Methodology Refresher Course

Explain the evaluation system in the institution

where you work.

Have you ever had to design an exam? Was it

difficult?

What changes would you make to the evaluation

system in the institution where you work?
Evaluation
Assessment
Test
Summative Assessment
Formative Assessment
Transparency
Validity
Reliability
Evaluation
Process of making judgements
based on criteria and evidence.
Assessment
process of documenting knowledge,
skills, attitudes and beliefs, usually
in measurable terms. Its goal is to
make improvements, as opposed to
simply being judged.
Test
Used to examine someone's
knowledge of something to determine
what he or she knows or has learned.
Testing measures the level of skill or
knowledge that has been reached.
Summative Assessment
Measures the product of a
students learning
Formative Assessment
Measures students abilities as
part of a process.
Transparency
Anyone concerned with the test
should have access to clear
statements about what the test is
supposed to measure.
Validity
This happens when the
assessment tool tests what it is
supposed to test.
Reliability
Refers to the consistency of the
test results. Given the same
conditions, a test should give
the same results.
Evaluation
Assessment
Test
Summative Assessment
Formative Assessment
Transparency
Validity
Reliability
 Progress or
achievement
tests

Placement Types of Diagnostic

Tests Testing tests

Proficiency
tests
Why do we assess our students?
Task 1
Identification of problem areas for remedial attention.
Giving each student a course grade.
Assessment on your effectiveness as a teacher.
Checking on general progress and obtaining feedback.
Course or syllabus evaluation.
Preparation for public examinations.
Institutional requirement for student promotion.
Measuring what a student knows.
Identification of levels for later group-work
Reinforcement of learning and student motivation.
Any other purpose.
What do we test?
Language Skills
To find out what To find out what
students have learnt students can do

Grammar Listening
Vocabulary Reading
Spelling Speaking
Pronunciation Writing

Which of these are the most important for your students?

Which are the easiest to test?
Task 2
Which main area would each test focus on?
LISTENING /
Can they follow street directions? VOCABULARY

Can they form the past simple tense correctly? GRAMMAR

WRITING/ GRAMMAR/
Can they write a few sentences about their family? VOCABULARY

Do they know common words for rooms and furniture? VOCABULARY

Can they understand a simple description of the town? READING/ WRITING/

VOCABULARY
Tasks to test skills
- An interviewer questions a candidate about themselves.
- Using pictures for candidates to compare and contrast
SPEAKING - Role play activities with tasks such as introducing themselves
- Decision-making activities: a set of photos for candidates to
decide which is best and which is worst.

- Writing stories and compositions

WRITING - Transactional letters where candidates reply to a job ad
- Information leaflets about their school or a place in their town
- Writing an informal e-mail

- Multiple-choice questions to test comprehension

READING - Matching written descriptions with pictures
- Choosing the best summary of a pragraph or a whole text
- Inserting sentences in the correct place in the text

- Identifying who (out of 2 or 3 speaker) says what.

LISTENING - Identifying which of a number of objects is being described
- Following directions on a map and identifying the correct house
- Completing charts with facts and figures from the listening test
Testing Speaking

GRAMMAR & DISCOURSE INTERACTIVE

PRONUNCIATION
VOCABULARY MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
Testing Writing

COMMUNICATIVE
CONTENT ORGANISATION LANGUAGE
ACHIEVEMENT
Testing Reading and Listening

True or false What are the

Multiple choice good and bad
points of each
Open-ended questions
type of question?
Information transfer
Testing Reading and Listening

Easy to think of good questions which

cover main parts of the text
Easy to mark
True or false Only tests comprehension

Students can guess the answer

50% of being right
Testing Reading and Listening

Easy to mark
Test only comprehension
Multiple Small chance of guessing the right
answer
choice
Difficult to write proper distractors
Testing Reading and Listening

Easy for the teacher to write

Open- ended
Difficult to mark
questions Different criteria
Testing Reading and Listening

Good to test the main comprehension

points of a text
Information
transfer Difficult to mark
Different criteria
Testing grammar & vocabulary
Multiple choice exercises
Matching exercises
Incomplete sentences
Gap completion
Transformation
Open cloze exercises
Rewriting
Sentence completion
Mistake correction
Wordsearch
Improving tasks
I like bananas
My mother doesnt like cooking
Karla loves watching TV
My dad enjoys playing football
Linda and Mark loathe exams
a. because its relaxing.
b. and he does it everyday.
c. but they study hard.
d. since they are sweet
e. because its boring
f. since they dont want to

Always give an extra option in the

second column when designing a
matching exercise.
Improving tasks
wakes up have breakfast watching TV go home goes running

Laura likes . Her favourite programme is Friends.

I always . in the morning. A cup of milk and some fruit.
My parents dont want to . They want to stay at the party
My sister at 7. Thats why she wakes up at 6.
Gregory usually .. at nights because he doesnt like waking up early to
do exercise.

An extra distractor is necessary in

the box.
Improving tasks
Sarah didnt want to go to the party because
a) she was too tired
b) her ex-boyfriend was going to be there and she didnt want to see him
c) she had no money
d) she was sick

The options should have the same

length in a multiple choice exercise
Improving tasks
Martin tried left the room
a) because he was embarrassed.
b) because he was scared.
c) because he was angry
d) because he was sick

Try not to repeat the same words in

the options. These words should go
in the question sentence.
Tips
Teachers should inform their students about the test well in
advance.
Do not allot time in class for exam preparation. Students should
be able to solve the test with the knowledge they have.
Remind students of the content of the test, but not the format.
The test should not have trick questions.
Check and return tests as soon as you can.
The marking system (how many marks each section carry)

should be simple and should be known by the teacher only.
It is quite unprofessional to wish our students good luck before

the exam starts.
Do we teach for tests?