Principles and Practices of Language Testing

1.

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE OF WEBSTER
STUDY SO FAR
SOMETHING YOU LIKE
SOMETHING YOU DISLIKE
YOUR PERSONAL STORY
SHARE YOUR FEELINGS
SHARE SOME FACTS
COURSES

2.

Yayra Abduraimova

3.

TESL: 5311
Principles and Practices
of Language Testing
Course Descriptions and Assessment
Specifications

4.

Course Schedule
Week 1
Fundamental Considerations in L2
Language Assessment
Week 2
Formative and Summative Assessment
Week 3
Assessing Receptive Skills
Week 4
Assessing Productive Skills
Week 5
Revision and Mid-term Exam
Week 6
Assessing Grammar and Vocabulary
Week 7
Assessing Alternatively – Portfolio
Assessment
Week 8
Classroom-based Assessment
Week 9
CBKA

5.

EVALUATION
ASSESSMENT
PERCENTAGE OF
GRADE
1.
Class Participation
10%
2
Midterm Exam
20%
3
Group Presentation
20%
4
Final Project
a)Key Assessment (written)
b)Key Assessment (oral)
40%
5
Academic Service Learning/
Fieldwork
10%

6.

Class
Participation
10%
• Attendance
• Weekly Readings
• Class Participation
Open-book written exam (on-site).
Students can bring and use their notes,
Mid-term exam textbooks, reference materials. The
20%
questions in the exam will be based on
the content covered during the
teaching week 1 to 4.
• 2 hours (30 minutes)
• Week 5

7.

Multimodality Group Presentation – 20 %
What is it?
Participants demonstrate their understanding of the TESL 5311 course
content. 3-4 students develop a testing unit or an assessment aligned
with the course objectives. The presentation should last for a maximum
of 30 minutes, with 5 minutes for Q&A. Each group should describe the
target student body, the proficiency level of the students and the testing
/ assessment goal. The group should briefly explain the designed Rubric /
Assessment and then do a presentation of the assessment. Students
should consider using technology and multimodality in the presentations.
One student should submit a presentation file to Canvas on behalf of the
group BEFORE MIDNIGHT OF THE PRESENTATION DAY.
Format
Power point or alternative presentation software is also possible (emaze,
prezi, google presentation)
Grading
Organization, Comprehensibility, Content Coverage, Presentation
Materials , Team Coordination

8.

Academic Service Learning - Fieldwork
During the fieldwork both practicing and pre-service
teachers are asked to work directly with students,
putting into practice the instruction they are learning
in class specifically reflecting on the assessment
procedures.
• 5 hours of service learning at a site
• Framework: three-part reflection.
• Length: 6 to 8 pages
• 10 % of the total course grade

9.

Final Key Assessment - 40 %
Written Key
Assessment
20 %
Oral
Key
Assessment
20 %
Created using a word processor, 15-20 pages long,
includes all worksheets and aligns with TESOL
standards and rubric requirements. (Check TESOL
Standards Domain 4 ) Combine all files into one
document and submit it through TESL Central Site
before the deadline.
10-minute individual presentation which discusses
all the key components of written key assessment.
Power Point Presentation file (8-10 slides including
5-10 references) must be uploaded to Canvas
Assignments.
Note:
Label your file and ppt presentation as follows:
abduraimova_5311_finalproject

10.

Test Modification Project
1.Learner
Assessment
Profile
(2-3 pages)
• A description of the ONE actual or fictional learner
• A description of the educational setting
• A description of the most recent placement test
2. Critique of
an existing
test/assessm
(2-3 pages)
• A description of one particular high stakes language test/ assessment
(unit test, quiz, a test from a textbook)
• Provide a detailed description of this test considering issues of
validity, reliability, attention to standards, content goals, biases,
appropriateness. Long tests can be shortened to 10-20 items. You
may focus on one skill.
• Write An analysis of the test/ assessment (3 strengths/3 weakness)
3. Modified
version of the
chosen test/
assessment
(7-10 pages)
• Suggest ways to improve the test
• Design a modified version with new instructions, methods and at
least 5 test items
• Incorporate technology (online, internet-based, computer-based
test)
• Administer the test and discuss the differences (analysis)
• Write a conclusion
• Describe your proposal in-class using power point (oral key
assessment)

11.

