Wiersma & G Jurs, 1990)
a test, such as one using multiple-choice questions,

in which the feelings or opinions of the person marking it cannot affect the marks given. (http://www.collinsdictionary.com)

Types of objective test question

A) Recall type

- Sentence Completion Items - Fill in the blanks B) Recognition type - Multiple choice items - True-false items - Matching items

c) Others / problem solving types - Rearrangement - Analogy - Context dependent (Pictorial form, interpretative)

Sentence completion type

Certain important words or phrases are ommited

and students are expected to fill in missing words.

Eg. Communication is a two way process by which

people one another

Multiple choice items

The stem direct question or incomplete statement. The options or responses 3 to 5 alternative

response which includes - the key - distractors

 Advantages

- Extremely versatile - convenient for various subjects - provide reliability and validality - reduce the effort of guessing

 Disadvantages

- difficult to construct plausible alternative responses. - need more time and effort to prepare - provide cues that are unavailable in practice - cant test the skills like communication, psychomotor skills and interpersonal skills

 5 basic types

- best answer type - right answer type - multiple true false type - reason-assertion type - analogy type

 Directions for MCQ - The stem clear

should not contain a lot of irrelevant information

appropriate reading level grammatically correct

- Correct response

same terms/reading level

avoid too many qualifiers assigned a random position in the answer sequence.

Matching type
Consist of two columns

Good for testing knowledge of terminologies,

relation of facts. Directions: - short title for each column - number of choices exceed number of statements. - Longer statement in statement column and shorter in choices column

Evaluation
It can be done:

Manually
Computer assisted

Comparison
Objective type High degree of objectivity More reliability Higher validity Economical in reading and scoring while expensive in marking Effective even in large group Subjective type Lacks objectivity Lesser reliability Lesser validity Expensive in reading and scoring while economical in marking Effective in small group (max-10)

Subjective Testing
Method of Evaluation 1. Requires judgment from the markers part. 2. Extended answers. 3. Answers will vary from one candidate to another. 4. Higher degree of validity. 5. Takes into consideration: Explanation, alternative answers and organization of ideas.

Example
A. Short-answer essay B. Long-answer essay

C. Structure Questions

Discrete Point Tests

o Focus on one linguistic element at a time

o Assumption :

- language can be broken down into separate element - tend to be indirect

o Example : 1.

Phoneme recognition. Yes/No, True/ False answers. Spelling. Word completion. Grammar items. Most multiple choice tests.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

o Example of Question :

Select the correct preposition to complete the following

sentence:

1.

We went _______ the store by car.

(A) at (B) on (C) for (D) to

Integrative Tests
o Requires students to combine many linguistics elements real

language use situations.

o Assumption :

- unitary trait / competence hypothesis (Oller) - tend to be direct

o Example : 1.

Writing tasks.

2. 3. 4. 5.

Dictation. Cloze tests. Oral interviews or conversation Reading

o Example of Question :

Fill in the blank: 1. When the doorbell _______, I was having a bath.

(A) rang
(B) rings (C) rung (D) ringed

Communicative Tests
A communicative language testing system requires tests which are devoted to testing not only learners knowledge of a language and how to use it

(competence) but also to what extent

learners apply their knowledge to meaningful communicative situations (performance) (Fulcher and Davidson, 2007).

Communicative ability should encompass the following skills: Grammatical competence. How grammar rules are actually applied in written and oral real life language situations. Sociolinguistic competence. Knowing the rules of language use, Turn taking during conversation discourse, etc. or using appropriate language for a given situation.

Strategic competence. Being able to use appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication strategies.

Test takers ability to demonstrate them in actual

situations.

How?
replicate real life situations the importance of context is recognized

should be both authenticity of task and genuine of

texts
tasks ought to be as direct as possible

 reflect the interactive nature of normal speech and

also assess pragmatic skills being used

Communicative tests are both direct and

integrative

focus : expression and understanding of the

functional use of language rather than on the more limited mastery of language form found in discreet point tests

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