Language

Assessment Test

Assessment

Teaching
 • According to Brown (2007) setting up the
opportunities for learners to listen, think, take
Teaching risks, set goals, and process feedback from
teacher and then reprocess through whatever it
is that they are trying to master.

• Assessment is the process of documenting

knowledge, skills, attitudes, beliefs, usually in
Assessment measurable terms. Two kinds of assessment are
formal and informal assessment.

• A test is a product that measures a

particular behavior or set of objectives. It is
Test usually manageable due to time-
consrained.
Discrete-point test
Discrete-point tests were constructed on the assumption that
language can be broken down into its component parts and
those parts adequately tested (Brown, 2007).

Integrative test
There are two types of integrative test: cloze-test and dictation.

Communicative language testing

Communicative language testing is used to measure language
learners’ ability to use the target language in authentic
situations.

Performance-based test
Performance-based assessment believes that the students will
learn best when they are given a chance to perform and show
what they know according to their own plan, collect data, infer
pattern, draw conclusion, take a stand or deliver presentation.
 PRACTICALLITY

WASHBACK RELIABILITY
PRINCIPLES OF
LANGUAGE
ASSESSMENT

AUTHENTICITY VALIDITY
Practicality

An effective test is practical. This means that it:

• Is not excessively expensive,
• Stays within appropriate time constraints,
• Is relatively easy to administer, and
• Has a scoring/evaluation procedure that is
specific and time-efficient.

Brown (2007)
 TEST RELIABILITY TEST-ADMINISTRATION RELIABILITY
(time limit, ambiguity) (condition)

RELIABILITY
(consistent)

STUDENTS-RELATED RELIABILITY RATER RELIABILITY

(physical factor) (subjectivity, human error)
Validity : relevance, accurate, appropriate.

CONSTRUCT VALIDITY
CONTENT VALIDITY FACE VALIDITY
(can it measure
(effective instrument) (actual content)
certain ability?)
AUTHENTICITY
Authenticty may be presents in the following
ways:
• The language in the test is as natural as
possible.
• Items are contextualized.
• Topics and situations are interesting.
• Some thematic organization to items is
provided.
Washback
The effect of testing on teaching and
learning is known as washback. Washback
also includes the effects of an assessment
on teaching and learning prior to the
assessment itself.
 KINDS OF TESTS

1. Proficiency Tests
2. Diagnostic Tests
3. Placement Tests
4. Achievement Tests
5. Aptitude Tests
1. Proficiency Test
Global
competence
Not intended to
be limited to
Definition any one course.
Consisted of
standardized
multiple choice
items
Purpose
• To measure people’s ability in a language, regardless
of any training they may have had in that language.

• How the constructs of language ability are specified.

 EXAMPLES

CPE TOEF
L

FCE IELTS
 2. Diagnostic Tests

• To diagnose a particular aspect of a language.

• Elicit information on what students needs to work on in the future.
Definition

• Determining which phonological features of English are difficult.

• Offering a checklist of features for the administrator (often the teacher) to use in
Pronunciatio
pinpointing difficulties.
n Diagnostic

• Elicit a writing sample for students. Then the teacher would identify, from a list of
rhetorical features that are already present in a writing course, those on which a student
Writing needs to have special focus.
diagnostic

• Test-takers are directed to read a 150 word passage while they are tape recorded. The
test administrator then refers to an inventory of phonological items for analyzing a
Oral learner’s production. After a multiple listenings, the administrator produces a checklist
Diagnostic of errors in five separate categories
 • Stress and rhythm
• Intonation
• Vowels
Main Categories • Consonants
• Other factors

• Stress on the wrong syllable ( in

An example of subcategories
(stress and rhythm):
multi-syllabic words)
• Incorrect sentence stress
• Incorrect division of sentences into
thought groups
• Failure to make smooth transitions
between words or syllables
3. Placement Test

To place a student
into an Includes a
appropriate level sampling of
PURPOSE or section of a material to be
language covered in the
curriculum or curriculum.
school.
Example
(The English as a Second Language Placement Test
(ESLPT) at San Fransisco State University)

Students read a Students write a Students read an

short article and composition in essay and
then write a response to an identify grammar
summary essay. article. errors in it.
4. Achievement Test

Kinds of the
Definition Primary role
• Finaltests
Achievement
related directly to to determine Tests (summative
classroom lessons, assessment)
units, or even a total acquisition of
• Progress Achievement
curriculum. course Tests (Formative
limited to particular objectives at assessment)Tests are
•Final Achievement
material covered in a those administrated at the
curriculum within a the end of a end of course of study.
particular time frame, period of •Progress Achievement Tests
and are offered after a are intended to measure the
course has covered the instruction. measure the progress that
objectives in question. students are making.
The specifications for an achievement test

The The relative

objectiv importance The tasks
es of the (or weight) employed in Practica The extent to
lesson assigned to classroom lity which the test
each lessons issues structure
objective. during the lends itself to
unit of time. formative
wash back
EXAMPLE
• Section A. Vocabulary
Part 1 (5 Items): match words and definitions
Part 2 (5 Items): use the word in a sentence

• Section B. Grammar
(10 Sentences): Error detection (underline or circle the error)

• Section C. Reading Comprehension

(2 one paragraph passages): four short-answer items for each

• Section D. Writing
• Respond to a two- paragraph article on Native American culture
Purpose

1. Predicts a person’s future success.

2. To measure a person’s capacity or
general ability to learn a foreign language
and to be successful in that undertaking.
3. To measure the student’s probable
performance in a foreign language.
E • A test assessing an individual's aptitude to become a fighter pilot.
• A career test evaluating a person's capability to work as an air traffic
x controller.

a
m • An aptitude test given to high school students to determine which
type of careers they might be good at.
• A computer programming test to determine how a job candidate
p might solve different hypothetical problems.

l
e • A test designed to test a person's physical abilities needed for a
particular job such as a police officer or firefighter.

s
Current Issues in
In some ways recent work in language
Language Assessment assessment makes above account
seem like ancient.
Let’s look at a few of those highlight!
 Current Issues in Language Assessment

• Large-Scale Language • Challenges from Innovative

Proficiency Testing Theories of Intelligence
• Authenticity • Expanding “Alternatives” in
• Performance-Based Classroom-Based Assessment
Assessment • Ethical Issues: Critical
Language Assessment