Are you testwise?

12.

Think about your experience as a
teacher, or as a student. Which of
these quotes from teachers best
describes your feelings about
assessment? You may choose more
than one answer.

13.

1. Assessment helps to show the teacher who is the strongest and who is
the weakest learner in class so that they can give suitable grades or
marks.
2. Assessment is one of the most rewarding aspects of teaching: it helps
to show how well learners understand what they are studying and how
to improve their performance.
3. I think teaching would be more effective if teachers didn’t have to give
assessments: they use up valuable class time that would be better spent
on other things.
4. Assessment is a good way to motivate learners because they will study
harder if they know a topic is going to count towards their final grade.
5. Assessment in schools is dominated by external or public
examinations: learners care more about the exams than actually learning
English.
6. The main point of assessment is to allow school managers or
government authorities to judge whether teachers are doing a good job
and whether learners have learnt what they are supposed to.
7. None of these quotes describes my feelings. What are your feelings?

14.

15.

assessment
What is
assessment
?
Systematic process of evaluating, and measuring
collected data and information on students’ language
knowledge, understanding and ability in order to
improve their language learning and development. It is
measuring an individual’s performance on a given task.
Tests, quizzes, interviews, portfolio, essay, observations…
Types of
assessment
Formative assessment: It generates data on students’
learning while it occurs. It is conducted during the
learning process. Formative assessments help teachers
and learners to see what they have mastered and what
they need to improve. They are syllabus or content
based.
Summative assessment: It provides a general or final
assessment of student’s learning within a given course
or learning unit.

16.

What is a test?
In scientific terms, a test is a method of measuring a
person’s ability, knowledge, or performance in a
given domain. Let’s look at the components of this
definition. A test is first a method. It’s an
instrument—a set of techniques, procedures, or
items—that requires performance on the part of the
test-taker.
(D.Brown,2010)

17.

Evaluation
What is
Evaluation?
Four Levels of
Evaluation
• It is the systematic gathering of information for
decision making related to learning, teaching or
program.
• It is the principled and systematic collection of
information for the purposes of decision making
about the worth of something.
• Learner feedback that measures learner reaction to
the program
• Learner learning that measures learner progress
through assessments
• Learner behavior that measures observable skills
acquired following learning
• Learner results that measure the impact of
skill/knowledge acquisition on the environment in
which learner function post learning

18.

Purpose of assessment
•Proficiency •Achievement •Diagnostic •Placement •Progress •Aptitude -

19.

Types of assessment
•OBJECTIVE VS. SUBJECTIVE
•CRITERION-REFERENCED ASSESSMENT
•VS. NORM-REFERENCED ASSESSMENT
•DIRECT VS. INDIRECT
•DISCRETE POINT VS. INTEGRATIVE

20.

Student A: ____ % of
Student B: ____ % of students Student C: ____ % of
students are dressed this way are dressed this way in your
students are dressed this way
in your institution.
institution.
in your institution.

21.

TYPES OF TESTS
Norm-referenced
testing
Criterion-referenced
testing
It is a test designed to use a bell-curve to rank test takers.
NRTs compare a student’s performance in comparison to
the performance of others in areas of knowledge. It
measures how and to what extend a student is performing
ahead or behind the norm. The items in NRTs may vary in
difficulty and are chosen in a way that discriminates
between high and low achievers.
It is designed to measure student performance and
outcomes using a fixed set of previously determined written
criteria which students are supposed to know. It does NOT
compare a learner with other learner. It measures whether
students have acquired a specific knowledge or skill set
based on the standards set by school.

22.

23.

Norm-referenced tests

24.

Criterion-referenced tests

25.

Do tests test one or many things at a
time?
There are two different types of tests:
• Integrative tests, which include activities that assess
skills and knowledge in an integrated manner (e.g.,
reading and writing, listening and speaking). Less
attention is paid to specific lexicogrammatical points.
• Discrete point tests, which contain items that ideally
reveal the candidate's ability to handle one level of
language and one element of receptive or productive
skills.

26.

Do all language tests aim at measuring
communicative competence?
• Communicative tests are supposed to
measure communicative competence which
includes:
– linguistic competence,
– sociolinguistic competence,
– discourse competence
– strategic competence.

27.

ANYTHING TO ADD?